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Thoughts about the future of his career have also been emerging for Taka Nakagami, who in his seventh year in MotoGP perhaps feels the need to open up new prospects to break the stalemate he has been in with Honda in recent years. In fact, it seems that the Japanese manufacturer has proposed an attractive alternative to the 32-year-old from Chiba, which may have intrigued the Japanese rider to the point of reconsidering previous his statements in which he saw himself still riding in the top class. The rider, enigmativally, does not go into detail, but thoughts naturally turn to the production-based championship after increasingly persistent rumors about the arrival of the Thai rider Chantra in Lucio Cecchinello's team had begun to circulate.
You recently said that your priority is to continue in MotoGP, but there are some conflicting rumors about that.
"At the moment I can't go into details, " Nakagami began, "I can only say that I have received an interesting proposal from HRC, I can't say what it is, maybe I might accept it."
The fact that you cannot go into details also implies that it is not about MotoGP.
"The priority for everyone in HRC and for me as well as for the other riders is to improve the current situation. We cannot spend all the sessions in the positions at the bottom of the standings. I want to improve as a rider, I want to be able to fight with all the other riders while I often find myself racing on my own. It's about having a different perspective since a couple of races."
At Silverstone there was mention of a new engine here in Austria.
"Yes we have it and I'm curious to find out its performance. Now we have four riders all with the same specifications. That means we all start from the same point and it will be easier to improve step by step. Definitely I hope the new engine has potential. It's a different engine from the one Marini used at Silverstone."
Having had a similar career, do you understand Ai Ogura's choice to break away from Honda?
"To be honest it's a difficult question, everyone thinks differently and has different goals. I saw five minutes ago the news that he will race in Trackhouse on an Aprilia. He has decided to move on and change his approach. I can't say much because it was his decision, he had offers from Honda in the past but in the end he accepted an offer from a different manufacturer. I want to congratulate him, I think he deserved it to be able to race on a MotoGP bike from next season. It's also good news for Japan as a country as well as for himself as a rider. I think now he will be more relaxed and focused on the rest of the championship where he is fighting for the title, he is very close to the lead so we have our fingers crossed that he can win the title this year."
