 He went on to finish 8th overall.He remained with Harc-Pro in 2012 but changed classes and entered the J-GP2 class aboard a Honda HP6, Nakagami won 5 of the 6 races during the season and the championship despite not competing in the Okayama round due to injuries sustained when he was substituting at the Motegi Moto2 World Championship round for the Italtrans Racing Team.Nakagami did enough during his substitute display to earn a full-time ride for the Italtrans Racing Team in the Moto2 World Championship riding a Kalex with a Honda CBR600 engine, finishing his rookie season 15th in the standings with a best result of 5th at Jerez.