LCR Honda finished the last GP with both riders within the points, with Johann Zarco in 12th and Takaaki Nakagami in 13th, and in the case of Japanese the points achieved were ‘great fortune’ given the sensations there were had all the weekend.
Nakagami, who has already announced that he will leave the team to become Honda test rider at the end of this year – Somkiat Chantra will take its place – thus reflected on San Marino’s GP: ‘I think it was a great fortune to have achieved score, because I didn’t expect all weekend we would have a very bad feeling and a time back in position, it’s really hard to think of even the straight line. But yes, complicated conditions’.
On a day when the rain marked the start of the race, and with some drivers actually going to the box to change his motorcycle, the niponic recalled the conversation he had with the team about atmospheric conditions:
– Before the race, on the start grid, I had a conversation with my team boss and also with Lucio [Cecchinlo], who was told at the beginning of the race could be some possibility of rain. But he said it was going to happen very quickly. So our strategy was to stay out. And, of course, after the start, a few laps, I could see that there was some rain, in some specific points, like an entire sector that was a bit tricky.
But not only the rain complicated the action, as the day before the conditions and sensations were not the ideas, as he explained: ‘In the end, we were fighting, with the same sense of Saturday, we had a lot of vibrations during the race. So yes, the performance was pretty bad. I mean, I was very frustrated because I can’t walk fast because of this. On the other hand, we were able to score, so it was lucky. Let’s see how we can get better, because we’re going to get the last chance in the last part of the season’.