[kropotkin thinks...] - Takaaki Nakagami Confirmed With LCR Honda For 2020, To Miss Last...

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Takaaki Nakagami will be staying with the LCR Honda team for 2020, HRC and the LCR Honda team have officially confirmed. After a long period of negotiation, Honda and Nakagami have finally reached terms which will see the Japanese rider staying in Lucio Cecchinello's team for another season.

The announcement had long been expected. Nakagami was one of a few riders without a confirmed contract for 2020, but as his place in the LCR Honda Idemitsu team came with direct support from Honda and Japanese oil brand Idemitsu, there seemed little doubt he would be back.

The sticking point in the negotiations was which bike Nakagami would be riding. Throughout the summer, Nakagami insisted he wanted a 2020-spec Honda RC213V for next year. However, as the flyaways approached, it became increasingly clear that the Japanese rider was resigned to settling for a 2019-spec machine.

That was finally confirmed in the press release, LCR team boss Lucio Cecchinello stating that Nakagami will be racing "the RCV Factory motorcycle that has just won the 2019 World Title with Marc Marquez". Given how difficult to ride the 2019 machine has proven to be for anyone other than Marquez, this could pose a serious challenge for Nakagami.