Let's Talk MotoGP: The Rookie Nobody Talks About

The 2025 season is fast approaching! Until February 27, the day before the opening round in Thailand, Let's Talk MotoGP will focus on each of the riders competing in the premier class. We will discuss the anticipation they generate, their abilities, and, finally, deliver a little prediction. Today, it's time to talk about the future of Somkiat Chantra, Honda LCR rider in MotoGP... and rookie!

Yesterday we returned to the case of Alex Marquez in an article that I invite you to find by clicking here.

 

The interrogation

 

Let's not lie to ourselves: everyone asked themselves the same question at the time of the announcement. Why is Somkiat Chantra joining the MotoGP ? A good rider but nothing more in Moto2 – especially given the competition – he only finished 12th in the 2023 season, without winning a single race or getting on a single podium. The real reason, we all know it, in reality. Somkiat is Thai, a huge market for MotoGP. After Takaaki Nakagami left, the title sponsor of the second Honda LCR Idemitsu wanted an Asian to promote local talent. Some might cry injustice because the people like the notion of merit, but These geopolitical phenomena are an integral part of the history of motor sports..

 

 

However, We can already congratulate Somkiat for having taken up the challenge, because the task looks extremely difficult. I think there is no worse context to start your MotoGP career than this LCR handlebar. Besides, it is rare that riders who finish so far a season in the intermediate class are recruited in MotoGP. For you, I went looking for the last 12th in Moto2 promoted the following year: it was Iker Lecuona, also 12th in 2019. And unfortunately for the Spaniard, it did not go very well.

 

Who is he ?

 

Well, that's all well and good, but What has he done in the World Cup so far? Well, more than Lecuona in his time, that's for sure. If he had a mixed 2024 season, notably marked by an injury, his 2023 season was much more convincing and must have weighed in the discussions at the time of his appointment. He finished sixth in the championship with a real demonstration in Japan, on the home turf of the oil company Idemitsu, for whom he was already racing in the Honda junior team. This was his second victory after a first in Indonesia during the 2022 season, another big market in Southeast Asia.

He is not a bad rider, far from it. On the handlebars, he has a big personality, often on the attack. This means that he falls frequently and that is a problem. Somkiat Chantra is often injured, something that will have to be monitored very carefully in 2025. Out of six campaigns since the start of his career in the World Championship, Chantra has only done three full ones. That is not much, and theThe brutality of current MotoGP makes me afraid for him.

 

The prognosis

 

 

There is not much more to support his profile, because we haven't seen anything of him yet. Quite discreet in Moto2, he will have to impose his smile and his style at the highest level. The problem is that he is starting with equipment that is much worse than that of Iker Lecuona in 2020. Honda is in a difficult phase of its existence, so much so that it is perhaps still too early to talk about restructuring. So, even if the RC213V improves, it will not have been able to take the measure of the philosophy embodied by the engineers' previous creation. Somkiat is jumping on the bandwagon, and without experience, it is difficult. When I see how Alex Marquez, 2 Moto2019 world champion, struggled with the Honda RC213V in his first three seasons in MotoGP when it was superior to today's, you pose des questions to me. Luca Marini, although experienced, scored only a few points when discovering the most recent version, and Double world champion Joan Mir fails there.

We must not give up, physically or mentally. In the meantime, here is my sad prognosis concerning him, which is not even against him: 22e, or last in the ranking, with the possibility of seeing the first campaign without any points scored since Tom Lüthi in 2018. I sincerely hope I'm wrong because as far back as I can remember, I've always liked Chantra. Now all I have to do is lie to me.

What do you imagine for Somkiat Chantra in 2025? Tell me in the comments!

As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial team.

 

 

Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport