PRESS RELEASE: 23 February 2019 | Qatar Test Day One
The final pre-season testing session takes place this weekend at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, ahead of the first race of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship at the same venue in two weeks’ time.
Takaaki Nakagami continued his fine form in this testing period by ending day one as the top Honda runner in the field, and yet again slotting comfortably into the top ten positions.
The Japanese rider was consistently fast throughout the evening, dropping quickly into the 1’55 bracket in the mid-part of the session. Despite a small crash at turn two towards the end of the night when the temperatures had dropped and humidity had risen significantly, the LCR Honda IDEMITSU man still posted the 8th best time of the day with a 1’55.943.
Takaaki Nakagami – 8th (1’55.943 – lap 28 of 45)
“For the first day we have had quite a good start. I had a small crash at turn two after 9.30pm, when the temperatures are really low. It was a minor mistake, but I am not injured and the bike was ok.
In general the pace is not so bad, and we weren’t even really focusing on the lap times today. We were trying to find a base set-up, and it was going well.
We still have another two days, so we will keep calm. We found quite a good solution today, but we need to improve it even further. We had a few problems with rear grip, but this was down to track conditions mainly. We have time, so we need to keep going like this and keep getting amongst those top ten positions.”
