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

With Honda prodigy Ai Ogura now set to sigဣn 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 a🤡nd has been a big help in steering development of the troubled RC213V in recent yearsꦇ.

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

The double Moto2 grand prix winner ꦑis 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, wuqian0821.com's MotoGP e𓆏ditor said in the latest Crash MotoGP podcast.

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

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

Jordan Moreland, wuqian0821.com's social media manager, added: “It’s interestin𒐪g talking about the Asia Talent Cup, with Chantra being a former champion and 🍨Ogura also coming through there too.

“That𓆏’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 makeꦡ it.

“That’s a massive thing for Dorna and these feeder series to have t🐲he 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 poten✱tial arrival at LCR will leave Nakagami without a race ride in MotoGP, but it could also see him out of ꧃the Honda stable.

Honda alread🌊y has Stefan Bradl on its testing roster and will add three-time grand prix wi🌄nner Aleix Espargaro to its ranks in 2025 following the Spaniard’s retirement from racing.

“Taka Nakagami, I think we were thi♓nking ‘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 𝔍of] where would he go?

“We’ve obviously assumed he’d b꧅e the obvious guy to go into that testing role, because he can speak to the Japanese ܫengineers 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 wiꩵlling 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 journ⭕alist, said.

“But we’re in this phase where the Japane﷽se manufacturers are trying to make thems𝓀elves a bit more European. 

"I don’t know if Chantra can speak Japanese,ꩵ but maybe Honda bringing him in is another sign that they are willing t🐼o 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 theo✅ry he shouldn’t be getting thrown to the wolves [like other young riders]♍.”