        In a certain sense, Takaaki Nakagami is one of the men of the moment. On the one hand, the Barcelona incident has not yet been fully put to bed, for various reasons, and on the other hand, the Japanese rider is perhaps the focus of Honda's attention in terms of development, as the manufacturer tackles a puzzle that appears to have no solution. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much I can say&rdquo;, comments Taka, &ldquo;We have a problem and we don&rsquo;t what to do right now. After the summer, I think we&rsquo;ll see big changes. The engine is OK, but in terms of the frame and aerodynamics we&rsquo;re not at the level of our rivals, especially with the aerodynamics, as we haven&rsquo;t improved since the winter tests. We&rsquo;re lacking rear grip and rideability, and you have to be excessively on the brakes in corner entry, which doesn&rsquo;t help. It&rsquo;s difficult.&rdquo; Last weekend was a disaster for Honda. Have you talked about it? &ldquo;Not specifically, but it was definitely a difficult weekend. It&rsquo;s not good to see Honda last and outside the points &ndash; there&rsquo;s clearly a problem, so we need to work out what to change.&rdquo; Nakagami: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not yet 100%&rdquo;  How are you physically? &ldquo;The three crashes in Germany didn&rsquo;t make my physical condition any worse, but overall it was a tough weekend, largely due to the heat. I lost a lot of energy day by day, so it was complicated. I&rsquo;ve rested as much as possible over the last few days and, although I&rsquo;m not yet 100%, I&rsquo;m there. Assen is not a negative track for us, but the weather is always hard to predict. We need to be ready in any case and try to complete a good weekend to round out the first part of the season as best we can.&rdquo; This track is known to be physically demanding. Are you worried? &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a track that requires energy, particularly in the last two sectors but we&rsquo;ll see. After this weekend, we&rsquo;ll have five weeks off, so we need to give it our all now.&rdquo; Translated by Heather Watson Rins and Oliveira: a guaranteed future in MotoGP, but no signatures yet       

The Japanese rider explains: "We&rsquo;re lacking rear grip and rideability. I expect big changes after the summer&rdquo;

MotoGP, Nakagami: “Right now there is no solution to the Honda’s problems”

        When it rains, it pours. The well-known saying goes some way to describing Honda&rsquo;s MotoGP season start. The manufacturer already has its problems with Marc Marquez, and now Takaaki Nakagami is also forced to sit out the action. While the eight-time champion is advised to rest while his diplopia heals, the Japanese rider has been stopped in his tracks by Covid. The number 93 rider will be replaced in the Repsol Honda garage in Argentina by German Stefan Bradl, while the LCR satellite team will have to do without the 33-year Japanese rider, who has been part of Lucio Cecchinello&rsquo;s squad since 2018. Only Alex Marquez will be in action, riding at Termas de Rio Hondo with the RC213 V in Castrol colours. Only one of the Marquez brothers: 2022 another tough year for Honda  As for Nakagami, it seems as if the rider is suffering no symptoms or physical tiredness, but he has now tested positive more than once. Takaaki is understandably upset: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed but well. I hope to be able to race in the US&rdquo;, he comments, in reference to the Austin round, to take place right after Termas. And so it is that LCR and Honda must count on just one Marquez, Alex, the youngest and least well-known. But he is strong, having won both a Moto3 and Moto2 world title, not something many riders can boast. 2022 has got off to a tough start for the Japanese manufacturer, and for the Marquez family too, with Alex now called upon to fly the flag for both the brand and the family name. Translated by Heather Watson Bagnaia: &ldquo;Argentina will turn our MotoGP season around&rdquo;       

The Japanese LCR rider has tested positive for Covid and won&rsquo;t line up for the Termas race &nbsp;

MotoGP, the latest Honda setback: no Argentina for Nakagami

        Shortly after the unveiling of Alex Marquez&rsquo;s Castrol livery, Lucio Cecchinello&rsquo;s LCR team also revealed the Honda RC213V with Idemitsu colour scheme that Takaaki Nakagami will ride as he heads into his fifth MotoGP season. The Japanese rider has also turned 30 today, like the number he&rsquo;s sported on his fairings for many seasons already. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t celebrate my birthday, but I am hoping to get myself a nice gift&rdquo;, jokes Taka after the presentation. &ldquo;This will be my fifth season in the category and I hope to play a starring role, trying to score my first podium and perhaps even a first win. I can&rsquo;t wait to show what I can do and I&rsquo;ll also be able to count on a bike that&rsquo;s been completely revolutionised compared to last year&rsquo;s version, as well as a mental coach who will work with me each weekend&rdquo;. Nakagami: &ldquo;The new RC213V is so different that it doesn&rsquo;t seem like a Honda&rdquo;  The new bike is a big step forward according to number 30: &ldquo;The RC213V has really changed a lot, aesthetically but particularly technically. There&rsquo;s real potential, but it&rsquo;s so different that when I rode it for the first time, it didn&rsquo;t even seem like a Honda. I started to get to grips with it and adapt to the many new features at Jerez and then Sepang, but it will take a little time to be competitive also in races&rdquo;. The Japanese rider has had to forgo the Suzuka 8 Hours due to a packed 21-race MotoGP calendar, but he will be able to enjoy a home round: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry to have to miss the 8 Hours, which is very important for us Japanese riders, but we have a clash with Silverstone. Honda will have a great line-up anyway, maybe with Vierge and Lecuona. As for me, I&rsquo;m just happy that MotoGP will finally return to Japan, because I&rsquo;ve really missed having a home round in recent years&rdquo;. &ldquo;2023? I&rsquo;m not thinking about it yet&rdquo;  Lastly, he touches on possible scenarios for 2023: &ldquo;Many contracts will expire at the end of this year and in 2023 the MotoGP grid will probably look very different to how it does now. But I&rsquo;m not thinking about it for now. I don&rsquo;t have a manager and arrange everything myself, so I prefer to focus first on what&rsquo;s happening on track&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Alex Marquez: &ldquo;Honda has listened to our recommendations&rdquo;       

Team LCR has unveiled the livery of &ldquo;Taka&rdquo;&rsquo;s Honda on what is his 30th birthday: &ldquo;As a gift, I&rsquo;d like a starring role this season. Having a home race again will be fantastic&rdquo;

MotoGP, Nakagami: “This year’s goal? Our first win”

        Just a few hours after the covers came off the factory team's bikes, team LCR has followed suit, revealing the Honda RC213V that Alex Marquez will ride this coming season. The Spaniard is ready to bounce back after a less than simple 2021 and will be able to count on a bike that is revolutionised compared to last year&rsquo;s version. &ldquo;Honda has listened to our recommendations and the new bike marks a big step forward, though it will take time to develop it and make it truly competitive of course&rdquo;, said number 73 at the end of the presentation. &ldquo;We finally have better grip at the rear and more power, but the tests at Sepang are not truly indicative as I&rsquo;d never ridden a MotoGP bike there before and it was almost everyone&rsquo;s first time out with the new bikes. There&rsquo;ll be a more level playing field at Mandalika and so we&rsquo;ll understand more there.&rdquo; Alex: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m aiming for consistency, but would like the podium&rdquo;  As for his goals for the season, Alex is keeping his feet on the ground: &ldquo;It will definitely be a better year than 2021 and it would be amazing if I could be the best of the independent riders, but we need to be realistic and I know it won&rsquo;t be easy, as we&rsquo;re all so close. I&rsquo;m aiming for consistency and will work to finish in the top ten each week, maybe even getting back on the podium&rdquo;. Lastly, a look ahead to 2023, the rider admitting that he is keen to stay with Honda: &ldquo;I like it here, so I&rsquo;ll try to have a good season so that I can stay. Knowing I have to earn my spot gives me added motivation to be fast and competitive. I&rsquo;m not the only one in this situation of course and many will be trying to stand out right from the first races, so I need to be fast right from the Qatar round&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, it&rsquo;s Ducati&rsquo;s year: more trump cards as it aims for the title       

On the day of the team LCR presentation, the Spaniard speaks about the first tests with the new RC213V and about what he expects from the season: &ldquo;It will definitely be a better year than 2021. I&rsquo;ll aim for the top ten in every race&rdquo;

MotoGP, Alex Marquez: “Honda has listened to our recommendations”

        2021 was a complicated season in terms for results for all the Honda bikes essentially. If it wasn&rsquo;t for Marc Marquez&rsquo;s three wins, ir would have been a decidedly negative season for the Tokyo manufacturer, which struggled more than expected with its other riders. Team LCR was no exception, its riders Nakagami and Marquez rounding out the season in 15th and 16th place. A regression with respect to 2020, when the Japanese rider was often fast, finishing top five on four occasions and setting a pole position. While the Spaniard, competing for the factory team that year, scored two consecutive second-place finishes at the end of the season, which had us thinking that he&rsquo;d be playing a starring role in 2021. Many difficulties in 2022, and a best result of fourth  The championship proved to be an uphill climb for Lucio Cecchinello&rsquo;s team, Alex Marquez and Nakagami unable to replicate and build upon their performance during the final races of the previous season. For the Japanese rider, 2022 will be fundamental. Now in his fifth season in the top class, he has always been a fast rider, but he&rsquo;s often missing that final push, that step up in quality that would allow him to be a top five regular. Dorna has always been keen to have at least one Japanese rider on the grid, but it&rsquo;s also true that Nakagami won't be able to keep a sought-after seat like that of Team LCR forever - he'll definitely need to obtain results this coming season. Alex Marquez&rsquo;s situation is slightly different. Marc&rsquo;s brother has age on his side, but the 2021 season didn&rsquo;t live up to expectations and his seat might also be in jeopardy, if he doesn&rsquo;t make that step up in terms of quality. More than once, Marquez has shown that he knows how to ride the Honda, but he&rsquo;s often lacking consistency, and confidence too. The Spaniard&rsquo;s best result of the year was a fourth-place finish at the penultimate Portimao round. The same result as his team-mate, fourth at Jerez, a decidedly meagre &lsquo;best&rsquo; for them both. Honda needs to step it up  Having said all this, the Honda hasn&rsquo;t exactly proved to be the easiest bike to ride. Many have struggled, and only Marc Marquez has succeeded, despite his well-documented physical problems, competitive to such an extent that he was able to win three races. For the other "Hondisti" though, the situation was complex in terms of results. Only the eight-time champ reached the podium, with not even Pol Espargar&oacute;, on the other factory Honda, able to do the same, the Spaniard forced to settle for just one pole position. 2022 remains an unknown for now. At the recent tests at Jerez, the bike appeared to have made progress in terms of its handling, but then the other manufacturers are not standing idly by either. Ducati (which will have eight bikes on the grid next year) but also Yamaha and Suzuki have clearly demonstrated that they intend to make further progress. Translated by Heather Watson Bastianini: &ldquo;When you come to MotoGP, it&rsquo;s like starting over from scratch&rdquo;       

A year short on results for Lucio Cecchinello&rsquo;s team, the Spaniard and the Japanese rider having never reached the podium

MotoGP: a disappointing 2021 for team LCR, but Marquez and Nakagami are reconfirmed

        After the first four races of the 2021 MotoGP season, Honda&rsquo;s performance can be viewed in nothing other than a very negative light. If we put Marc Marquez&rsquo;s return aside, the rider having completed only two races after months away from the tracks and still not in ideal physical shape, the Tokyo manufacturer scored no significant results in Qatar or Portugal, while Jerez finally brought something better, at the hands of its least valued rider. At Jerez de la Frontera, it was Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami who &lsquo;saved&rsquo; Honda with an impressive fourth-place finish, the rider coming close to the podium and demonstrating a solidity that we hadn&rsquo;t yet seen from any of the RC213V riders so far this season. Light at the end of the tunnel?  If we look at the championship standings, we see that the Japanese is the highest scoring Honda rider, despite only lying in eleventh place (with 19 points to the 17 of Pol Espargar&oacute;). He is also riding a less advanced bike than those of the factory riders and his more esteemed LCR team-mate Alex Marquez, currently a distant relative of the rider we saw in the second half of last season. Now in his fourth season in the reigning class, perhaps it&rsquo;s time for Honda to focus on Taka in order to make the bike more rideable. It would be a big responsibility for a rider who&rsquo;s not yet proved to be a MotoGP winner, sure, but judging by the results, he is perhaps the only rider (Marc aside) able to tame a &ldquo;monster&rdquo; like the RC213V at such a difficult time. The next races will provide more of an answer but, for now, and as strange as it might seem talking about the world&rsquo;s most powerful brand, Takaaki represents a reference point from which to start and at least glimpse the famous light at the end of a tunnel that, right now, looks very dark for Honda. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP: Fabio Quartararo has second compartmental syndrome surgery       

Despite being the least valued of the four Honda riders, the Japanese is proving to be solid and consistent, with two consecutive top ten finishes at Portim&atilde;o and Jerez. Will he revive the RC213V?

6 risultati per 'EN takaaki nakagami'

MotoGP, Nakagami: “Right now there is no solution to the Honda’s problems”

MotoGP, the latest Honda setback: no Argentina for Nakagami

MotoGP, Nakagami: “This year’s goal? Our first win”

MotoGP, Alex Marquez: “Honda has listened to our recommendations”

MotoGP: a disappointing 2021 for team LCR, but Marquez and Nakagami are reconfirmed

MotoGP: Takaaki Nakagami, the underdog who is saving Honda