Nakagami doesn't think Quartararo Argentina MotoGP clash was "crazy"

Takaaki Nakagami has defended his contact with Fabio Quartararo which sent the Yamaha rider to the back of the field in the MotoGP Argentina Grand Prix as nothing “crazy”.

The LCR Honda rider was trying to pass Quartararo for 10th on the opening lap of Sunday’s rain-hit grand prix at Rio Hondo when he went in hot and made contact with the Yamaha.

Quartararo was forced into the blue painted run-off area and plummeted to 16th in the depleted 17-rider field and was forced into a recovery ride.

The incident was placed under investigation by the FIM stewards, but they deemed no further action was necessary.

Quartararo – who labelled Nakagami a “kamikaze” on French television afterwards – was unhappy with the stewards’ decision.

“No, I don’t understand what they are doing,” Quartararo said on Sunday in Argentina after the clash.

“I watched the Moto3 race: Ayumu [Sasaki] in Turn 5 make an overtake that was really clean, but he slightly touched [another rider and got a penalty], where in MotoGP we are doing it all the time.

“He [Sasaki] got dropped one position and he [Taka] just destroyed my race in one corner and didn’t get anything.”

Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Nakagami has defended himself for the clash, saying he did nothing over the line – though concedes he was “overshooting” the corner when he went for the overtake.

“Well, looks like from the outside it was a little bit aggressive,” Nakagami, who was 13th in the grand prix, said.

“But honestly that moment I thought I could overtake, but was slightly overshooting and missing the apex.

“But it wasn’t crazy, it’s not like crazy riding. We touched a little bit each other, but this is racing.

“I have nothing to say. I didn’t make any mistake. Luckily, he didn’t also crash. Of course, he lost the position, I want to apologise. But this is racing.”

This is the second lap-one collision in the space of a year triggered by Nakagami that has gone unpunished, much to his rivals’ annoyance, after a Turn 1 pile-up involving Alex Rins and Francesco Bagnaia in Barcelona last season was deemed a racing incident.

Quartararo was able to recover to seventh after the Nakagami clash.