MotoGP Top 10 Riders of 2020: 6th – TAKAAKI NAKAGAMI
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Get MotoGP news in your inbox! By signing up to the newsletter you agree to receive emails from that may occasionally include promotional content Leave this field blank Takaaki Nakagami comes on leaps and bounds during the 2020 MotoGP season as he emerges as a surprise Honda team leader despite his year-old machineryTakaaki Nakagami (2).jpg Always destined to be a make-or-break 2020 MotoGP season for Takaaki Nakagami, the Japanese rider not only assured himself of an extended stay at the expense of more experienced team-mate Cal Crutchlow, but was thrust into becoming de facto team leader in Marc Marquez’s absence.It was quite the change of status for Nakagami in 2020 following a promising sophomore campaign on the LCR Honda, albeit one that didn’t earn him more up to date machinery as he persevered with the Honda RC213V Marquez took to the title a year earlier.All well and good, but the Marquez-Honda is a particular beast as many – including the three other Honda riders on 2020 machinery – have found previously. And yet, Nakagami made the concerted decision to revert to Marquez’s data and mirror his riding style, a tactic that took on greater pertinence when the Spaniard was injured, leaving a huge void at the helm of the Honda rider line-up.While Crutchlow should have assumed this status, his own problems elevated Nakagami by default, who nonetheless ran with his newfound prominence with a series of results that belied his aged Honda. Always much faster in the second of any back-to-back races and often stronger in race trim – especially towards the end of a race when it’s not unusual to see Nakagami ascending the order late on Suzuki-style – Nakagami’s one lap pace came on leaps and bounds in 2020 too leading to a maiden front row in Austria and a first pole in Aragon.Related ArticlesaccImages.createImage(); LCR boss: Nakagami’s ‘significant’ gains unexpected, must handle pressure betteraccImages.createImage(); Nakagami: Sorry for Marc, ‘my teacher’, Pol can adapt easily to HondaA season that was predominantly forged on consistency, bizarrely after ten top ten results from ten races Nakagami remained fifth in the standings – only 29 points off the lead – despite having recorded a result no better than fourth. Ironically, the following round at Teruel saw him bin it on the opening lap from pole, a mistake that would be repeated from a strong position in Valencia too.The untimely errors meant Nakagami slid to tenth in the standings and didn’t get the podium he so badly desires – despite 15 of his rivals achieving that feat in 2020 – but in a line-up that has been all about the Marquez brothers, or Jorge Lorenzo, or Cal Crutchlow, a Japanese rider performing on a Honda was a welcome sight.On a 2021-spec Honda RC213V next year and with Marquez’s tricks of the trade in his armoury now, he could prove a secret weapon for the Japanese manufacturer.Related ArticlesaccImages.createImage(); Nakagami: Cal Crutchlow ‘helped me a lot, incredible’accImages.createImage(); Nakagami misses MotoGP podium, but sets sights on 2021 title fight
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