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First in the morning and second in the afternoon, Takaaki Nakagami once again confirmed that he was the Honda benchmark at Valencia. The Japanese rider is still in pursuit of his first podium in MotoGP, but today there was another topic to talk about: Crutchlow's farewell to Honda, with the announcement of his move to Yamaha as a tester for next year.
"It makes me a little sad - he admitted - We spent three years in the same team, he's a nice person and I was pleased to be with him. He has a great character, he’s always joking and sometimes it's hard to tell if he's talking seriously or not” he smiled.
Cal also helped Taka a lot in his learning curve...
“I have never seen other riders help their teammate as he did with me - he continued - In the first year he always came to ask about how I was going and, if I found him on the track, he allowed me to follow him. Looking at his data was a big help for me, because he is very sensitive in riding. Marquez is aggressive, it's difficult to copy what he does, with Cal it's easier. Even this year, despite being slower than me at times, I continued to study him, because in some places, especially when exiting the corners, he is faster. He manages to lift the bike very quickly in acceleration. I wish him all the best for his future”.
Then Nakagami talked about his practice day…
“It was a good start - he said - I have good sensations on the bike, but you never know how much the others will improve. We need to sort out some things, especially when I put on the soft tyre, which is a bit too soft for us. It will not be the tyre to use in the race, but it is important to be able to adapt better for qualifying. In any case here we have potential ”.
HRC has also given him an update for the system that lowers the bike when starting and accelerating…
"It was a bit difficult to use in all the laps, it has been slightly modified and now it is better - he revealed - The lever is still in a somewhat awkward position, it's something to work on for next year."
