PRESS RELEASE: 01 June 2019 | Mugello GP Qualifying

Taka Nakagami was in a positive mood after qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, a very important race for his LCR Honda IDEMITSU squad. The Japanese rider was fourth fastest in the morning free practice session, securing his placing in the qualifying final, before claiming a tenth-place grid position for Sunday’s 23-lap race.

Nakagami’s smooth style has looked perfectly at home around the undulations of the beautiful Mugello circuit, and if not for a slight glitch in the final corner of his fastest lap, he could well have been much higher up the grid. Given the pace he has shown through practice, Taka is confident of making forward progress in the race and adding yet another top-ten finish to his collection this season.

Takaaki Nakagami – 10th
(1’46.378 – lap 7 of 7)

“Of course I’m really happy about the second day today because we have improved a lot from yesterday. During qualifying I was a little bit disappointed with what happened in sector four on the last lap. I hit the bumps and couldn’t hold on to the bike, so I lost a bit of time. Despite this, I was still able to improve on my best lap of the weekend.

I’m a bit disappointed to drop to tenth on the grid, which is the fourth row. On the other hand, I’m really happy with my feeling on the bike. I am strong, especially in the middle two sectors on the track and everything is working well on the bike.

For the race the tyre situation is quite clear for us, and so hopefully we will get a good start. I might not be fastest in terms of top speed, but I think we can be strong in the whole race. The main thing is not to give up, and I will do my best to bring home a good result for my LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team”