Takaaki Nakagami: "Time to think" about MotoGP future

Takaaki Nakagami hopes to know his MotoGP future before the start of the flyaway rounds.

An LCR Honda rider since joining the premier class in 2018, Nakagami’s race seat is under threat from Moto2 star Somkiat Chantra.

Some rumours suggest a deal with the Thai rider is already done, although HRC team manager Alberto Puig insisted in Austria on Sunday that “nothing is decided yet.”

Nakagami is thought to have received some kind of offer from Honda, and has long been touted as a potential MotoGP test rider - although HRC has already signed Aleix Espargaro to join Stefan Bradl in its European test team.

While unwilling to reveal the nature of the HRC offer, Nakagami did give a timeline for a decision:

“Aragon or Misano, I hope,” Nakagami said. “After this GP we have a one week off because the Repsol guys go to the Misano test, but our LCR team we don't have any tests. So it looks like I have time to think about it.”

The Aragon round takes place next weekend followed immediately by the first Misano event.

A second Misano round, in place of Kazakhstan, will takes place on September 20-22 before the run of five flyaway rounds begins, in Indonesia.

Alberto Puig: “Honda must think what will be the future”

Nakagami finished as the top Honda rider with 14th place in Sunday's Austrian MotoGP, putting him just one point behind team-mate and top Honda rider Johann Zarco in the world championship standings (18th).

Repsol Honda's Joan Mir is tied with Nakagami on 13 points, with Luca Marini scoring just one point so far this year.

“My plan A is to stay with the same team and to continue because honestly speaking it is not fair to decide my potential this season because all four riders are struggling, not only me,” Nakagami said at Silverstone earlier this month.

Speaking to Simon Crafar at the Red Bull Ring, Puig said of the last remaining 2025 Honda race seat: “Nothing is decided yet. But Taka is a rider that has a lot of experience with our bike. And also, he's very fast.

“It’s true that he has not been so lucky in the past years, he had some injuries. But always to have a Japanese rider with a high level is very good for the factory, because the communication in Japanese is let's say more understandable for them.

“And I think Taka has a clear understanding of the bike and during all these years he helped a lot for the development of the bike.

“But on the other hand it's true that the Asia Talent Cup produces a lot of riders and, for example, Ogura signed for MotoGP with Aprilia and Chantra in the future maybe can also join MotoGP.

“So it's a compromise and Honda must think what will be the future of these people. But to have experienced riders beside young riders is always positive. And this is more or less in the situation where we are now with the Asian riders.”

“Chantra can be cool, but Nakagami has the experience”

Nakagami’s current LCR Honda team-mate Johann Zarco, in the first year of a two-year contract, said:

“I don’t know [who it will be]. I heard about Chantra. Which would be kind of cool, for Thailand to have a rider. He has a lot of energy, he attacks a lot. But clearly he doesn't have the experience that Nakagami has."

Looking at the RC213V project as a whole, the Frenchman added that Chantra’s lack of MotoGP experience might not be a bad thing.

“I think having a rookie, learning new things, we can… maybe understand some strong or some weak points of the bike. Because a rookie doesn't have any references.

"Sometimes having like a '[blank] paper' can be kind of interesting and good.”