LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami has “lost all the credit” he had with his MotoGP rivals, according to Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.
Nakagami wiped out Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Rins at the start of the Catalan Grand Prix at Barcelona, having challenged for fourth place after starting 12th on the grid.
The accident left Rins with a fractured left wrist, while Nakagami’s exact injuries remain undetermined. The 30-year-old Japanese rider had hit the rear of Bagnaia’s Ducati with his head, losing the visor from his helmet, and had to go to the circuit medical center and then hospital – although his team confirmed that “no serious head injuries” were detected, with pain in the right shoulder instead seemingly the main point of concern.
No penalty was issued for the incident, a decision that found little approval among MotoGP’s rider roster.
Rins had already been critical of Nakagami in the aftermath of their collision in the preceding race in Mugello, and had brought it up before his fellow riders in the safety commission meeting at Barcelona.
But while Rins indicated that his peers were split on who was at fault, Zarco reckoned that the vast majority were in agreement that Nakagami did not deserve a penalty then.
But this was emphatically not the case in the Barcelona crash, and Zarco hinted at his frustration over Nakagami’s error after his peers gave him the benefit of the doubt.
“We spoke about it in safety commission, from Mugello, Rins asked our opinion on the accident that they had together,” Zarco said.
“We were almost all agreed that in that case Nakagami didn’t do any mistake in Mugello, and we were kind of agreed with the stewards, that they cannot penalise Nakagami in that case, even if we were also agreed that Nakagami sometimes can be quite aggressive in overtaking and trying something – but he wasn’t doing huge mistakes.
“But today he totally lost all his credit that we gave to him during the safety commission, and that’s a pity for him.”
Zarco has been subject to criticism for his aggressive riding in the past, most notably in 2020 when he was found responsible for causing a Red Bull Ring crash that ended with Franco Morbidelli’s flying Yamaha threading the needle between Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales at a terrifying speed .
“To call it a racing incident is not the right thing,” Zarco continued of the Nakagami incident. “Because the way he arrived on the brakes, he misjudged the braking point and he arrived too quick.
“So, that’s a pity, that they [the stewards] don’t do anything for the next race for him.
“But… even worse I think between riders he has lost all the credit. We were nice with him because we agreed there was nothing really wrong from him in Mugello.”
In its Sunday press release, MotoGP said the incident did not meet the “established threshold” to incur a penalty.
It said the stewards had observed the start from a “multitude of angles” including from overhead, and judged Nakagami had “braked at a similar time to riders around him”.
Nakagami, as quoted by LCR on Twitter, said the crash was “all my fault”.
After yesterday’s crash, I feel lucky because I have no serious injury, no fracture and I am ok. I spent the night at the Intensive Care Unit, under observation but all is good. So, I’ll try to be ready for the next race at Sachsenring.”
— LCR Team (@lcr_team) June 6, 2022
As well as apologizing to Rins and Bagnaia, he said he had “no serious injury, no fracture and I am OK” and that he would “try to be ready” for the Sachsenring race in two weeks’ time.
MotoGP’s explanation of the Nakagami non-penalty seemed to fit in with RNF Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso’s theory with how the crash happened.
“I don’t think he did a mistake on the braking point,” RNF Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso suggested, “but when he braked, he didn’t brake hard, at the beginning – and after he realized he braked too hard and created all that.
“It’s so easy to make this kind of mistake, [especially] in Barcelona.
“But in any case when you make a mistake and you hit other riders, you affect the competitors, for sure in my opinion he needs a penalty for his mistake.”