Honda works rider Somkiat Chantra: “We seem to have found something”

Somkiat Chantra could boast of being the best Honda rider in the 2026 Superbike World Championship. However, the Thai rider knows that eight points and a modest 20th place in the championship are not results to be proud of. The reason for this, however, is the CBR1000RR-R’s underperforming package, which has been an issue for years – and not the riding skills of the former MotoGP rider.

Together with his team-mate Jake Dixon, the 27-year-old completed two-day test sessions at Magny-Cours and Estoril during the summer break. As a long-serving GP rider, the Asian rider was unfamiliar with both circuits. However, just as important as getting to know the circuits was the development of the Honda Fireblade.

“We tried out lots of different things with the set-up, including the electronics and suspension tuning, and were able to gather a lot of useful information. That’s important because during a race weekend we don’t have as much time to test different solutions,” said Chantra, summarising the test in the scorching heat of France.

The test at the Circuito do Estoril was affected by rain, which was certainly welcome news for the Thai rider. “On the first day, as always, we started by working on the bike’s set-up and trying out various settings. Some didn’t work, others were promising, and by the end of the day the feeling was quite good,” reported the Honda rider. “On the second day, conditions were wet throughout the morning, and it was good for me to test in the rain, as I don’t have much experience of riding the CBR on Pirelli wet tyres yet. It was good to try that out for the first time. We did quite a few laps on a wet track and eventually found some set-ups that looked promising.”

Chantra continued: “In the afternoon, the track started to dry out, and we carried on working hard because we wanted to get even more out of the bike. It looks as though we’ve found something, and we’ve also improved our lap time. That’s never enough, though; we must and want to keep improving.”

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