Perhaps more than any other on this MotoGP grid, the time has truly come for Takaaki Nakagami to show that he is worthy of his status as one of the elite riders. At LCR-Honda since 2018, and now 31 years old, he still does not have a podium to his credit. It is true that, these days, this is not the kind of objective that one can envisage every weekend with an RC213V. And no doubt it will still be a handicap this season. But we will still have to succeed, because the young compatriot Ai Ogura will not always say no to a promotion…
Takaaki Nakagami does not know an easy route in MotoGP and the 2022 season was perhaps the most significant in this sense for the Japanese. Because in addition to a lack of performance, despite notable efforts on an RC213V bordering on a widowmaker's mark, the pilot LCR experienced the horrors of the injury. 18th overall with 46 points in the last championship, he hopes for a turnaround this year.
Takaaki Nakagami: “ we are ready to fight and succeed«
Despite unfavorable omens, the Japanese commented during the presentation of his 2023 colors this Tuesday: “ my goal in 2023 is to be competitive again. We have a total of 42 races due to the sprint race. It will be exhausting, but we are ready to fight and succeed ».
The two-time Grand Prix winner in the intermediate categories already has a long international career which began in 2007 in the 125cc World Championship. A vocation that came to him at a specific moment in his life at a very early age, which he reveals: “ I went to Motegi for the first time during a MotoGP race when I was nine years old. I met my idol Daijiro Kato there. He gave me his boots, I still have them. From that moment on I knew I wanted to be like him ».
