LCR team-mates on Motegi sprint clash: “Clearly he did a big mistake”
LCR duo disagree on who is to blame for clash that took Takaaki Nakagami out of Motegi MotoGP sprint
Takaaki Nakagami says LCR MotoGP team-mate Johann Zarco “clearly did a big mistake” and blames him for their collision in the Japanese Grand Prix sprint.
The two Honda riders were battling well outside of the points on lap five of the 12-lap sprint on Saturday at Motegi when they came together.
Zarco went for a move on the inside of his team-mate at the Turn 2 right-hander and made contact, which sent the Japanese rider onto the deck and out of the sprint.
The stewards took a dim view of this move from Zarco and gave him a long lap penalty, with the Frenchman 14th at the chequered flag.
Nakagami, taking part in his last Japanese GP weekend as a full-time rider, says he is “disappointed” with Zarco and feels he is fully to blame.
“Clearly, I think he did a big mistake,” Nakagami said.
“It was clearly not an overtaking point. I was disappointed in how he moved and we touched each other.
“I was [on the] outside and unfortunately I lost the front and finished in the gravel.
“So, definitely I’m super disappointed how the sprint finished and with the team-mate I’m disappointed.”
Zarco defended himself and believes Nakagami could have done more to avoid the clash, as Tech3 rider Augusto Fernandez had done when the Frenchman made a similar move.
“I tried to go inside because I got more corner speed than Taka,” Zarco added.
“And also the lap before I was not so far from this manoeuvre. And in that moment I wanted to overtake to try to come back to the other guys in front.
“So, I did the move but he has been surprised.
“Then I could do it also on Augusto Fernandez and Augusto could lift the bike up a bit.
“But I expected that he could maybe see me before, but he was not ready and sorry for him that he crashed.”
