Just like Suzuki, Honda will put one of its official test riders on an extra bike at this year’s MotoGP home race in Japan
Japanese motorbike manufacturer Honda will be fielding an extra RC213V at its home race on the 2022 MotoGP calendar – the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on 25 September.
In addition to the two bikes of the Honda factory team and the two of the factory-supported satellite team LCR, HRC’s bike, usually painted in the Honda colours red, white and blue, will also be on the grid again at Motegi. However, it will not be Stefan Bradl in the saddle at the Japan weekend, but another official HRC test rider: Tetsuta Nagashima.
Nagashima will compete in Motegi with a wildcard, making his debut in the premier class of the motorbike world championship. “To compete in the MotoGP class is something I have dreamed of since I was a kid,” said the 30-year-old Japanese rider.
“It’s only a wildcard for one race, but I will do my best,” assures Nagashima. Together with LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami and Suzuki’s wildcard starter Takuya Tsuda, Nagashima will be the third local hero in the premier class field for the first Japan weekend of the World Motorcycle Championship in three years.
From 2013 to 2021, Nagashima had competed for different teams in the Moto2 World Championship. His best year was 2020 when he scored his only Grand Prix win at the opening race in Losail (Qatar) and finished the season in eighth place overall.
Nagashima has been an official HRC test rider since 2021. In the current race year of 2022, he was part of the winning Honda trio at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Together with his compatriot Takumi Takahashi and Spaniard Iker Lecuona, he ensured Honda’s first triumph since 2014 at the Japanese endurance classic.
