Somkiat Chantra’s debut season round-up

Written by Isha Reshmi Mohan, Edited by Dhara Dave

Somkiat Chantra at Sepang International Circuit | Credit: Honda HRC Website

As one of the three rookies on the 2025 grid, Somkiat Chantra made history as the first Thai full-time rider and the first Southeast Asian representative in MotoGP. His debut season was marked by a challenging start and the disappointing news that he would be replaced by Diogo Moreira for 2026. 

Despite the early end to his MotoGP career for now, here is a season roundup for the Thai rider.

Journey to MotoGP 

Chantra broke into the motorbiking scene through the Asia Talent Cup, which helps support riders in their journey to MotoGP or the World Superbike Championship. Over the six race weekends, Chantra won three of the 12 rounds and accumulated enough points along the way to eventually become champion, gaining popularity from then on.

In 2018, he progressed to Moto3 as a wildcard entry, where he made his appearance at the Thailand Grand Prix. Around this time, it had already been announced by Honda that Chantra would be riding for them in Moto2 for the 2019 season alongside Dimas Ekky Pratama. 

The Honda Asia team was newly formed at the time to support more Asian riders in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes. Chantra picked up 23 points in his debut season, while his teammate scored none. 

However, at this stage, he stayed around for a while, as he competed in Moto2 until the end of the 2024 season.

MotoGP Debut at home

Chantra received a true hero's welcome into the MotoGP class, as the 2025 season launch took place in Bangkok, Thailand, followed by the season opener at Buriram just two weeks later. This circuit typically appears on the calendar in October before the Malaysian Grand Prix, but the rescheduled timing worked in favour of the Honda rider.

Despite finishing outside the points while Ai Ogura took the spotlight, Chantra enjoyed a massive home-crowd reception and focused on the personal victory of completing the race.

Since that debut, he has approached every subsequent race with composure and steady progress.

First point in the MotoGP class

Unfortunately, Chantra struggled to keep pace with his fellow rookies, who delivered stronger results in terms of both points and overall performance. While it could be argued that his rivals were on better machinery, he was unable to break into the top fifteen until the Dutch Grand Prix, where he finally secured his first championship point.

It is worth noting that while six riders failed to finish that race, Chantra managed to finish ahead of Aleix Espargaro. This result should have served as a significant confidence boost for the Thai rider as he moved into the middle of the season.

Staying on the bike

Chantra’s only break from the bike came during the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, as he was recovering from arm pump surgery, making it the only race he missed that season.

Although he picked up an injury during off-road training in early July, it did not affect his return, as he went on to race at the end of the month in the Netherlands, where he took home his first point.

This consistency was a primary reason he secured several of his points finishes. A common pattern of early retirements due to crashes or technical issues frequently allowed Chantra to move up into the scoring positions.

His ‘best’ result came at the Indonesian Grand Prix, where he finished 13th, a race infamous for seeing five riders crash out. This event also resulted in an injury to 2025 World Champion Marc Marquez, which forced him to sit out the remainder of the season.

Move to WorldSBK

While it is expected that rookies need time to adjust, Chantra’s results may not have been sufficient for the Honda team to justify retaining his seat. His age likely also played a role in the decision to move in a different direction for the following season. 

Fortunately, with continued backing from Honda Asia, he will have the opportunity for a fresh start in WorldSBK alongside Moto2 rider Jake Dixon.

However, bad news followed for Chantra, as he picked up a forearm injury during training in Malaysia on the 16th of January, as confirmed by Honda and WSBK. 

While the severity of the injury is not yet known, he may miss the opening round of the WorldSBK season in Australia as he takes time to recover.

With that, the upcoming MotoGP season will once again begin at the Buriram circuit. Thai fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that the long-awaited contract extension is confirmed, keeping Thailand on the MotoGP calendar until 2031.

Be sure to catch all the livery reveals, which will continue until 2nd February, with Honda being the last team on the list before the pre-season test and season launch in Kuala Lumpur.