Impressive comeback sees Nakagami take 11th in #AlgarveGP

Takaaki Nakagami fought back well to claim a creditable points finish in the Algarve Grand Prix on Sunday. Despite starting from the back of the grid, the LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider was able to battle through the MotoGP field and had moved up into 11th position when a red flag brought the race to an end on lap 23.

Having gone 5th fastest in warm-up, Taka got a good getaway in the race itself and made up three positions on the opening lap. The Japanese star then passed riders at regular intervals to push himself up into the points positions and was challenging Brad Binder for a top 10 spot when the red flag was waved two laps before the scheduled end.

Takaaki Nakagami

It was a really tough race from the back of the grid. After the start, there was big traffic ahead of me on the first lap and it was difficult to overtake. I made a good start and from the beginning I tried to stay calm and just overtake riders one by one. It was a shame that we couldn’t see the chequered flag as there was a red flag, but we finished P11 after starting in 22nd and made up many places. I want to say thanks to my team and now we head to Valencia.