MotoGP rookie Somkiat Chantra will remain on the sidelines for the foreseeable future as he continues to recover from injury.
LCR Honda has revealed that Somkiat Chantra will remain on the sidelines for the Austrian and Hungarian Grands Prix due to injury, but he will only be replaced at Balaton Park.
The Thai rider suffered ligament damage to his right knee in a training incident following June’s Dutch Grand Prix and has not competed in MotoGP since.
On Wednesday, 13 August, Chantra underwent checks at the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona, where he was deemed unfit to return to competition at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
LCR has not been able to secure a replacement for this weekend’s Red Bull Ring event, but will field Honda Racing Corporation test rider Aleix Espargaro at next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Espargaro has competed at three Grands Prix in the 2025 MotoGP season since becoming a test rider for Honda after retiring at the end of the 2024 season.
He first competed at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he finished inside the points, but was demoted to 16th place due to a tyre pressure penalty.
At the British Grand Prix, he returned to racing action, but was involved in a lap one crash with Franco Morbidelli in the Grand Prix.
Most recently, he made an appearance for the Honda HRC Castrol squad at the Dutch TT as he replaced the injured Luca Marini in the factory Honda garage.
