What is Nakagami’s role in Honda, which will have “a rib” of Ducati in its development starting in 2024?

With six years already completed in MotoGP, all of them with the LCR Honda Idemitsu team, Takaaki Nakagami is preparing for his seventh season with the team and now, with more experience than any other rider with the Honda RC213V.

The Japanese rider has always played a more “secondary” role within Honda, always in the satellite team and where he will continue in 2024, in his final year of contract. However, after Marc Márquez’s departure, he is the one with the most experience and who knows the bike best.

However, the arrival of Luca Marini, coming from the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, is seen as one of Honda’s ways to try to return to success in MotoGP. The manufacturer offered Valentino Rossi’s brother a two-year contract, and with the experience he has with the Ducati Desmosedici, he could be the main source of development for the RC213V.

To join the Italian at Honda and partner with Nakagami is Johann Zarco, also well-versed in the Ducati universe, which reinforces the theory that Honda wants to move towards a development path within its philosophy but without forgetting the good that the Desmosedici can bring.
So it remains to be seen what Nakagami’s role will actually be at Honda, as Joan Mir has only had one year with the bike, and this year there are two new riders in the team coming from Ducati. Will Nakagami be the stabilizing element to keep the Honda spirit alive, the natural DNA of the bike? And what will Mir’s role be? One thing is certain, Honda seems to be betting on changing the “chip” and for that, it relies on the knowledge of two riders well accustomed to Ducati: Zarco at LCR Honda, and Marini at Repsol Honda