LCR launches MotoGP 2024 bikes ahead of Qatar test

As has been the case in previous years, LCR has gone for a split approach with its MotoGP liveries in 2024, with one of its two satellite Honda R213Vs sporting the colours of Castrol and the other bike carrying the backing of Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu.

LCR revealed the first of its two bikes carrying the familiar green, white and red look of Castrol on Thursday morning, with Zarco also making an official appearance in the team’s 2024 gear.

The second Idemitsu-backed bike that will once again be ridden by Nakagami was revealed later in the afternoon in an online presentation.

Both liveries have been slightly tweaked compared to previous years, with Zarco’s bike now featuring a stripe pattern.

LCR scored Honda’s only victory of the 2023 MotoGP season at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin following a stunning performance from Alex Rins, who has since moved to the factory Yamaha team in place of Franco Morbidelli.

Rins’s place at LCR has been taken over by Zarco, who has joined the Honda fold this year after a three-year stint at Ducati.

The Frenchman finally picked up his maiden MotoGP win at Phillip Island in 2023 and his experience will come in handy in helping steer Honda to the forefront of the championship after an extended period of decline.

Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Team LCR

Nakagami, meanwhile, provides continuity at the Japanese manufacturer’s only satellite team, as he enters his seventh year of competition. 

The Japanese rider was Honda’s second-best performing rider in the 2023 standings, only behind six-time champion Marc Marquez on the factory-entered RC213V, with 56 points from 20 race weekends.

Both Zarco and Nakagami will be in action in next week’s final pre-season test in Qatar before the 2024 campaign gets underway in the middle east nation on 10 March.