Thai rider Somkiat makes GP history
SOMKIAT CHANTRA raced to a historic maiden Moto2 victory at the Indonesian Grand Prix at the Mandalika International Street Circuit in Lombok on Sunday (Mar 20) as the sport returned to the Southeast Asian country for the first time since 1997.
Somkiat, of Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, became the first Thai rider to win any class of grand prix racing after he clocked a time of 25 minutes 40.876 seconds, 3.230sec ahead of second-placed Celestino Vietti of Italy.
Somkiat, who was absent from the seasonopening race in Qatar due to injury, shot from fourth on the grid to dominate a Moto2 race that was shortened from 25 to 16 laps due to safety concerns over track conditions in the extreme Indonesian heat that hit 43°C.
The Thai collected a maximum 25 points for the victory and moved to fourth place in the world championship standings while VR46 rider Vietti, who won in Qatar, was on 45 points, nine ahead of Pons Racing's Spanish rider Aron Canet, who completed the podium. Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes, of Britain, was third on 29 points.
Pole winner Jake Dixon of Britain went out of contention after he crashed at Turn 10.
In the main MotoGP race Miguel Oliveira finished 2.205 sec ahead of current world champion Fabio Quartararo, of France, who had started from pole position on his Yamaha.
“I promised my daughter I would get a trophy from Indonesia, so this one is for you baby,” the emotional Portuguese rider said afterwards.