MotoGP’s newest starlet “set up to fail” after “politics”
“The last time someone was promoted into MotoGP with a record as average?"
Somkiat Chantra is “not ready” for his 2025 MotoGP move, it has been suggested.
Moto2 rider Chantra will become the first Thai rider in MotoGP when he is promoted into the LCR Honda team next year.
However, potential problems have already been spotted.
“I’ve got mixed feelings,” admitted TNT Sports’ Neil Hodgson.
“It’s great for the championship. Incredible. We all like him, he’s a character and a breath of fresh air.
“The negatives? He’s 10th in the championship, he has two victories in his years in Moto2.
“At no point watching him have I thought ‘he looks like a MotoGP rider, he has got the ability to be a MotoGP rider’.
“The last time someone was promoted into MotoGP with a record as average? I can’t think of one.
“Fabio di Giannantonio was in the top five of Moto2. Luca Marini wasn’t incredible but was way better than Chantra.
“My fear is that he joins MotoGP with the worst manufacturer and the worst record coming in.
“He’s being set up to fail. If 21 riders are covered by one second, and he’s one second behind them… he could be. That’s not good for anybody.”
Chantra will replace long-standing Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami, who will become a test rider for the Japanese manufacturer, next year.
But Honda’s woes have only been more exposed this season since they lost Marc Marquez.
It took Repsol Honda newcomer Luca Marini until the ninth round of the year to score his first point, and even that was due to tyre pressure penalties to three other riders.
Chantra’s move into LCR Honda came after Ai Ogura - who was widely tipped for the role - was instead promoted from Moto2 into MotoGP with Trackhouse Aprilia.
Michael Laverty assessed it for TNT Sports: “Ai Ogura was a shoo-in. But he got the opportunity to join Trackhouse.
“Chantra is a passport ride, in a lot of ways. Idemitsu, the Japanese oil giant, want a rider from Asia.
“Chantra has been a part of their Moto2 team. But he doesn’t have the stats to back it up.
“If we beat the drum for Jake Dixon everyone would lambast us saying it’s a passport ride, but he’s in a much better position than Chantra.
“It’s a difficult one. He’s on a hiding to nothing. He is talented but not ready for a MotoGP move, but you understand the politics.”
