The new LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider, Somkiat Chantra, made his MotoGP debut at the Barcelona Test.
Somkiat Chantra became the first Thai MotoGP rider this week at the Barcelona MotoGP Test. The Thai rider was out on track for the first time on the LCR Honda IDEMITSU RC213V.
After six years in the Moto2 World Championship, Chantra has been promoted to MotoGP. The 25-year-old has joined Lucio Cecchinello's LCR Honda squad for the 2025 MotoGP season.
During his time in Moto2 Chantra won two races and stood on four further podiums. The #35's best Championship finish in Moto2 was in 2023 when he finished sixth in the standings.
"When I went out on the first lap I tried to keep calm," Chantra told MotoGP.com.
"I opened the throttle slowly and braked early. Then at the last corner, I went full gas for the straight, honestly the speed was ok. But when you go upright the bike is super fast!
"After that, I tried to learn lap by lap and my team gave me things to try and we focussed on the electronics.
"They told me to use different settings and sent me messages because in MotoGP the teams can send messages to the bike. So, we were seeing if I could see the message then make some changes on the bike, so it was very nice to learn about this."
