Takaaki Nakagami
Also in 2006, Nakagami joined the MotoGP Academy which gave him the chance to compete overseas for the first time in the Spanish CEV 125cc series.Nakagami also received his first 125cc World Championship wildcard entry at the final round of the season in Valencia, qualifying in 20th position but failing to finish the race.He once again took pole at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and again finished second, this time behind Championship leader and home rider Scott Redding.Nakagami moved up to MotoGP in 2018, signing with LCR Team to ride a year-old Honda remaining with Idemitsu sponsorship.In October 2018, it was confirmed that Nakagami would remain at LCR Honda on a 2018-spec machine for the 2019 MotoGP season beside teammate Cal Crutchlow.[3] In the first half of the season he regularly achieved top 10 finishes, but a heavy crash at the Dutch TT and a subsequent shoulder injury led to a drop in form.In October 2020, based on his strong early season performances, Honda and LCR announced that Nakagami would remain with the team at least until the end of 2022 (his first multi-year contract in the MotoGP class) and would receive factory-spec machinery from 2021.He finished p18 in the standings with 56 points 2 ahead of teammate Álex Rins Nakagami continued with LCR Honda, this time partnering with Johann Zarco.