Takaaki Nakagami suffered a hard fall last Aragon Grand Prix, in which he ended up with lacerated injuries to his ring and little fingers on his right hand. Despite the little margin of recovery with the Japanese Grand Prix, the Japanese driver rushed the deadlines to be able to dispute his home appointment.
‘Taka’ underwent an operation shortly after Motorland, in which it could be seen that he had lost 20% of the tendons in his ring finger and more than 60% of those in his little finger , and received the ‘OK’ from the doctors to go out on the track in FP1 on Friday.
“It’s not the best feeling, I have a lot of discomfort on the bike,” Nakagami acknowledged. “But to be honest, I didn’t expect to be that fast. Yes, I’m out of the Top 10, but only two tenths away. I think we’ve done an impressive job and managed the practice well. Now I’ll try my best to be ready tomorrow.” he declared.
The injury limits him, especially when braking, when he has to use the most sensitive area of his hand. ” Something as simple as braking, releasing the brake and applying gas… I can do that. But when braking it hurts, because it is a very sensitive area.” Shortly after, the Honda man added that in heavy braking the pain is almost “uncontrollable”.
“That’s why I’m quite happy with today’s result; I expected to be two or three seconds behind, it was quite a surprise,” summed up the local rider. However, whether he will survive the race is another matter, and he admits to having serious doubts.
“Today has been a practice session of an hour and a quarter, but we have made short starts. The good thing is that we have been improving, but the doubt is still there. Right now I don’t feel completely comfortable ahead of the race. This track is very physical, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up every lap.
Nakagami will have to undergo a new medical examination before qualifying , in which it will be decided if he can continue his participation in Motegi or, on the contrary, it is better that he gets off the RC213V.
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