LCR Honda line-up confirmed for 2023
Ahead of this weekend’s AragonGP, Takaaki Nakagami and HRC have signed a contract extension that will keep the 30-year-old riding for the LCR Honda IDEMITSU team in the MotoGP class in 2023.
This was somewhat unexpected as many pundits had predicted that Nakagami would move into a testing role for 2023, and that Moto2 rising star Ai Ogura would be promoted in to MotoGP with LCR Honda.
Alex Rins had already been confirmed with LCR Honda back in July, but the second seat in the LCR garage was not confirmed until this week.
Born in Chiba in 1992, Takaaki Nakagami made his MotoGP debut in 2018 with the LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team and 2023 will be their 6th season together.
Takaaki Nakagami
“I am very happy to be able to continue racing in MotoGP in 2023 with LCR Honda IDEMITSU. I would like to thank IDEMITSU and Honda HRC for their continuous support.
“I am looking forward to the next season, and I will give it everything to achieve the best results with the team. Meanwhile, for the rest of this season, I will continue to work hard to improve my performance.”
Year by year, Nakagami has demonstrated consistent improvements and so far, during his 80 MotoGP race starts: has finished as the top Independent Team Rider on five occasions and has taken six top-five finishes.
Furthermore, Nakagami has accumulated one Pole Position and four Front Row starts in the premier class alongside his 14 Moto2 World Championship podiums, which included two wins.
Lucio Cecchinello
“We are very pleased with this announcement, since 2020 Taka has proved to be a very fast rider able to fight for podium positions and this year he has consistently fought to finish as the top Honda rider.
“I trust in his potential and thanks to his six years of experience riding the Honda RCV213 motorbike, he will definitely help the LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team and HRC to improve our bike package and to close the gap with our competitors.”
