Nakagami knew it was 'going to be tough' to keep P3, Marquez best of season

Takaaki Nakagami's quest for a first MotoGP podium continues after dropping from third to seventh at Le Mans. LCR team-mate Alex Marquez claims his best result of the season so far, as the top Honda rider, in sixth.

When Marc Marquez fell from the lead of Sunday's French MotoGP at Le Mans, it promoted fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami to third place.

But the LCR rider knew he had a tough task on his hands to keep hold of a potential first premier-class podium, with all the RC213V riders lacking rear grip in the rain.

"After I changed the bike in the flag-to-flag I was P4, and after Marc crashed I was P3, but I saw that there were 17 laps to go and I was thinking it's going to be tough," Nakagami said.

"I tried to do my best, but I knew that a podium was difficult, because in the wet condition we don't have the pace to fight for the podium.

"Dry conditions we have pace, and I'm really comfortable on the bike. Wet conditions, I have no feeling from the rear grip, especially from braking to turn in.

"The exit of the corner is good, but braking into the apex is where we struggle to find rear grip. As you can see [in warm-up], Pol and Marc had exactly same crash at Turn 3, and I had the same moment in many laps.

"So I think all together the Honda family need to understand what happened in the wet conditions, and we need to find a solution for the future.