Still chasing a debut MotoGP podium after four seasons in the premier-class, ཧTakaaki Nakagami has enlisted the help of a mental🏅 coach ahead of the 2022 season.

The Japanese star has finished a career best fourth on three occasions, but missed out on at least twice as many rostrum – and possibly victory - chances in the last two seasonꦿꦦs.

Most notably, Nakagami fell from the lead on lap one at Aragon 2020, after qualify🔜ing on pole. A mistake also cost him dearly at Valencia that year, falling as he passed Pol Espargaro for third.

2021, Nakagami's first season on the latest-spec Honda machinery, saw the double Moto2 race winner drop from third to📖 seventh when rain arrived at Le Mans. The LCR rider was also holding third at Assen when he lost eight places due to a mid-race mistake.

Nakagami then♚ set a race pace fast enough for the podium at COTA, but it counted for nothing after a lap 2 fall.

"I had a couple of good races last season, but to be honest it was reall🍬y tough for myself. Many crashes. But all my team, we never gave up," said Nakagami, whose 12 accidents was the highest since his r🌱ookie season, but the least by a Honda rider in 2021.

Whil♏e the RC213V suffered well-known rear grip issues last year, cat💟ching out all its riders, Nakagami has admitted he needs to control the pressure better when in a strong position

That's why he's become the latest rider to work with a mental coach, but the 29-year-old knows it won't be an instant process♚.

"After the [2021] season, I already started wo♌rking with a mental coach, mental trainer," Nakagami said. "It's step-by-step, but this kind of thing is really sensitive be💎cause nobody can change personality in one day.

"I'm tಞhinking to relax and of course race-by-race we need to improve, but already myself and also my mental trainer are working in a different way.

"So I'm really looking forward to the Malaysia test [February 5-6]. To see ho🅠w I've changed and race-by-race how I can change mentality [more] and how we can improve the race results.

"But we don’t need to really push [to do everything in] just one day. Race-by-race and✤ hopefully I can feel how [I have] a different mentality from last seasonไ.

"So I'm reall🅠y looking forward to this season. It's my fifth year in MotoGP so it's time to make a g🌌reat season."

Nakagami finished 15th in last year's world championship, his lowest ranking since his ro♏okie season, but still one place ahead of team-mate Alex Marquez.