Motorsport
Video: Mass crash in MotoGP! Nakagami caused a very dangerous situation in Barcelona
MotoGP had its eighth race of the season on Sunday, 5 May. Fabio Quartararo won the Catalan Grand Prix, but eight riders did not finish the race! Watch the crash caused by Takaaki Nakagami.
MotoGP had its eighth race of the season on Sunday, May 5. Fabio Quartararo won the Catalan Grand Prix, but eight riders did not finish the race! Watch the mass crash caused by Takaaki Nakagami.
The start of the Catalan Grand Prix brought a situation that nobody wants to see in motorsport. Nakagami started the race from 12th position.
It should be noted that he shot out of his starting slot in a rocket-like fashion and was already in fifth place going into the first corner. However, it was in turn 1 that Nakagami closed his front end under braking and wiped out two other drivers – Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Rins.
It was the Suzuki rider who took the worst of the trio, suffering a fractured left wrist, while Nakagami spent the night in hospital for precautionary checks.
However, the race directorate ruled the horrific crash a racing incident and so did not issue any penalties. And it was this that sparked a heated debate among the drivers.
“I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. First of all, I’m glad Taka is okay because it was a bad crash. But you just can’t expect a professional rider to do something like that. He started 12th and tried to pass everyone at the first corner,” Bagnaia remarked at the press conference.
“If he hadn’t hit me, he would have ended up in the duck and would have been much worse off. I don’t know what he expected. But maybe when he comes back – and I hope soon – I’ll ask him about this. We always talk about safety and how dangerous Moto3 pilots are, for example. The same rider has made several mistakes and that’s simply not acceptable,” Bagnaia concluded.
Whether the race directorate will respond to the riders’ suggestions is a big question at the moment. But the fact remains that Nakagami has been too dangerous in MotoGP races.
In the end, the Catalan Grand Prix was dominated by the Frenchman Quartararo ahead of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco. Other riders who did not finish the race were Stefan Bradl, Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Andrea Dovizioso.
However, for all the others it was a “standard” crash in a corner, when the pilot closes the front end on the entry to the corner or due to technical problems.
Sources: MotoGP, Motorsport