After he crosses the end line in Barcelona on the remaining spherical of the 2024 MotoGP season on 17 November, Takaaki Nakagami will begin a brand new chapter in his life as a Honda take a look at rider.
It is a function that can take him again to his residence nation of Japan, a seismic shift for him after spending one of the best a part of 10 years dwelling in Europe.
Out of these 10, seven had been spent racing in MotoGP with the LCR Honda group. He’ll go away the premier class with the sting of not having completed on the rostrum, regardless of coming shut on a couple of events throughout his breakthrough 2020 marketing campaign.
Nakagami had beforehand scored 14 podiums in six seasons in Moto2, together with two wins, which earned him a transfer as much as the premier class with Honda’s satellite tv for pc squad, LCR. He was inducted into the Idemitsu facet of the operation in 2018 to satisfy the Asian quota set by the lubricants firm.
In 2025, will probably be Thai racer Somkiat Chantra who will take over the place at the moment occupied by Nakagami, who took the choice to step down from MotoGP a couple of months in the past. Nevertheless, he maintains his relationship with Honda, which can maintain him a take a look at rider based mostly in Japan.
Takaaki Nakagami, Staff LCR Honda
Picture by: Asif Zubairi
This transfer is a part of the shake-up that Honda instigated by Honda to speed up the optimisation of its RC213V, a motorbike whose efficiency has been in free fall for a while.
The arrival of Romano Albesiano as the brand new technical director, plus three-time grand prix winner Aleix Espargaro into the testing division in Europe, is all a part of the identical overhaul. Nakagami will add one other gear within the improvement of the components which are examined in Japan, a activity that was till now within the arms of Tetsuta Nagashima.
In subsequent week’s finale, Nakagami will say goodbye to what will be thought of extra of his residence observe than Motegi. The Japanese rider, in spite of everything, has been dwelling in Sant Cugat del Valles on the outskirts of Barcelona for nearly a decade.
After the ultimate cease on the calendar, and official take a look at the next Tuesday, by which his job might be to tutor Chantra, he’ll pack his baggage and return to his residence in Chiba, a metropolis situated 40 kilometres to the east of Tokyo. There, his life will all of the sudden go down two gears, no less than so far as journey is anxious, though he nonetheless doesn’t know what his day-to-day routine would seem like.
“Now we have not but spoken with Honda. We’ll accomplish that at the start of December, when I’ll go to the HRC headquarters. There they are going to clarify to me the plan they’ve deliberate for me, for the following six months,” Nakagami instructed Motorsport.com / Autosport.
“I do not know but what number of days of testing I’ll do, or the place, or what number of wild playing cards they need me to do.
“Honda needs to speed up the event of the bike in Japan. There’s Nagashima, however he’s not quick sufficient to guage the components past their performance. The concept is to shorten the time within the analysis of the novelties, and I’m quicker than him. My instances won’t be 5 seconds off the grand prix riders.”
After 17 full seasons on this planet championship, together with the decrease courses, Nakagami is conscious that the calls for of being a rider won’t be the identical from subsequent yr.
Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
Picture by: Asif Zubairi
That does not imply that he can abandon his preparation, though his new routine may have nothing to do with the one he had till now in Barcelona, the place he skilled six days per week and mixed periods within the health club with flat observe coaching.
“My rhythm and life-style will change utterly. For the final 10 years, I’ve been dwelling in Spain, and now I’ll transfer again to Japan,” he mentioned.
“The very first thing I must do is adapt to the brand new context, to the brand new climate, after which see what’s one of the best ways to maintain match and aware of velocity.
“The great factor is that Honda is at all times there, so I will use the bikes they let me use, or use their circuits.”