Ajo Academy rider comfortable at Motegi and able to improve his times to place twenty-fourth on day one.

Tetsuta Nagashima was back onboard the Ajo Academy Kalex on Friday for his second wildcard appearance of the Moto2 World Championship season. The Japanese rider this week takes part in his home GP, order at Twin Ring Motegi. Nagashima concluded the opening day with a good feeling, improving his times in the second free practice session and placing twenty-fourth overall.

The Ajo Academy rider began the weekend with the aim of improving on the results he achieved at the Aragon Grand Prix –in which he finished twenty-third on race day. In the first practice session for the Japanese GP, Nagashima completed seventeen laps in three stints, setting a best lap of 1:53.789 and occupying twenty-sixth place.

The good feeling was confirmed in the second session. Nagashima was able to improve his best time, lowering it by almost 8 tenths to 1:53.004 and moving up two positions on the combined timesheet. The Japanese rider put in eighteen laps and made just a single stop in the garage, as he looked to find a consistent race pace.

Tomorrow Tetsuta Nagashima will take on the qualifying session for the Japanese GP, looking to improve on the seventh row start he took at Aragon.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2)
1. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 1:50.625
2. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 1:50.900 +0.275
3. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) 1:50.984 +0.359
4. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:51.184 +0.559
5. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) 1:51.185 +0.560
24. Tetsuta Nagashima (Ajo Academy) 1:53.004 +2.379

45 TETSUTA NAGASHIMA

“This morning I went out to try the bike and get a feel for it, because it is quite different from the bike used in the European Championship. I also wanted to find a good feeling with the track. I felt good and confident with the soft tyre, so in FP2 I was able to push a little more and try to go faster; however, with the hard tyre things were a little strange because it did not have much grip. We will have to analyse all the data well this evening, because I think we can do much better and go faster tomorrow, to fight for a good position on the starting grid.”