Late fall ends Taka’s hopes at emotional #ItalianGP

Taka Nakagami was unable to finish the Italian Grand Prix on a day when the whole paddock was united in grief over the tragic passing of Jason Dupasquier. The LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider had produced a consistent display at Mugello to move through the field and was lapping in 8th place when he lost the front end of his RC213V in the closing stages.

Sitting 15th on the grid, Nakagami – who was quickest in warm-up – made a good start and took advantage early falls ahead of him to quickly move up into tenth. He was the leading Honda by some distance and looked to be finishing strongly after setting his fastest lap, only to then see his race come to a premature end at turn 14. But predictably Taka’s thoughts were with Dupasquier after the event.

Takaaki Nakagami

Today we are all very sad that Jason passed away. It’s a really difficult moment for everyone in the paddock. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and his team, we are all very sorry. For us it was difficult to focus on the race in such a sad moment, it’s a really sad day for all of motorcycling. But we have to try and look to the future now and the next race at Montmelo.