Suzuki vigorously complains and files a claim

As soon as the race started, Takaaki Nakagami, who started 12th on the grid, took off like a rocket, crossed the track in a fan pattern and sped up the braking, reaching sixth position, at which point the steering of his Honda was closed and he it fell. The bike collided with Alex Rins, while the Japanese rider himself, dragging on the ground, hit Pecco Bagnaia’s rear tire with his helmet, knocking down the Italian’s Ducati.

Fortunately, Nakagami has not suffered major damage, although he was evacuated from the Circuit de Barcelona to the Hospital General de Catalunya, to examine him in depth, since the impact on the head was very strong.

The race stewards, after putting the incident under investigation, decided not to sanction the Honda rider, considering it to have been a race incident. The problem is that a week ago, at Mugello, the same driver already had a collision on the track with Rins, which left him out of the race. Then, Livio Suppo, Suzuki team manager, went to ask the Race Direction for an explanation, which did not consider the incident punishable.

This time, Suppo’s claim was stronger and Suzuki filed a claim.

“We sent a protest to the stewards,” Suppo explained.

They have verified the incident and for them it has been a racing incident. For me that is not acceptable, to consider something like a racing accident”, he complained.

“I think both Alex and Pecco deserve to know what the magnitude of the mistake was, it was clearly a mistake. It is very easy to check the position data of the pilot, how many meters after the usual braking point he did”, put Taka’s braking point under suspicion.

“Also, he totally crossed from the left to the right. If you talk to Pol… On TV it seemed that he was very close to Pol. I think that if the race management thinks that something like this is a normal accident, we have to reflect. For us it is not acceptable. An error can happen, but this was really big”, settled the Italian executive.

Fall of Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda, Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP and Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team