MotoGP’s next shock rider market decision makes sense for Honda

With reports of Somkiat Chantra replacing Takaaki Nakagami at LCR Honda in 2025, it could present a major boost for MotoGP.

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With Honda prodigy Ai Ogura now set to sign for the Trackhouse Racing Aprilia squad for the 2025 season, it seemed likely that Nakagami’s place at LCR was safe.

Racing with that team since his Moto2 debut in 2018, Nakagami has been a consistent presence in the Honda stable and has been a big help in steering development of the troubled RC213V in recent years.

While he is keen to remain, it seems his place could be under threat to Thai rider Chantra.

The double Moto2 grand prix winner is only 25 and represents a major market for MotoGP, with the Thai GP one of the best-attended of the entire season.

More importantly, Chantra is a previous champion of the Asia Talent Cup series in 2016, and with Ogura also coming through that scheme, it would provide a major boost in the Southeast Asia market for Dorna Sports.

“Chantra, he’s won some races, you’ve got the Thai market behind you,” Peter McLaren, Crash.net's MotoGP editor said in the latest Crash MotoGP podcast.

“He was a Honda Asia Talent Cup winner and I think having a past champion from that championship getting to MotoGP would also be good.

“There’s been lots of Red Bull Rookies champions, CEV champions, all these other things. So, that would be another slightly different angle there.”

Jordan Moreland, crash.net's social media manager, added: “It’s interesting talking about the Asia Talent Cup, with Chantra being a former champion and Ogura also coming through there too.

“That’s a really big sign for that series, if they get two riders who have come from there and they’d be the first two in MotoGP to make it.

“That’s a massive thing for Dorna and these feeder series to have the Asian market really make a presence like that in MotoGP because it’s only been Nakagami [for a while] and Hafizh Syahrin was there. But having these two rookies would be pretty special.”

Chantra’s potential arrival at LCR will leave Nakagami without a race ride in MotoGP, but it could also see him out of the Honda stable.

Honda already has Stefan Bradl on its testing roster and will add three-time grand prix winner Aleix Espargaro to its ranks in 2025 following the Spaniard’s retirement from racing.

“Taka Nakagami, I think we were thinking ‘well, Ogura’s going somewhere else, probably he’s safe’,” Peter McLaren noted.

“But then Aleix is coming in as a test rider as well, so he’s not just losing the race seat it’s [a case of] where would he go?

“We’ve obviously assumed he’d be the obvious guy to go into that testing role, because he can speak to the Japanese engineers in their native language and everything else. With Aleix coming into the testing role, if they don’t keep Nakagami what would he do next year.”

Chantra will be stepping into a difficult situation at Honda, but the Idemitsu-backing of that side of the LCR garage will afford him some job security and time to adapt.

But if Honda is willing to potentially remove Nakagami from its roster entirely, the Japanese rider offering a big boost to HRC in being able to converse with engineers in their native tongue, it may also represent that the brand is willing to embrace a shift in philosophy it has long needed.

“It’s a good point about Nakagami speaking to the Japanese engineers,” Lewis Duncan, MotoGP journalist, said.

“But we’re in this phase where the Japanese manufacturers are trying to make themselves a bit more European. 

"I don’t know if Chantra can speak Japanese, but maybe Honda bringing him in is another sign that they are willing to step away from that mentality that’s really held them back for a few years now, it’s really gotten them into this rut that they find themselves in.

“So, maybe from that point of view, in a small sense it’s Honda going ‘look, we are willing to adapt’.

“And for all we know, Chantra could be really good, he could get on that bike, it suits him. With it being an Idemitsu-backed project, there is that element of job security. So, in theory he shouldn’t be getting thrown to the wolves [like other young riders].”