is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship aboard a Honda CBR1000RR. For 2009 he made his debut in the MotoGP class, with the Scot Racing Honda team but was subsequently dropped by the team after just seven rounds of the 2009 season due to financial issues. Until that point, he had spent his entire career with Honda.

Career

Early career Born in Saitama, Saitama, Takahashi developed his talents through an HRC Racing Scholarship, a program which has supported many young Japanese riders and aims to help them into the top level of competition. He made a wild card appearance in the 125cc World Championship in Japan in 2001. Between 2002 and 2004, he made four wild card appearances in his home country in the 250cc World Championship, finishing in the top-five in all four. He won the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship in 2004, having previously finished runner-up in the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP125 Championship in 2001.

250cc World Championship

Takahashi became a full-time 250cc World Championship rider in 2005, finishing eleventh overall on a Honda. For 2006 and beyond Honda did not develop their 250cc two-stroke racing machine, but Takahashi was still able to take two wins and sixth overall. He came eleventh overall without a podium in 2007 as the team began to struggle, but in 2008 he took three podium finishes, and qualified eighth and finished sixth in his home race. In his final 250cc appearance at Valencia he qualified tenth, but rode well, finishing second. He ended up in fifth place in the final standings: his best performance since starting to compete in the World Championship.

MotoGP World Championship For the 2009 season, Takahashi was handed a MotoGP spot for Team Scot Honda, thus replacing his former 250cc team-mate Andrea Dovizioso who headed for HRC's official Repsol Honda outfit. After the JiR Team Scot team split, JiR attempted to remain in the class with Ben Spies, but Honda opted to support Team Scot instead. Takahashi struggled early in the season, with a best finish of twelfth at the Circuit de Catalunya. He crashed on the first lap there, and also had an early collision with Nicky Hayden on his home round.

On 1 July 2009, it was announced that the Scot Honda team would be terminating Takahashi's contract with immediate effect due to financial constraints. He was replaced by Hungarian rider Gábor Talmácsi. It marked the first time since 1991 that no Japanese rider was competing in the premier category.

Moto2 World Championship Takahashi has dropped down into the new Moto2 class for 2010, partnering Raffaele de Rosa at Tech 3. He took his first victory in the class at Barcelona, after a ride-through penalty for Andrea Iannone. He finished the season 12th overall. For 2011, he signed to ride for Gresini Racing aboard a Moriwaki, where he took two podium finishes and finished 11th overall. For 2012, he joined NGM Mobile Forward Racing and rode a Suter for the first six rounds and a FTR for the remainder of the championship, the season was a disaster as Takahashi only failed to score points until the final round of the season at Valencia. He remained in Moto2 for 2013 and joined IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, ran by Tadayuki Okada and rode a Moriwaki once again. Takahashi was dropped in favour of Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman for the Misano round onwards after failing to score a point in the opening 11 rounds.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTeamRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcd 125cc Honda OSL SC & Okegawa School 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 250cc Honda Team HRC 1 0 1 0 0 16 21st 250cc Honda Dy Do Miu Racing Team 2 0 1 0 0 29 18th 250cc Honda Dydo Miu Racing 1 0 0 0 0 11 25th 250cc Honda Team Scot 16 0 0 0 0 77 11th 250cc Honda Humangest Racing Team 14 2 2 0 0 156 6th 250cc Honda Kopron Team Scot 15 0 0 0 0 90 11th 250cc Honda JiR Team Scot 250 16 0 3 0 0 167 5th MotoGP Honda Scot Racing Team MotoGP 7 0 0 0 0 9 21st Moto2 Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing 17 1 2 0 0 86 12th Moto2 Moriwaki Gresini Racing 17 0 2 0 0 77 11th Moto2 Suter Forward Racing 17 0 0 0 0 5 28th FTR Moto2 Moriwaki IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 11 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2014 Moto2 Moriwaki Moriwaki Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2015 Moto2 Moriwaki Moriwaki Racing 1 0 0 0 0 2 27th Total 137 3 11 0 0 725

By class ClassSeasons1st GP1st Pod1st WinRaceWinPodiumsPoleFLapPtsWChmp 125cc 2001 2001 Pacific 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 250cc 2002–2008 2002 Pacific 2002 Pacific 2006 France 65 2 7 0 0 546 0 MotoGP 2009 2009 Qatar 7 0 0 0 0 9 0 Moto2 2010–2015 2010 Qatar 2010 Catalunya 2010 Catalunya 64 1 4 0 0 170 0 Total 2002–2015 137 3 11 0 0 725

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 2001 125cc Honda JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR VAL PACRet AUS MAL BRA NC 0 2002 250cc Honda JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC3 MAL AUS VAL 21st 16 2003 250cc Honda JPN3 RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC4 MAL AUS VAL 18th 29 2004 250cc Honda RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED BRA GER GBR CZE POR JPN5 QAT MAL AUS VAL 25th 11 2005 250cc Honda SPARet POR7 CHN10 FRA10 ITARet CAT7 NED15 GBRRet GER9 CZERet JPN4 MAL7 QAT8 AUSRet TURRet VAL7 11th 77 2006 250cc Honda SPA4 QAT9 TUR5 CHN5 FRA1 ITA4 CAT7 NED6 GBR7 GER1 CZE MAL4 AUSRet JPNRet POR6 VALDNS 6th 156 2007 250cc Honda QAT7 SPA8 TURRet CHNDNS FRA ITA11 CATRet GBR4 NED10 GER8 CZERet RSM9 PORRet JPN4 AUS10 MAL9 VAL8 11th 90 2008 250cc Honda QAT5 SPA3 POR6 CHN7 FRA4 ITARet CAT12 GBR9 NED8 GER9 CZE6 RSM2 INPC JPN6 AUS7 MAL4 VAL2 5th 167 2009 MotoGP Honda QAT15 JPNRet SPA12 FRA13 ITARet CATRet NED15 USA GER GBR CZE INP RSM POR AUS MAL VAL 21st 9 2010 Moto2 Tech 3 QATRet SPA4 FRARet ITA8 GBR18 NED10 CAT1 GERRet CZE2 INP26 RSMRet ARA12 JPN6 MALRet AUS17 POR26 VAL18 12th 86 2011 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT5 SPARet POR3 FRA2 CATRet GBR7 NEDRet ITA14 GERRet CZE12 INP25 RSM7 ARA31 JPN30 AUS10 MALRet VALRet 11th 77 Moto2 Suter QAT19 SPA21 PORRet FRA17 CAT21 GBR25 28th 5 FTR NED20 GERRet ITA17 INP27 CZE18 RSMRet ARA22 JPN15 MAL15 AUS15 VAL14 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT23 AME18 SPA22 FRA17 ITA23 CAT20 NED25 GER18 INP21 CZE17 GBR22 RSM ARA MAL AUS JPN VAL NC 0 2014 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN26 AUS MAL VAL NC 0 2015 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN14 AUS MAL VAL 27th 2

References

External links