Nakagami apologizes for accident after night in ICU under observation: "All my fault

Takaaki Nakagami has apologized to Álex Rins and Francesco Bagnaia for knocking them down in the first corner of Sunday's (5) Catalunya GP. The request came through statements released on Monday on LCR's social networks, after a night of observation in the ICU of a hospital in Barcelona.

12th on the Catalunya grid, Nakagami started the race fast and delayed braking to try to climb the field in the first meters. The steering of the RC213V, however, braked, causing the Japanese rider to crash and hit his head on Bagnaia's rear wheel, knocking the Italian down. To make matters worse, the LCR rider collected Rins, who crashed heavily and fractured his left wrist.

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Nakagami was taken to the medical center, where initial tests ruled out major injuries, but he was still referred to a local hospital, where he spent the night under observation. The Japanese rider was barred from the group test on Monday.

This morning, while the MotoGP teams test in Barcelona, Lucio Cecchinello's team released Taka's apology, who also admitted that he was lucky in the accident.

"First of all, I want to apologize to Álex Rins and Pecco Bagnaia for the accident yesterday. It was all my fault," Nakagami said. "I wish Álex a speedy recovery and hope he will be in good shape for the German GP," he followed.

"After yesterday's crash, I feel lucky to have no serious injury, no fractures, and to be okay," he admitted. "I spent the night in the Intensive Care Unit, under observation, but everything is fine. So I will try to be ready for the next race at Sachsenring," he closed.

MotoGP returns to the track on June 19 for the German GP at Sachsenring, the tenth race of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.