Takaaki Nakagami into MotoGP on a Production Honda?

The number of riders moving up to MotoGP from Moto2 continues to grow. Pol Espargaro is confirmed at Tech 3, while Scott Redding is expected to announce a move at Silverstone, almost certainly to the Gresini team aboard a Honda production racer. And now, the championship-leading duo looks set to be joined next year by Takaaki Nakagami, the Japanese rider currently riding for the Italtrans Moto2 team.

According to respected Spanish magazine Motociclismo, Nakagami will move up with Tady Okada’s Honda Team Asia structure. Okada’s ties to Honda mean that Nakagami will be riding a Honda production racer, the same bike to be fielded by both the Cardion AB team for Karel Abraham, and at Gresini for Scott Redding.

Nakagami has been the revelation of this season, the Japanese rider securing six front row starts and two podiums, one at Qatar and one at the last race in Indianapolis. Nakagami has been a frequent race leader, though his weakness is that he fades in the latter stages.

There is no doubt that having Nakagami in MotoGP would please series organizer Dorna. There has been a dearth of Japanese talent in the series, and former 250cc world champion Hiroshi Aoyama has never regained the speed he lost after his crash at Silverstone in 2010, in which he fractured a vertebra. Nakagami is younger, and turning into a real crowd pleaser.

Nakagami’s move, should it happen, would likely sound the end of Aoyama’s time in MotoGP, but it would also leave Yuki Takahashi out in the cold.

Takahashi is currently riding the Moriwaki Moto2 bike for IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, the outfit set to move up to accommodate Nakagami. Takahashi has had a couple of disappointing seasons in Moto2, first with Gresini and now with Honda Team Asia.

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

Source: Motociclismo; Photo: © 2013 Scott Jones / Scott Jones Photography – All Rights Reserved

via asphaltandrubber

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Dani Pedrosa in pain, Marc Marquez not worried about

Dani Pedrosa was uncharacteristically fast out of the pits during Friday’s free practices at Brno fnishing third fastest and just 0.1s from timesheet leader Stefan Brad, however the Repsol Honda veteran lamented pain from his recovering collarbone, especially under braking and in two or three areas of the track.

Pedrosa will need some extra treatment from the Clinica Mobile before tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions and he also admitted hadn’t been able to sleep well the previous evening.

“Today was a little more difficult than expected, as I felt more pain than I have in the past few days,” said Pedrosa. “I was unable to ride at 100%, but still we were able to have two good sessions. We tried some different set-ups with the bike and different tyres. Let’s see if tomorrow I feel better and can improve aspects of the bike to lower my time.”

Suprisingly Marc Marquez wasn’t the fastest rider of the day. The rookie completed the day in fifth, finding the tighter Czech circuit slightly more difficult to refenence his braking points

“I felt really good from the start, which is good news,” said Marquez. I thought it would take a little more time and that we would be further behind Jorge and Valentino as they have tested at this circuit recently. In general, the feeling was good but there are still aspects of the set-up where we can improve a lot, which will hopefully give us more comfort and in the end more speed.”

“I’m not worried – we know that tomorrow the times will come down, but we must continue working in the same way and focus, because we know that we can perfect the set-up.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

MOTO GP;2013 Brno: Jorge Lorenzo to improve on braking, Rossi happy with modifications

It was a rather tight lipped Jorge Lorenzo at the end of Friday’s two free practices at Brno, despite leading the morning session and being barely edged out by Stefan Bradl in the second.

The Yamaha rider was not completely satisfied with the performance of his M1 (electronics basically). especially when he was unable to continue to lower his lap times after setting his best lap on his fourth lap out, something unusual for the Spaniard, who like Rossi should have at least benefited somewhat from their recent private test, but now need the seamless transmission and maybe a new chassis.

“I started in a very good way in the morning and also in the beginning of the second practice,” said Lorenzo, “Then we started to try some things on the bike that weren’t as good as we expected. We spent all the practice trying things so I wasn’t very fast at the end of the session. Anyway, the positive thing is tomorrow we have a clear direction, so we can go more quickly to a better lap time. We can improve on braking, and the smoothness of the bike at the beginning of the corner.”

Would you believe that Valentino Rossi won his first ever GP race at Brno 17 years ago?

Whether it’s the track layout or the fact that he was immediately fast on the Czech circuit, but this is another Rossi compared to the one at Indianapolis just a week ago, now that he has modifed the ride height and weight distribution.

“I think that we are equal at this track because Dani won last year with the Honda after the battle with Jorge on the last lap. For sure the Yamaha is more competitive here in Brno and also I am more competitive because I like the track and I ride in a better way than in Indianapolis. Today it was a positive day for me, especially this afternoon, we modified the bike and I improved a lot. I was fast with the soft tyre and the hard tyre and I have quite a good pace. We are all very close; we are five or six riders within a few tenths. We hope for tomorrow and Sunday we have good weather because the forecast says it’s not so positive,”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG