A third place finish for IDEMTSU Honda Team Asia rider Takaaki Nakagami at Misano meant he stood on the rostrum for the second time in the space of a week, having also finished in the top three at Silverstone the previous weekend.
Nakagami, who had started from second position on the Misano grid, dropped to the back of leading group in early stages. However, the Japanese rider started to chase down the pack and overtook several riders as the race progressed.
On lap 13, he moved up to third position, and continued to follow the top two riders Lorenzo Baldassarri and Alex Rins. Unfortunately for him they had already built up too much of a gap and Nakagami changed his strategy to ensure a valuable third place.
Takaaki Nakagami: “I am a bit disappointed because we were very competitive all through the weekend, and I thought I could’ve won the race. But at the same time, I am happy because I made a good recovery and took back-to-back podiums. I didn't get good feeling from front tyre for the first few laps and I lost my position to ninth or tenth. Then I tried to recover and pushed hard.
“When I moved up third, Alex and Balda have already gone, but I tried to push to catch them. In final few laps, the front tyre was completely finished and I saw Johann (Zarco) was far behind from me, so I changed my strategy to keep my position. For the next race in Aragon, I believe it’s my turn to win!”