Nakagami 'happy, close, in less pain'

Takaaki Nakagami, who 'lost' one of his 2019-spec RCVs to Marc Marquez on the final day in Qatar, finished MotoGP pre-season testing just a fraction behind the reigning world champion.

Perhaps due to the lack of a second bike, Nakagami only completed 33 laps on the last day at Losail, the least of any rider.

Nakagami 'happy, close, in less pain'

Takaaki Nakagami, who 'lost' one of his 2019-spec RCVs to Marc Marquez on the final day in Qatar, finished MotoGP pre-season testing just a fraction behind the reigning world champion.

Perhaps due to the lack of a second bike, Nakagami only completed 33 laps on the last day at Losail, the least of any rider.

Nonetheless, he was just 0.090s slower than the reigning champion as the pair - both recovering from shoulder surgery - occupied seventh and eighth on the timesheets.

“I’m really happy with these three days of testing, we have been improving every single day. The lap time is good and close to the top – only three-tenths away from the fastest," Nakagami said.

“The physical condition of my right shoulder has also improved significantly, and I’m happy about how it feels because I’m in less pain. At the end of the day I still have energy, so this is a good sign.

"We still have one week left, and we will try and recover even more before the start of the season, but we will be ready for Qatar."

Although Nakagami has a year-old bike, there are still plenty of things to test as he works through the various parts created to try and help Jorge Lorenzo last season.

"We have a lot of test items… some chassis parts, some rear shock. They [HRC] have a lot of stocks because last year Jorge requested many things," Nakagami had said at the opening Sepang test. "I'm happy to test many things, last year was almost nothing."

Team-mate Cal Crutchlow was 18th fastest on the 2020 machine.

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