MotoGP, Nakagami expresses grief over Crutchlow’s departure from Honda

First in the morning and second in the afternoon, Takaaki Nakagami again confirmed that he is the Honda benchmark in Valencia. The Japanese is still aiming for his first MotoGP podium, but there was another topic today: Crutchlow’s departure from Honda with the announcement of his move to Yamaha as a tester for next year.

“It makes me a little sad – he admitted – We spent three years on the same team, he’s a nice person and I was happy to be with him. He’s got a great character, he’s always joking, and sometimes it’s hard to tell whether he’s serious or not. ” he smiled.

Cal also helped Taka a lot in his learning curve …

“I’ve never seen other drivers help their team-mate the way he did me. he continued – During the first year he always came to see how I was doing and when I found him on the track, he would allow me to follow him. Looking at his data was a great help for me, as he is very sensitive in riding. Marquez is aggressive, what he’s doing is hard to copy, easier with Cal. This year I continued to study it, even though it was slower than me at times, because it is faster in some places, especially when exiting a corner. He manages to lift the bike very quickly when accelerating. I wish him all the best for his future. “

Then Nakagami talked about his day of practice …

“It was a good start – he said – I have a good feeling on the bike, but you never know how much the others will improve. We have to sort out a few things, especially when I pull the soft tire, which is a little too soft for us. It won’t be the tire for the race, but it is important to be able to adjust to qualifying better. In any case, we have potential here ”.

HRC has also given him an update for the system that lowers the wheel when starting and accelerating …

“It was a bit difficult to use on all laps, it was slightly modified and now it’s better – he revealed – the lever is still in a slightly awkward position, we have to work on that for next year.”