Takaaki Nakagami

Takaaki Nakagami
Nakagami at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1992-02-09) February 9, 1992 Chiba, Japan
Current team	Honda Racing Corporation
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2018–2024 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2024 championship position 19th (31 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 123 0 0 1 0 434 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2011–2017 Manufacturers Suter (2011) Kalex (2012–2017) Championships 0 2017 championship position 7th (137 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 105 2 14 5 1 646 125cc World Championship Active years 2007–2009 Manufacturers Honda (2007) Aprilia (2008–2009) Championships 0 2009 championship position 16th (43 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 34 0 0 0 0 55

Takaaki Nakagami (中上 貴晶, Nakagami Takaaki, born February 9, 1992) is a Japanese former Grand Prix motorcycle racer, competing for Idemitsu Honda LCR in MotoGP class until retiring from competition after the 2024 season. Nakagami will act as a test rider for HRC based in Japan, and team liason for Honda's Japanese and Italian teams in MotoGP from the 2025 season.

He won the Japanese Road Race Championship 125cc class in 2006 and J-GP2 class in 2011.

Career

Early career

Born in Chiba, Nakagami joined the Japanese Road Race Championship in the GP125 category in 2005 joining the Harc-Pro Honda Team finishing 13th as a rookie in the series. He stayed in the Japanese 125cc championship for 2006 with Harc-Pro again, winning every race of the season; becoming the youngest-ever Japanese 125cc champion. Also in 2006, Nakagami joined the MotoGP Academy which gave him the chance to compete overseas for the first time in the Spanish CEV 125cc series. Nakagami finished in 12th position of the championship. His best result came in the second round at Jerez, finishing in 5th place.

He decided to focus on the CEV 125cc championship in 2007 with the MotoGP Academy. Nakagami's results improved in 2007, and he finished in 6th place overall with a 3rd-place finish at Valencia as his best result. Nakagami also received his first 125cc World Championship wildcard entry at the final round of the season in Valencia, qualifying in 20th position but failing to finish the race.

He impressed enough to secure a full-time ride in the 125cc World Championship for 2008, joining the Italian I.C. Team riding an Aprilia, he finished the season in 24th overall with a best finish of 8th place at Donington Park. For 2009, Nakagami joined another Italian team, Ongetta I.S.P.A., again on an Aprilia RS125. He improved his overall performance, finishing 16th overall with his best results being two 5th places at a wet Le Mans and at Donington Park.

Despite having offers to remain in the 125cc championship in 2010, Nakagami decided to return to Japan and rejoin the Harc-Pro team, He won the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2010 and competing the Japanese ST600 championship aboard a Honda. Nakagami won the first race of the season at Tsukuba. He went on to finish 8th overall. He remained with Harc-Pro in 2012, but changed classes and entered the J-GP2 class aboard a Honda HP6. Nakagami won 5 of the 6 races during the season and the championship, despite not competing in the Okayama round due to injuries sustained when he was substituting at the Motegi Moto2 World Championship round for the Italtrans Racing Team.

Moto2 World Championship

Italtrans Racing Team (2012–2013)

2012

Nakagami did enough during his substitute display to earn a full-time ride for the Italtrans Racing Team in the 2012 Moto2 World Championship riding a Kalex with a Honda CBR600 engine. He finished his rookie season 15th in the standings with a best result of 5th at Jerez.

2013

For 2013, Nakagami remained in Moto2 with Italtrans aboard a Kalex. At the opening round at Losail, Nakagami achieved his first podium in Grand Prix racing with a 3rd-place finish. At Le Mans, Nakagami earned his first pole position in Grand Prix racing. Nakagami achieved his second career Grand Prix podium with a second-place finish behind Esteve Rabat at Indianapolis; he led most of the race but was passed in the closing laps and finished less than a second from victory. He took his second pole of the season at the Czech Grand Prix, at Brno; he went on to take his second successive second-place finish, behind Mika Kallio. He once again took pole at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and again finished second, this time behind Championship leader and home rider Scott Redding. At Misano, Nakagami finished second for the fourth race in a row; he led the majority of the race before he was passed by Pol Espargaró in the closing laps. He finished the season 8th overall with 149 points.

Idemitsu Honda Team Asia (2014–2017)

2014

For 2014, he signed to ride for Tadayuki Okada's team, Idemitsu Honda Team Asia. A positive start to the season with a second-place finish at Qatar was denied as he was disqualified for technical reasons. Nakagami struggled for the rest of the year with bike set-up, and finished the season in 22nd position.

2015

Despite the struggles of 2014, Nakagami remained with Honda Team Asia for 2015. He managed to improve and finished on the podium in Misano, ultimately matching his 2013 result of 8th overall with 100 points.

2016

In 2016, he scored his first victory in Assen. He collected three third-place finishes and eight top-5 finished to end the season 6th in points, his overall best finish in the Moto2 class.

2017

Continuing with Honda Team Asia in 2017, he won at Silverstone and claimed three third-place finishes, and ranked 7th in points.

MotoGP World Championship

LCR Honda Idemitsu (2018–2024)

2018

Nakagami at the 2018 German Grand Prix

Nakagami moved up to MotoGP in 2018, signing with LCR Team to ride a year-old Honda remaining with Idemitsu sponsorship. With regular finishes in the low point-scoring positions, he completed his rookie season with 33 points, and 20th in the championship.

2019

In October 2018, it was confirmed that Nakagami would remain at LCR Honda on a 2018-spec machine for the 2019 MotoGP season beside teammate Cal Crutchlow. In the first half of the season he regularly achieved top 10 finishes, but a heavy crash at the Dutch TT and a subsequent shoulder injury led to a drop in form. He elected to prematurely end his season after his home Grand Prix to undergo surgery repairing his damaged shoulder, and recover before the 2020 season. He was replaced for the final three rounds by KTM-exile Johann Zarco. Nakagami ultimately finished the season in 13th position with 74 points, more than doubling his point tally from his rookie season.

2020

In mid-October 2019, LCR Honda confirmed Nakagami would remain with the team for another season on a year-old machinery in 2020. After opening round crashes and subsequent injuries for teammate Crutchlow and Honda factory rider Marc Márquez, Nakagami quickly emerged as Honda's top rider in the first half of the season, finishing as the top Honda rider (always within the top 10) and scoring all manufacturer's championship points for the marque in the first eight rounds. At the Teruel Grand Prix, Nakagami qualified on pole position, the first pole for a Japanese rider in nearly 16 years. He finished the year 10th in the championship, with 116 points.

2021

In October 2020, based on his strong early season performances, Honda and LCR announced that Nakagami would remain with the team at least until the end of 2022 (his first multi-year contract in the MotoGP class) and would receive factory-spec machinery from 2021. Unfortunately for Nakagami, the 2021 Honda bike was one of the weakest in recent years, with Honda drivers regularly finishing on the cusp, or sometimes even outside the top 10. Nakagami's season high result was a 4th place in Jerez, overall ending the season just 15th in the standings, with 76 points, 6 in front of teammate Álex Márquez.

2022

Nakagami stayed with the LCR team for 2022. It was the same story in 2022 as Honda’s new machine failed to deliver an upturn in results. With a best finish of 7th he ended the season 18th in the standings with 48 points 2 points behind teammate Alex Marquez.

2023

Nakagami stayed with the same team for the 2023 season, parterning his 2023 teammate Álex Rins. He finished p18 in the standings with 56 points 2 ahead of teammate Álex Rins

2024

Nakagami continued with LCR Honda, this time partnering with Johann Zarco. This was his last season in MotoGP as he opted to retire after seven full time seasons, to become a Honda factory test rider in 2025 moving into a new role in Japan.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2007	125cc	Honda RS125R	Red Bull MotoGP Academy	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2008	125cc	Aprilia RS125	I.C. Team	17	0	0	0	0	12	24th
2009	125cc	Aprilia RS125	Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.	16	0	0	0	0	43	16th
2011	Moto2	Suter MMXI	Italtrans Racing Team	0	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2012	Moto2	Kalex Moto2	Italtrans Racing Team	17	0	0	0	0	57	15th
2013	Moto2	Kalex Moto2	Italtrans Racing Team	16	0	5	3	0	149	8th
2014	Moto2	Kalex Moto2	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	18	0	0	0	0	34	22nd
2015	Moto2	Kalex Moto2	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	18	0	1	0	0	100	8th
2016	Moto2	Kalex Moto2	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	18	1	4	1	1	169	6th
2017	Moto2	Kalex Moto2	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	18	1	4	1	0	137	7th
2018	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	LCR Honda Idemitsu	18	0	0	0	0	33	20th
2019	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	LCR Honda Idemitsu	16	0	0	0	0	74	13th
2020	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	LCR Honda Idemitsu	14	0	0	1	0	116	10th
2021	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	LCR Honda Idemitsu	18	0	0	0	0	76	15th
2022	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	LCR Honda Idemitsu	17	0	0	0	0	48	18th
2023	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	LCR Honda Idemitsu	20	0	0	0	0	56	18th
2024	MotoGP	Honda RC213V	Idemitsu Honda LCR	20	0	0	0	0	31	19th
Total				262	2	14	6	1	1135

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	2007–2009	2007 Valencia			34	0	0	0	0	55	0
Moto2	2011–2017	2011 Japan	2013 Qatar	2016 Netherlands	105	2	14	5	1	646	0
MotoGP	2018–present	2018 Qatar			123	0	0	1	0	434	0
Total	2007–present				262	2	14	6	1	1135	0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Pts
2007	125cc	Honda	QAT	SPA	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	CZE	RSM	POR	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL Ret				NC	0
2008	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 19	SPA 15	POR 19	CHN Ret	FRA 16	ITA 16	CAT 22	GBR 8	NED Ret	GER 18	CZE Ret	RSM 19	INP Ret	JPN 13	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL 16				24th	12
2009	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 20	JPN 20	SPA 16	FRA 5	ITA 15	CAT 15	NED 17	GER Ret	GBR 5	CZE 19	INP 9	RSM 20	POR 11	AUS 18	MAL 11	VAL 14					16th	43
2011	Moto2	Suter	QAT	SPA	POR	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	ITA	GER	CZE	INP	RSM	ARA	JPN DNS	AUS	MAL	VAL				NC	0
2012	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 14	SPA 5	POR 18	FRA Ret	CAT 6	GBR 19	NED 12	GER 19	ITA 7	INP 16	CZE 17	RSM 11	ARA 29	JPN 7	MAL Ret	AUS 9	VAL Ret				15th	57
2013	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 3	AME Ret	SPA 4	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 5	NED DNS	GER 10	INP 2	CZE 2	GBR 2	RSM 2	ARA 11	MAL 8	AUS 22	JPN 9	VAL 13				8th	149
2014	Moto2	Kalex	QAT DSQ	AME 11	ARG 15	SPA Ret	FRA 16	ITA 16	CAT 13	NED 14	GER 21	INP 11	CZE 19	GBR 15	RSM 10	ARA 15	JPN 13	AUS 11	MAL Ret	VAL 14			22nd	34
2015	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 14	AME 10	ARG 20	SPA 17	FRA 7	ITA 13	CAT 20	NED 13	GER 7	INP 9	CZE 12	GBR 14	RSM 3	ARA 8	JPN 22	AUS 4	MAL 4	VAL 11			8th	100
2016	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 14	ARG 9	AME 15	SPA 7	FRA 5	ITA 9	CAT 3	NED 1	GER 11	AUT 7	CZE Ret	GBR 3	RSM 3	ARA 5	JPN 4	AUS 5	MAL 21	VAL 6			6th	169
2017	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 3	ARG Ret	AME 3	SPA 21	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT 10	NED 3	GER 10	CZE 24	AUT 6	GBR 1	RSM 10	ARA 8	JPN 6	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL 7			7th	137
2018	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 17	ARG 13	AME 14	SPA 12	FRA 15	ITA 18	CAT Ret	NED 19	GER Ret	CZE 17	AUT 15	GBR C	RSM 13	ARA 12	THA 22	JPN 15	AUS 14	MAL 14	VAL 6		20th	33
2019	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 9	ARG 7	AME 10	SPA 9	FRA Ret	ITA 5	CAT 8	NED Ret	GER 14	CZE 9	AUT 11	GBR 17	RSM 18	ARA 10	THA 10	JPN 16	AUS	MAL	VAL		13th	74
2020	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 10	ANC 4	CZE 8	AUT 6	STY 7	RSM 9	EMI 6	CAT 7	FRA 7	ARA 5	TER Ret	EUR 4	VAL Ret	POR 5							10th	116
2021	MotoGP	Honda	QAT Ret	DOH 17	POR 10	SPA 4	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT 13	GER 13	NED 9	STY 5	AUT 13	GBR 13	ARA 10	RSM 10	AME 17	EMI 15	ALR 11	VAL Ret			15th	76
2022	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 10	INA 19	ARG 12	AME 14	POR 16	SPA 7	FRA 7	ITA 8	CAT Ret	GER Ret	NED 12	GBR 13	AUT Ret	RSM 15	ARA Ret	JPN 20	THA	AUS	MAL	VAL 14	18th	48
2023	MotoGP	Honda	POR 12	ARG 13	AME Ret	SPA 9	FRA 9	ITA 13	GER 14	NED 8	GBR 16	AUT 18	CAT 15	RSM 19	IND 11	JPN 11	INA 11	AUS 19	THA 14	MAL 18	QAT 19	VAL 12	18th	56
2024	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 19	POR 14	AME Ret	SPA 14	FRA 14	CAT 14	ITA Ret	NED 16	GER 14	GBR 15	AUT 14	ARA 12	RSM 13	EMI 17	INA 12	JPN 13	AUS 18	THA 13	MAL Ret	SLD 17	19th	31

* Season still in progress.

Suzuka 8 Hours results

Year	Team	Co-Riders	Bike	Pos
2010	MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO	Ryuichi Kiyonari Takumi Takahashi	CBR1000RRW	1st
2018	Red Bull Honda with Japan Post	PJ Jacobsen Takumi Takahashi	CBR1000RRW	2nd

External links

• Takaaki Nakagami at MotoGP.com
• Takaaki Nakagami at AS.com (in Spanish)
• Official website