Takaaki Nakagami: Nothing changes for “sad” MotoGP home farewell
Japan's MotoGP rider enters final Japanese round at Motegi
Takaaki Nakagami admits his final Japanese Grand Prix as a full-time MotoGP rider is “sad” but feels the occasion “doesn’t change anything” in his approach to the weekend.
The LCR rider will step away from full-time racing in MotoGP at the end of the 2024 season as he embarks on a new role development role with Honda.
While this will still entail some wildcards - and most likely one of those will be at Motegi - this weekend represents the last home race of his racing career.
Having taken part in 12 Japanese Grands Prix to date through his career, his best result on home soil was a fourth in the 2016 Moto2 race.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s Motegi round, Nakagami said: “Well, it will be a sad emotion.
“It’s going to be my last home GP as a full-time rider. But at the moment, somehow, I feel it doesn’t change anything from the past and I feel really exactly the same.
“So, of course it’s something special because it’s my home GP.
“But only this, nothing more. I don’t know, day by day it will change. But at the moment, it’s ok, I don’t feel so much of a different feeling.”
Nakagami started racing with Honda’s updated aerodynamic package last weekend at the Indonesian GP, which he says made a noticeable improvement to turning and bike stability.
However, he notes that the RC213V is still lacking in traction and is “worried” how this will affect the bike at the stop-and-go Motegi layout.
He says Honda has some ideas to try to improve this area from Friday practice.
“From my side, I received the new aero package last weekend from Saturday morning,” he added.
“So, Friday I used the previous one, which is good because one day with two sessions we understood [a lot].
“Then from Saturday and Sunday we decided to use the new aero package, and back-to-back the difference was clear.
“[It helps] more in the turning phase and then the bike is a little bit of a more stable bike.
“I was able to feel the positive feeling. But the main issue is still the lack of rear grip and some wheelie in the exit of the corner.
“So, there is some areas to improve, and especially here, Motegi is a typical stop-and-go.
“So, I’m a little bit worried about the corner exit.
“But we have some plans to try reduce the wheelie with the bike balance. Hopefully we can find a good feeling as soon as possible.”
