Takaaki Nakagami has been confirmed to continue with LCR Honda until the end of at least 2020, but will miss the final few races due to a shoulder operation.
Nakagami is one of the last men to sign for ’20 – the remaining one being Johann Zarco’s KTM replacement – although an announcement has been expected for a while.
The Japanese rider has impressed in his sophomore year in the premier class-with a best result of fifth coming at Mugello- and as a result he pushed to receive similar machinery to team-mate Cal Crutchlow for next season.
Nakagami currently competes with a year-old Honda, but sampled the ’19 spec bike at the Barcelona test in June-in which he managed a lap over half-a-second faster than he managed over the race weekend at the venue.
Nakagami’s statement also confirmed he would miss the final three races of the season in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia in order to recover sufficiently from an upcoming shoulder operation.
Recently crowned world champion Marc Marquez had a similar operation ahead of this season, but had difficulty training ahead of the year due to not having healed well enough, goading Honda into taking the decision to allow Nakagami more time to recover ahead of testing and winter training.
It was not confirmed whether his request to receive a ’20 spec machine had been successful, but nonetheless he was thrilled to be able to head into his third MotoGP season with Honda support.
“First of all I am delighted to stay with Honda and the LCR Team,” said Nakagami.
“I have been able to improve a lot this year and Honda have shown me great support and given me a very strong package. I am sure together we can continue this in 2020.
“About the injury, after the crash I had in Assen I found myself in some pain and lacking a bit of strength in my shoulder.
“I went to the doctor to fully understand the situation and while I have been able to ride with the injury, it has not been ideal so we made the difficult decision alongside Honda and the LCR Team to have this operation now.”
