Injured Nakagami to be replaced by Nagashima at Thailand MotoGP

LCR Honda rider Nakagami hopes to return for the Australian MotoGP in two weeks’ time, but this weekend’s race will come too early for him.

Nakagami suffered injuries to his fingers while colliding with Marc Marquez at Aragon which required surgery, but bravely still competed at his home Japanese MotoGP.

He then visited a specialist on Tuesday morning who diagnosed him with a torn tendon in his little finger. He will undergo another surgery on Friday.

His replacement Nagashima said: "First of all, I wish Taka well and I hope that he can come back as soon as possible. I will try to do my best in his place for the LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team and I will try to enjoy the racing.

"I’m looking forward to this weekend’s event. I really had a lot of fun at the JapaneseGP, and I learned quite a lot. So, this weekend, I want to continue to do the same because I still have to learn a lot of things with the MotoGP bike."