Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) has announced that it has reached an agreement with 28-year-old Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami to extend their contract for multiple years starting in 2021. He will join Alex Marquez in the LCR Honda garage, with eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez being joined by Pol Espargaro in the Repsol Honda box.
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Nakagami began his Moto2™ career in 2012 and, from 2014, he raced for IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia as part of Honda’s activities to nurture world-class riders from Asia. In 2018, the Japanese rider moved up to the premier class and finished his debut season in 20th place overall. The following year he was ranked 13th.
This season so far, Nakagami currently sits 5th in the MotoGP™ World Championship, finishing within the top 10 in every race including a career-best fourth place and a career-first front row at the Grand Prix of Styria. Now, the man from Chiba in Japan has his sights set on a debut premier class podium finish.
Takaaki Nakagami: "I’m very happy to be able to continue racing for LCR Honda IDEMITSU in 2021 and beyond. I’m grateful to Honda for their generous support, allowing me to bring out my full potential this season. I will be doing my best to gain solid results for the remaining races, and build on that momentum next year. I’m aiming higher with Honda. I look forward to your continued support."
Tetsuhiro Kuwata, HRC Director and Race Operations Management Division General Manager: "I am very pleased that we can continue to battle with Takaaki Nakagami in the MotoGP class next season onwards. I am truly grateful to the fans and IDEMITSU who have supported his career to date. This season, Nakagami’s performance has been solid, finishing within the points in every race, and is currently fifth.
"His presence in the MotoGP class is on the rise, and we look forward to his performance in the remaining races. He will be joined by Alex Marquez from next year, and I hope the two teammates will be able to bring out the best in each other, and bring the team better results than ever before."