LCR Honda rider Taka Nakagami will once again sit out a round of the 2022 MotoGP championship this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, as he continues to deal with the aftermath of his decision to race at his home race at Motegi only day after sustaining serious damage to his right hand.
The fact Nakagami’s premature return has needlessly exacerbated his injury carries strong echoes of fellow Honda rider Marc Marquez’s hugely costly attempt to race just a week after his Jerez 2020 arm break – a decision that effectively wrecked his next three seasons – and suggests the lessons of that were not heeded.
Nakagami was taken out of the race at Motorland Aragon by fellow Honda rider Marquez when the six-time world champion collided with him on the opening lap of the race due to damage to his RC213V sustained during earlier contact with reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo.
Severely damaging the fourth and fifth fingers of his hand in the fall and immediately requiring surgery in an attempt to reconnect the tendons in them, he then flew to Japan to race at his first home race since 2019 despite the advice of his doctors.
Admitting throughout the weekend that he was getting off the bike to discover a glove full of blood after every session and eventually conceding that he had done even more significant damage en route to a lowly 20th place in the race, he then underwent fresh surgery following the race that forced him to miss the Thai Grand Prix five days later, with Honda test rider Tetsuta Nagashima replacing him at Buriram.
Despite the weekend of rest since then, it’s now been confirmed by his LCR Honda team that he will once again be replaced by Nagashima at Phillip Island this weekend, after details of the severity of his most recent surgery revealed that Nakagami required skin grafts to both fingers to close the wounds he suffered in Aragon and then ruptured in Motegi.
🚨 NAKAGAMI UPDATE🚨
@tetsutanagashima to replace @takanakagami30 at the #AustralianGP Following doctors’ recommendations, Taka will miss the #AustralianGP.Nagashima will once again stand in for his compatriot as he recovers from the operation he underwent after the JapaneseGP. pic.twitter.com/xOQ2ORAZ1s— LCR Team (@lcr_team) October 10, 2022
“After the Japanese GP,” the Japanese racer said in a statement from his team, “I had another surgery on my fingers and they are getting better day by day but it is still a bit difficult to grab some items. I feel fine, I don’t feel any pain but the doctor recommended that I have to rest at least two more weeks which means that I will miss the Australian GP.
“Next Monday I have another medical check to take out the stitches and then we’ll decide if I can race in Malaysia. Meantime, I wish to Nagashima-san and my team all the best in Phillip Island.”
The decision to allow Nakagami to race in Japan draws fresh attention onto Honda’s MotoGP management by highlighting how little was seemingly learnt from its experience with an injured Marquez in 2020 – the ramifications of which it’s still feeling today.
