Honda Confirms Second MotoGP Wildcard at French GP
Honda will field a second wildcard rider of 2025 at this month’s French MotoGP at Le Mans, although it won’t be Aleix Espargaro
Honda has confirmed it will field a second wildcard in as many MotoGP rounds with Takaaki Nakagami set to join the fold at Le Mans.
Nakagami will effectively replace Aleix Espargaro after the former MotoGP race winner with Aprilia made his official debut for the Japanese brand last time out at Jerez.
Nakagami, who like Espargaro is now part of the revamped official Honda test rider team, will make his first appearance of 2025 and first since losing his full-time race seat to rookie Somkiat Chantra.
It did look as though Nakagami was potentially going to retain his seat for 2025 when Honda’s intended signing, Ai Ogura, instead joined Trackhouse Racing aboard an RS-GP Aprilia.
But Ogura’s former Moto2 teammate Chantra was then promoted to the team alongside veteran Johann Zarco.
While Nakagami will be riding with the intention of further improving Honda’s ever-evolving package which has made big steps forward in 2025, he will likely want to better Espargaro’s result of 14th at Jerez, although the Spaniard was later demoted to 17th place due to a tyre pressure penalty.
A statement from Honda reads: “Another set of hands to help out on our journey back to the top! Takaaki Nakagami and the Honda HRC Test Team will be on track at the French GP for the second wildcard of the season. Maximum effort from everyone involved.”
The French MotoGP at Le Mans will take place on 9-11 May and is round six of the championship which Alex Marquez leads by one point ahead of his brother Marc Marquez.
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After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
