Qatar MotoGP Test: Nakagami talks crashes, new chassis, practice start spin

It's been an expensive Qatar MotoGP test for the LCR Honda team with both Takaaki Nakagami and Alex 💞Marquez falling on multiple occas🌃ions over the three days so far.
Nakagami explained that⛦ his Wednesday accident, at the start of the final test, occurred🥀 when he lost the front as the asymmetric tyre made the transition from the soft to medium compound.
"That crash was a bit strange because track grip is quite good but somehow with the medium compound - especially the front, which is asymmetric, a l🏅ittle bit tricky feeling.༒ A bit complicated on the right side," he said.
"70% of the tyre is soft a🔯nd the last 30% of the right side goes from the soft to the medium compound so it was a tricky feeling. Because where it chaꦫnges from soft to medium, every time when I went past that angle I felt a warning.
"The crash at Turn 1 is exactly the same point where the compound changes.🐠🦄 So after that we changed to the soft compound front and rear and it was a much better feeling. We cannot keep the medium compound which is a tricky tyre for me. I saw that also Bradl and Alex crashed today. Too many crashes in the last two days.
"But wit⛎h the soft compound it's really difficult to keep the race distance, after 7-8 laps a big drop and a lot of graining on the right side. So it's really difficult to keep the same feeling and we adjust a lot of the bike balance. Anyway the tyre is a bit complicated for everyone.
"Then of course during the day we tried new items, new chassis is the first priority and it was really positive for me. Really interesting for me. We tried to back-to-back with the standard chassis and some areas are really good but we need to work also on the rear side, the swing𒐪arm side and we can test new items tomorrow💝. We can make a mix or combination [between the parts].
"Definitely we can go faster because the feeling on the bike is good. I felt much more comfortable on the bike compared to the last two days. So quite hapಌpy about that."
Nakagami, 13th quickest ♔at the first test, was ranked tenth on the Wednesday timesheet.
"The good thing is that every new item is quite positive for m𓄧e. It makes me more comfortable on the bike and I enjoy a lot every lap," he said. "But you cannot crash with the new items because the last day of the first test I had a crash on the new fairing and I destroyed everything. So I apologised to HRC. This time with the new chassis I cannot crash any more.
"Sometimes it's difficult to make the balance, sometimes push to find the limit but you cannot crash and destroy the new parts. A bit stress. Some areas I canno❀t push more than 90%. But this is tes🍌ting and we need to develop the bike.
"I have to be calm because I've had two crashes, the first one completely destroyed the bike and today I crashed at Turn 1, it was a scary moment because qui൩te high speed. But I'm okay and the bike also. Hopefully no more crashes!
"Alex also had many crashes, Lucio [Cecchinello] is smiling less, hoꦐpefully I can get a good resuꦑlt to make more happy!"

Another area t🐠hat didn't look too impressive today was Nakagami's first practice start, which saw him forced to shut the throttle in a cloud of tyre smoke, a bizarre occurrence given the acceleration limit on a dry track should be down to controlling the wheelie not a lack of tyre grip.
"The reason is that at some circuits we are really close to the limit for fuel consumption and so it's good to test [suchܫ conditions for the practice start] by going slowly🔯 on the sighting lap, like less than 90km/h," Nakagami said.
"But it waꦿs a mistake because at night the temperature drops a lot and the tyres are getting [cold]. I realised after the start ℱwith a big spinning. I thought, 'big mistake, it's not the best to test in the night time!'"
The only Honda faster than Nakagജami on Wednesday was new Repsol Honda signing Pol Espargaro, in fift🌄h.
"I knew that Pol could adapt ༒very soon to the Honda because his riding style is aggressive," Nakagami said. "Looks day by day that he is going faster. It's of course good to see, it means Honda's bike is pretty competitive.
"It's good to see Pol stay inside the top 10 and even top 5 which is a go🌱od sign. For me, I'm happy to see."
Team-mate Alex Marq🌺uez was 15th on day one of the final test.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 𒊎years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.