Takaaki Nakagami admits he is feeling pressure to fly the flag for Honda in Marc Marquez’s absence, despite being🐈 one of only three riders on the 2020 MotoGP Wor♑ld Championship grid with 2019 machinery.

The Japanese rider enjoyed his strongest weekend yet in MotoGP last time out in Jerez with a career-best run to fourth position, while he topped two practice session🎃s for LCR Honda in the run up to qualifying too.

His timely upturn in form came on a weekend Honda was compromised by Marquez’s eventua🐎l absence, together with Cal Crutchlow’s wrist injury and rookie Alex Marquez’s modest 🤡ongoing transition from Moto2 to MotoGP machinery.

With Marquez not racing in Brno or the Red Bull Ring – accor📖ding to Nakagami – and Crutchlow still recovering, the LCR rider admits he is feeling the weight of expectation heading to Brno to replicate his Jerez form, even though he is doing so on a year-old satellite Honda 𝓰RC213V.

Even so, Nakagami is viewing it as an opportunity to prove his worth in MotoGP and insists he is being🃏 well supported by HRC.

“There is a lot of pressure for the result because it is something they [Honda] need. Unfortunately, Marc is not here and not for Austria, and my team-mate Cal had an injury in Jerez and Alex is a rookie so they have a lot of pressure for me. They need a good result for the constructors’ for theꦛ Honda.

“I feel a lot of pr🐽essure, but I am enjoying ꧒this moment and there is great support from the team and HRC. Everything is there to push 100% and get a good result.”

Revealing in Jerez that a move towar🌄ds Marquez’s unique set-up and riding style assisted his performance gains, he de🐼scribes how under braking he has made a particular step forward.

“It is not easy to copy but from HRC’s side they help during the weekend and we deeply c🌱hecked Marc’s data from the first race and on the braking I found a completely different w♛ay to stop the bike, so in the second race we tried it in every session.

“It was not easy to feel if it was correct but when I che💜cked the lap times I was getting bett𝔍er and better, so when I am riding the bike I am feeling a lot more confidence.

“It is difficult o explain but he has a lot of work on a special riding style for the brakinဣg, but hopefully we will adapt for the season and now I’ve 𒅌found a good way to improve on braking so I will keep going like this.”