Takaaki Nakagami became the youngest ever Japanese 125cc champion in 2006 when he won every race of the season. He joined the MotoGP Academy in 2006 which opened the door to compete overseas in the Spanish CEV 125cc series. He impressed in the 2007 Spanish CEV 125cc series enough to secure a full-time ride in the 125cc World Championship for 2008. He remained in the series in 2009 and despite offers for the 2010 season, Nakagami returned to Japan and rejoin the Harc-Pro team. Nakagami made his Moto2 debut in 2012 with the Italtrans Racing Team where he finished the season in 15th overall. He remained with the team for 2013 where he achieved 5 podiums to finish in 8th overall. In 2014, Nakagami made the move to the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Moto2 team. He remained in this team from 2014 to 2017 and he achieved a total of 2 wins and 9 podiums during his time with the team. 

In 2015, Nakagami moved up to the MotoGP class with LCR Honda Idemitsu Team where he would remain. He achieved a best finish of 6th in the last race of the season. He bettered his best finish in the 2019 season with a 5th place in Italy. He then improved on this in 2020 with a 4th place finish in Spain. He also achieved his first pole position in 2020. Nakagami has remained with LCR Honda Idemitsu for the last few seasons and continues the partnership into 2023.