A difficult weekend in Japan. We come after the great victory in India on a track I am particularly fond of since I made the podium here in a world championship race.

We need free practice to get the right confidence and we center direct access to Q2. Qualifying immediately proves complicated as I immediately crash and destroy the bike. A high-speed fall that bounces me to the fences. A few dents but I manage to get back to the pits and change bikes. P4 is really a great thing considering the circumstances.

For the Sprint I am charged up but in the end it is not the race I was hoping for. Commett0 some mistakes I could have avoided, At the start I unhook the lowerer at the wrong time and get overtaken by Binder and Marquez. Then the overtaking on Zarco and also the first attempt on Marquez because maybe I tried in a spot where he was very strong. I lost so much time and contact with the first ones.

The race looks very uncertain especially because of the weather. Let’s start with the dry. I start well but in the first corner, to avoid Pecco, I touch with two other riders. Then at turn three I feel another bump and find myself at the back of the pack. It starts to rain, hard, we stop for a falg to flag, the first of my career. I’m starting to turn in the wet, I’m doing well despite the fact that we’ve never tried this setup here and I had no reference points. The rain becomes really heavy, and we feel that turning is really impossible. Red flag, correct decision, there was no point in continuing. I bring home a good placing given the conditions.

Now a weekend break then we continue with the Asia tour. Next stop Indonesia