Nakagami confirmed at LCR for 2019
On the eve of his home Japanese MotoGP, Takaaki Nakagami has been officially confirmed as remaining at the LCR Honda team for 2019.
The rookie, a double race winner in Moto2, is currently 18th in the world championship with a best finish of twelfth (Jerez, Aragon).
On the eve of his home Japanese MotoGP, Takaaki Nakagami has been officially confirmed as remaining at the LCR Honda team for 2019.
The rookie, a double race winner in Moto2, is currently 18th in the world championship with a best finish of twelfth (Jerez, Aragon).
"First of all I am really happy to continue with LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team in 2019," Nakagami said. "A big thank you goes to our sponsor IDEMITSU for its great support and of course to Honda HRC for believing in my skills and providing a competitive technical package.
"This team is very professional and I could not ask for more in my debut season in the premier class, so I am very happy to continue with Lucio and his crew. I can’t wait to start the new season but at the same time I am very focused on my home race in Motegi and the last races of this 2018 championship."
Nakagami will continue alongside Cal Crutchlow. Both riders have a contract directly with HRC, although Crutchlow's runs to the end of the 2020 season.
LCR will be Honda's only satellite MotoGP team next season, following the withdraw of Marc VDS.
"We’re very happy to announce that Nakagami will continue riding with the LCR Honda Team in 2019. He’s in his rookie season and we know that is a huge challenge for every rider, but even so he’s already showed his skills," said HRC director Tetsuhiro Kuwata.
"He’s still learning and improving day by day in the toughest category in motorcycle racing and we are pretty confident we will see his experience on track in the future. We wish him and the LCR Honda MotoGP Team all the best for the remainder of this season and now look forward to enjoying our home race in Motegi this weekend”.
Nakagami is currently third in the Rookie of the Year standings, 10 points behind Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3 Yamaha) and 15 from Morbidelli. Fellow newcomers Thomas Luthi (Marc VDS) and Xavier Simeon (Avintia Ducati) are yet to score points.
The new deal for Nakagami means only Tito Rabat's 2019 Avintia ride is still to be officially confirmed.
