Takaaki Nakagami

Aragon MotoGP Thursday Round Up: Nakagami's Communication Revolution, Where Honda Went Wrong, And Grip Trouble On A New Surface

By David Emmett |

It has been a very newsy sort of day at Aragon. First, we got the news that Takaaki Nakagami is to become a test rider for HRC based in Japan, and form a bridge between Honda's Japanese and European operations. Then we got the news that Somkiat Chantra is to become the second Asia Talent Cup rider to move up to MotoGP, taking Nakagami's place in the LCR Honda Idemitsu team. Nakagami will stay on to help Chantra adapt to MotoGP, and teach him the ropes.

That Chantra should get the LCR Honda Idemitsu ride is not a surprise. With Ogura off to Trackhouse, the two options were for Nakagami to stay or Chantra to take his place. That second LCR seat is funded by Idemitsu with the explicit aim of promoting Asian riders, and Chantra proved his mettle in Moto2.

It is pointless to argue over whether a non-Asian rider deserves that seat more than Chantra. "In 2018, the IDEMITSU MotoGP project was born with a noble mission-to be the ultimate stepping stone for future champions. It serves as a beacon of hope for young Asian riders, providing them with the platform to grow and learn at the highest level, after participating in the Asian Talent Cup and other light categories on their road to MotoGP," read the statement in the press release. Without the Idemitsu money, there is no second seat at LCR Honda.

Somkiat Chantra To Join LCR Honda For 2025, Takaaki Nakagami To Become HRC Test Rider In Japan

By David Emmett |

The next to last piece of the MotoGP puzzle has fallen into place. As widely expected, Takaaki Nakagami is to make way for Thai rider Somkiat Chantra in the LCR Honda team.

Chantra becomes the first ever Thai rider in the MotoGP class, an important factor for the Buriram MotoGP race, and important for Idemitsu, who have sponsored the second LCR Honda seat with the aim of promoting talented Asian riders. 

With Ai Ogura going to Trackhouse Aprilia and Chantra at LCR, there will now be two riders from the Asian Talent Cup in MotoGP. The ATC is an important stepping stone for talent into the grand prix paddock, and having two riders in MotoGP is an important sign that the project is working.

Qatar MotoGP Subscriber Notes, Part 2: Yamaha's Wrong Choice, And Honda's Optimism

By David Emmett |

The opening round of the 2024 MotoGP season at Qatar was a sobering affair for the Japanese manufacturers in MotoGP. Though testing had shown that they were still behind the European factories, the race weekend confronted them with the harsh reality, that they have dropped further behind Ducati and KTM, especially, and they have a lot of catching up to do.

The odd thing was there was a sense of optimism around the Japanese factories throughout preseason. Even at the end of the first race weekend, where they found themselves trailing the European factories, riders were sounding positive notes. The general consensus was this: Yes, we are behind, but at least there are signs of progress.

Looking at the raw numbers, however, things don't look good. Comparing the races from November last year and March this year, a fairly clear pattern appears. Firstly, that Honda have either stood still or made very slight inroads into their deficit. And secondly, that Yamaha have gone backward.

2024 MotoGP Season Preview Part 4: Honda And Yamaha - Two Factories On A Path To Redemption

By David Emmett |

We have looked at the factory which is favorite to win the 2024 MotoGP title, and the two factories which could possibly try to break Ducati's stranglehold on the championship. In the final part of this 2024 MotoGP season preview, we must now turn our attention to the two factories which do not stand a chance of winning a title. For both Yamaha and Honda, 2024 is a year of rebuilding.

It is harsh to write a manufacturer off before a wheel has turned in anger, but it is realistic. Fabio Quartararo was the highest ranked rider on a bike from a Japanese manufacturer in 2023, and he finished tenth, with just over a third of the points of champion Pecco Bagnaia. Yamaha and Honda finished fourth and fifth in the manufacturers standings, well behind third-placed Aprilia.

The factory Repsol Honda team finished ninth in the team standings, 27 points ahead of the last placed Tech3 GASGAS team. Repsol Honda were fielding two MotoGP world champions. Tech3 had a rookie and a rider who suffered such a serious crash at the first event of the year that he missed half a season, and was replaced by a test rider.

Ken Kawauchi Interview: HRC's Technical Manager On Bringing Honda Back To Being Competitive

By Akira Nishimura |

At the beginning of 2023, former Suzuki technical manager Ken Kawauchi moved to Honda. This news surprised many people around the world, because it is very unusual for Japanese company workers who are in a responsible position to move to their competitors.

In 2023, Honda went through the toughest season in their MotoGP history. The result of that painful year was that they qualified for concessions as a manufacturer for the forthcoming 2024 season, so they joined the shakedown test before the official three-day test at the Sepang International Circuit. After this shakedown test, we spoke with Ken-san for a one-on-one interview to ask about Honda's struggle in the previous year and their expectations for 2024.

Q: How would you describe your first season in HRC?

KK: Although I moved from one Japanese company to another Japanese one, everything was different, including colleagues, the way of working, the working environment and scale, everything. While I had to learn a lot of things, we could not achieve good results, so honestly speaking, it was a very tough season for me.

Q: From your point of view as a technical manager who is in charge of managing the on-site technical things, what was the reason for this struggle?

KK: I think there was no simple answer for it. One of the reasons was, for sure, our bike was not as competitive as our rival manufacturers. Maybe we could have done things with a better approach. It was the combination of many things that caused those results.

2024 LCR Honda Launch: A Cleaner Design For Both Johann Zarco And Takaaki Nakagami

By David Emmett |

The LCR Honda team has presented its bikes and riders for the 2024 MotoGP season, with Johann Zarco joining the team and Takaaki Nakagami back again for his seventh season in MotoGP. The team is now more closely involved in the development process of the Honda RC213V, HRC aware of the scale of their challenge.

Zarco's bike has been presented in Castrol colors, as the oil company, a subsidiary of the giant BP, is the largest backer of the LCR squad. However, LCR will feature several different liveries during the season, following their usual strategy of spreading support over multiple sponsors rather than seeking out a single title sponsor. On Nakagami's side of the garage, Idemitsu remains the biggest backer.

The team eschewed the normal press release route, producing videos for each of the two riders on their respective websites. You can see them on the rider-specific website for Johann Zarco and for Takaaki Nakagami.

2024 Is Nigh: What To Expect From The Sepang Shakedown Test

By David Emmett |

A section of the MotoGP grid will take to the track on Thursday, as the shakedown test at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia gets underway. The shakedown test was once a private affair where test riders would ensure that the new bikes brought to Sepang by the factories were working well enough to hand them over to the full time riders at the start of the official test.

As the Grand Prix Commission has restricted the number of tests in recent years to help reduce costs, the decision was made to allow rookies to the MotoGP class to join the test riders at the shakedown test. This, in turn, opened the door to expanding participation further, when the concessions system for struggling manufacturers was expanded to allow for more testing.

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