Somkiat Chantra to join MotoGP in 2025
In 2025, MotoGP will welcome its first full-time rider from Thailand, with former Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup champion and Moto2 race winner, Somkiat Chantra, stepping up to the premier class. The 25-year-old from Chonburi will replace Takaaki Nakagami at LCR Honda, with the Japanese rider moving to a testing and development role with Honda next year.
“I'm excited to join the LCR team,” Chantra said. “Stepping into MotoGP has always been my dream, and I will finally make it true. I want to thank all the sponsors and people who have supported me from the beginning of my career until now.
“For the next season, I'm committed to learning, giving my maximum and enjoying this new adventure. It will be difficult, but I will give my best.”
Chantra’s first experience of circuit racing at international level was in the Asia Talent Cup, where he competed from 2014 to 2016, taking his first race win in 2015 and winning the championship in 2016.
Bypassing Moto3 (although he did make one wildcard appearance in the junior class in 2018), Chantra next competed in the Europe-based FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship in 2017 and 2018 before moving to Moto2 in 2019.
Since joining the intermediate class, Chantra has ridden exclusively for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia; the squad created specifically to expose Asian riders to grand prix racing at Moto3 and Moto2 level. In his debut Moto2 season, Chantra’s best finish was ninth, achieved at the Thai GP. At the French GP a year later, he replicated the result.
Chantra’s first Moto2 win came at the Indonesian GP in 2022, followed by three other podiums and a string of top ten placings in the back half of that season. A second race win at the 2023 Japanese GP has been Chantra’s most recent victory. In the 2024 Moto2 season, the Thai rider’s best race result has been fifth at time of writing.
Chantra’s deal with LCR, which was confirmed on 29 August, will see him join veteran Johann Zarco at the Honda satellite team. Zarco will ride under the Castrol Honda banner, while Chantra will carry the same Idemitsu Honda branding that Nakagami has been running this year.
While some had expected Moto2’s Ai Ogura (Chantra’s Moto2 team mate in 2019) to land Nakagami’s seat, Ogura signed with Trackhouse Racing Aprilia in mid-August. That opened the door to Chantra, as the Idemitsu half of the LCR garage has shown a preference for signing Asian riders.
LCR Honda Team Principal, Lucio Cecchinello, believes Chantra deserves a chance in the premier class.
“Alongside HRC, we believe that it's time to welcome a great Asian talent, such as Somkiat Chantra,” Cecchinello said. “Through his years in Moto2, he's shown potential and the skills to grow and become a strong rider in MotoGP.
“LCR and Honda will provide him with the best to support him over the different phases of this new project.”
