After Marc Márquez was not happy with the performance of the bike that Honda is designing for 2024, Takaaki Nakagami also was far from impressed with what he tested yesterday. The Japanese rider asked for changes, as he believes the main problems remain.
‘I am very tired. Two races in a row and then testing on Monday… All my mechanics, they all seem so tired. It was a very busy day,’ began to say the LCR Honda rider, before talking about the new bike he tested, and which didn’t particularly make him happy:
– I tested the new chassis and also the base bike and the new prototype. It seems very different… The bike’s performance, honestly, well, I expected better. When I sat up there, well, the position of being up there and the sensations are different and that was impressive but the rider is always looking for more grip. The rear grip was basically similar, and it still seems to be a weak point and it is very difficult to control, with the wheel spinning a lot and this was the first impression of the bike. It’s not disappointing but it’s not a very positive surprise, it’s ok, a new, different bike, but the lap times don’t come because of lack of traction.
According to #30, Honda will have to make significant changes if they want to be more competitive, he guaranteed: ‘I don’t know, for the next test they have a lot of work to do because like this, with the same problems… I hope they change the engineering to improve especially the rear traction’.
