MotoGP: Takaaki Nakagami missed ‘a great opportunity’ to win the Catalan GP

Takaaki Nakagami has said he feels he could have won the Catalan GP, but he was stuck behind Ducati riders in the early laps, thwarting his chances.

He felt he was not aggressive enough at the start of the race, no position changes for the Honda man in the early laps meant he was stuck outside of the top 10, and when progress was made the Ducati bike’s supreme acceleration out of the corners meant he found it hard to pass them, eventually ending up 7th, and behind both Pramac Ducati machines.

In the closing laps of the race, Nakagami was setting some of the fastest laps of the race, pace which he felt could have won him the race,

He said after the race, “I was really fast. I was able to keep the lap time, and the top guy was dropping a lot. I knew I had the possibility to get a good result. At the end of the race I think I was absolutely fastest man because I still had a lot of grip on the rear because I managed at the start of the race, but I was behind Ducati again and I couldn’t overtake because mid-corner I was so fast but they are a bit slower.”

“So, you have to stop mid-corner and then you lose the acceleration. I couldn’t overtake them. To end up 7th I was very disappointed because from the top I’m less than three seconds back, which means I think in this race we had a great opportunity to win the race. But in the end, 7th for me is nothing.”

“It’s difficult to be positive at the moment.” Continued Nakagami who has not scored a MotoGP podium yet, despite being ahead of race winning riders in the championship standings, “I was very disappointed because I was only 3.5 seconds from the top. I think we had a great opportunity to win the race. But P7 for me is nothing.

“I’m so disappointed. I cannot explain how I feel and how disappointed I am. I will try to improve, to be stronger in a group and in the battle, because like this we never get a podium.”

Being only 3.6s back from the lead in 7th shows the level in MotoGP at the moment, and Nakagami will be looking to make amends at Le Mans.

Featured image- www.motogp.com