Somkiat Chantra

Somkiat Chantra (Thai: สมเกียรติ จันทรา; born 15 December 1998) is a Thai Grand Prix motorcycle racer who will be competing in MotoGP for LCR Team Honda in 2025. He previously competed in Moto2 for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia from 2019 to 2024.

Somkiat Chantra
Nationality	Thai
Born	(1998-12-15) 15 December 1998 Chonburi, Thailand
Current team	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia
Bike number	35
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2025– Manufacturers Honda Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 0 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2019–2024 Manufacturers Kalex 2024 championship position 12th (104 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 105 2 6 2 3 475.5 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2018 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2018 championship position 33rd (7 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 1 0 0 0 0 7

Chantra is the second Asia Talent Cup graduate to make it to MotoGP after Ai Ogura, both starting from the 2025 MotoGP season.

Career

Early career

Coming through the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup ranks, Chantra gained fame by becoming the champion in 2016. He competed in the 2017 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship, and qualified on Pole Position in the season opener, but crashed out of the race. He would finish 8th in Le Mans, 13th in Jerez, 7th in Aragon, and 10th in Valencia, finishing the season 20th overall, with 26 points. He stayed in the 2018 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship, and was a constant finisher in the high points scoring places, but could not score a podium, his season's best result a 4th place in France. He ended the year 9th in the standings, with 61 total points.

Moto3 World Championship

Chantra was given a wild-card race appearance as his debut in Grand Prix racing, in the 2018 Thailand motorcycle Grand Prix, his home GP. He seized his chance, crossing the line in ninth place, scoring a brilliant seven points, and earning himself a full-time ride for next season.

Moto2 World Championship

Idemitsu Honda Team Asia (2019–2024)

Chantra at the 2024 Malaysian Grand Prix

Riding for the newly formed Honda Asia Team in 2019, created specifically to give Asian riders a chance in Moto2 and Moto3, Chantra performed well as a rookie, scoring 23 points in the season, while his teammates Dimas Ekky Pratama, Andi Farid Izdihar, Teppei Nagoe, and Gerry Salim scored none.

Racing full time for Honda Asia Team again in 2020, Chantra struggled to reproduce what he did last season, scoring points in just two races, ending the season with 10 points. His teammate was Izdihar for the whole year, who scored no points.

Chantra had a bounce-back 2021 season, and so did the Honda Asia Team. Chantra scored 37 points throughout the year, his highest finish coming in Austria, where rookie teammate Ai Ogura came in second place, and Chantra in fifth, scoring a season-high in points for the team.

MotoGP World Championship

LCR Honda (2025)

On 29 August 2024, it was announced that Chantra will replace Takaaki Nakagami in the LCR Honda squad for the 2025 MotoGP World Championship, being the first Thai rider ever to sign a MotoGP contract.

Career statistics

Asia Talent Cup

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Pts
2014	Honda	QAT 6	IDN 11	CHN1 18	CHN2 15	MAL1 Ret	MAL2 11	JAP	MYS1 10	MYS2 4				11th	48
2015	Honda	THA1 1	THA2 Ret	QAT1 2	QAT2 3	MAL1	MAL2	CHN1	CHN2	JPN1	JPN2	SEP1	SEP2	12th	61
2016	Honda	THA1 4	THA2 1	QAT1 6	QAT2 2	MAL1 4	MAL2 1	CHN1 3	CHN2 8	JPN1 6	JPN2 4	SEP1 Ret	SEP2 1	1st	178

FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Pts
2017	Honda	ALB Ret	LMS 8	CAT1	CAT2	VAL1	VAL2	EST	JER1 13	JER1 7	ARA 17	VAL1 16	VAL2 10	20th	26
2018	Honda	EST 9	VAL1 6	VAL2 5	FRA 4	CAT1 12	CAT2 14	ARA Ret	JER1 12	JER2 Ret	ALB 6	VAL1	VAL2	9th	61

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2018	Moto3	Honda	AP Honda Racing Thailand	1	0	0	0	0	7	33rd
2019	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	16	0	0	0	0	23	21st
2020	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	15	0	0	0	0	10	25th
2021	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	17	0	0	0	1	37	18th
2022	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	19	1	4	1	1	128	10th
2023	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	20	1	2	1	1	173.5	6th
2024	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	18	0	0	0	0	104	12th
Total				106	2	6	2	3	482.5

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto3	2018	2018 Thailand			1	0	0	0	0	7	0
Moto2	2019–present	2019 Qatar	2022 Indonesia	2022 Indonesia	105	2	6	2	3	475.5	0
Total	2018–present				106	2	6	2	3	482.5	0

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	19	20	Pos	Pts
2018	Moto3	Honda	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	GBR	RSM	ARA	THA 9	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		33rd	7
2019	Moto2	Kalex	QAT Ret	ARG 10	AME 20	SPA 17	FRA Ret	ITA	CAT 17	NED DNS	GER	CZE 15	AUT 12	GBR 16	RSM 14	ARA 16	THA 9	JPN 13	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL 23		21st	23
2020	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 25	SPA Ret	ANC Ret	CZE 23	AUT 13	STY Ret	RSM 18	EMI 21	CAT Ret	FRA 9	ARA 23	TER 19	EUR Ret	VAL 18	POR 18						25th	10
2021	Moto2	Kalex	QAT Ret	DOH 19	POR 21	SPA Ret	FRA 12	ITA 18	CAT 9	GER 18	NED 11	STY 8	AUT 5	GBR 17	ARA Ret	RSM Ret	AME 14	EMI Ret	ALR DSQ	VAL 19			18th	37
2022	Moto2	Kalex	QAT DNS	INA 1	ARG 2	AME Ret	POR Ret	SPA Ret	FRA 3	ITA Ret	CAT 12	GER 15	NED 13	GBR 13	AUT 2	RSM 8	ARA 7	JPN 5	THA Ret	AUS 8	MAL Ret	VAL Ret	10th	128
2023	Moto2	Kalex	POR 9	ARG 8	AME 11	SPA 7	FRA 6	ITA 9	GER 4	NED Ret	GBR 9	AUT 5	CAT 14	RSM 6	IND Ret	JPN 1	INA 7	AUS 7‡	THA 3	MAL 6	QAT 7	VAL 5	6th	173.5
2024	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 11	POR 10	AME 21	SPA 10	FRA 5	CAT Ret	ITA 9	NED 5	GER 6	GBR Ret	AUT 8	ARA 6	RSM 14	EMI 14	INA Ret	JPN	AUS	THA 4	MAL 9	SLD 10	12th	104

^‡ Half points awarded as less than two thirds of the race distance (but at least three full laps) was completed.
* Season still in progress.

External links

• Somkiat Chantra at MotoGP.com
• Somkiat Chantra at AS.com (in Spanish)