• Home
  • Motorsport
  • Takaaki Nakagami has 'lost all credit' after MotoGP crash in Barcelona, says Johann Zarco

Takaaki Nakagami has 'lost all credit' after MotoGP crash in Barcelona, says Johann Zarco

On the very first corner of the very first lap of the Barcelona MotoGP on Sunday, Japan's Takaaki Nakagami lost control of his bike and collided with Alex Rins.

It didn't take long for the MotoGP this weekend to explode into action, with LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami not even making the first corner before losing control and causing an incident in Barcelona.

The 30-year-old Japanese driver lost control of the front of his bike under braking, and collided with Alex Rins and Francesco Bagnaia on the first corner.
The incident sent the pair tumbling off their bikes, with Rins - who had qualified in seventh - being left with a fractured left wrist, while Nakagami spent the night in hospital after the rear wheel of Rins' bike struck his face.
It's not the first time the duo have come together this season, with Nakagami also crashing into Rins in the Italian GP last week.
That particular incident was raised in Friday's safety commission at Barcelona, where Nakagami was defended by many for his actions despite the attempted overtake being deemed as overly aggressive.
But while many rallied behind Nakagami for the Italian incident, Johann Zarco - who claimed fourth in Sunday's Grand Prix - has now stated that the Japanese driver will now have to take full blame for causing yet another incident.
"We spoke about it in safety commission, and from Mugello Rins asked our opinion on the accident they had together," Zarco said.
"He wanted to have our opinion on what happened and we were almost all agreed in that case Nakagami didn't do any mistake in Mugello and we are kind of agreed with the stewards that they cannot penalise Nakagami in that case, even if we were also agreed that Nakagami can sometimes be quite aggressive when overtaking.
"But he was not doing a huge mistake [in Mugello]. But from today he totally lost all his credit that we gave to him during the safety commission, which is a pity for him.
"I don't know what they're going to say, but overall he took out Rins and he has lost all his credit, which is a pity for him."
Race winner Fabio Quartararo also commented on Nakagami's mistake, and urged all riders to be more conscious of incidents in the first lap of races.
"It was not a racing incident, because you don't attack that much," Quartararo commented.
"I don't know how it is possible that Pecco was second and Nakagami was far away, how he can arrive to touch his head on the wheel of Pecco.
"It's not a racing incident. I think in the first laps we all need to be conscious that we are racing big bikes, that the weight is a minimum of 160 kilos and if you get hit by a bike like this you can pass away.
"And this is where the most dangerous place is for us, in the start, then after the first lap there is less risk."
MotoGP will now head to the Netherlands in two weeks time, where Rins will hope to avoid yet another incident on lap 1.

READ MORE: Fabio Quartararo wins Catalunya GP, while Aleix Espargaro makes disastrous mistake

More Articles