Takaaki Nakagami - 'We are ready for the race weekend'

Pre-season testing for MotoGP teams and riders has come to a close, as the attention now turns to the opening race of the season at the Losail International Circuit. 

Over the course of five days testing, we saw a new unofficial lap record set by Jack Miller, a new top speed record from Johann Zarco, and a final day that looked more like the Dakar Rally, than a day of MotoGP testing due to sand and wind covering the track for much of the day.

Only five riders set lap times on the final day and one of those to eventually venture out was Takaaki Nakagami for LCR Honda. 

It has not been the easiest of tests for Honda with a total of 10 crashes between their four riders during the five days. Pol Espargaro on his debut has looked great, but for the rest it's been tougher going. 

In 2020, Nakagami really came to the fore and established himself as a real contender. While he did not manage to get a podium, the progress made is very much something to build on for 2021. 

Speaking after the final day of running, Nakgami said: "Today we had to wait in the pit lane for a long time to get better conditions. In the end I tried to go out to check the track condition, but it was really difficult to make a lap and understand anything.

"We made a few laps but after that we changed strategy to making practise starts for the race weekend, and this was useful because it’s a new bike and a new system to start the bike.

"It was very interesting and we got good feedback for the race weekend, unfortunately we were not able to make any long runs or do more laps, but we are ready for the race weekend. We’ll have a strong mentality and I can’t wait for the racing to start."

The season begins in exactly two weeks time on March 28, in what is the first of two races in Qatar.