The Thai star produced a dominant display in Mandalika to create history
Thanks to an absolutely fantastic performance at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia, Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) becomes the first Thai rider to win a Grand Prix race. Chantra led from the first corner to the chequered flag and eventually beat World Championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) by 3.2s, with third place Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) collecting his second podium of the season.
Ahead of the race getting underway, it was announced that there would only be 16 laps for the intermediate class – 2/3 distance due to safety, caused by excessively high temperatures. Then, more drama, as light rain started to fall on the warm up lap. The race got underway though and it was Chantra who pinched the holeshot from the second row, polesitter Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS…