Follow "Kong" Somkiat Chantra In The OR Thailand Grand Prix 2022

After a two-year hiatus from hosting the MotoGP World Championship and the Thailand Grand Prix due to the poisoning of Covid-19, this comeback in 2022 seems to have value both emotionally and visually. inclusion of direct competition management In addition, in the 2022 season, with competition in the middle class like Moto2, there are Thai racers. This year the overall performance is considered good. Makes us feel especially interested in this year's competition.

"Kong" Somkiat Chantra , owner number 35, a young rider from Chonburi. One of the stars of Honda's Race To The Dream project, which plans to raise Thai racers to compete in MotoGP by 2025, "Kong" competes at the Moto2 level for the Idemitsu team. Honda Team Asia is already in its 4th season and this year is considered a season where his form is in full swing. By becoming the first Thai rider to win a WorldGP title at Mandarika in Indonesia. He also secured a podium finish with second place at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo Argentina, third place at Le Mans in France and second again at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Successfully accumulated over 100 points for the first time. It can be said that the performance has surpassed the older generation, the legendary Thai rider like “Film” Rattapark Wilairoj.I can say that

Coming back to compete in the field of his own home country this time It has become a new thing among motorsport fans. Back in the 2019 season when "Kong" just joined the competition for the first time. Finished the race on Chang's field by winning 9th place, although it was still a period of adjustment to more intense competition. Therefore, it is not surprising why this year the fans Motorsports for both Thai and foreigners All focused on the performance of the example in this field.

"Kong" Somkiat Chantra starts training at the Chang International Circuit With an atmosphere that is not very pleasant The course was wet and humid after heavy rain. After the northeastern part of Thailand by the tail of the storm, "Noru" enters, but it seems that this is not much of a problem with "Kong", who likes driving in Wet Race style as the original capital. therefore not much impact Finished Friday's first practice in second place behind Augusto Fernandez. The Spanish rider only +0.032 seconds. And wrapped up Friday's FP2 practice with a 4th place finish +0.317 seconds behind the leader.

Until Saturday, in the FP3 round, "Kong" still maintains a stable speed. Finished the practice with 4th place, +0.569 seconds behind AiOgura, teammates and went through the qualifying round in round Q2 and in this starting ranking round, "Kong" Somkiat Chantra also created a phenomenon by becoming a The first Thai rider in history to win the Pile Position at the World GP level with a time of 01'35.625, beautifully taking the best starting position on the track. and create double excitement for the fans motor sport Along with the expectation of seeing Thai riders get on the podium on the "Home Race" field in the world system again As we have seen, “Film” Rattapark Wilairot once again took the crown in the WSSP600 sub-program of WorldSBK that competed at the Chang National Stadium in 2015.

The atmosphere, the hustle and bustle of the real race round on Sunday. Still a unique identity of the Thailand Grand Prix, the audience crowded into the field. According to the statistics of the audience for all 3 days, it exceeded 100,000 people, and this year there was a stand of "Kong" Somkiat Chantra for fans to sit and watch and cheer for each other with fun. which the atmosphere is full of fun and anticipation After not watching a world-class tournament like this for more than 2 years

But then, shortly before the race The sky seemed to change. From the normal Moto3 race, but by the time the Moto2 race started, the sky had started to darken. and when going out to line up in the start It started to rain in some parts of the field and fell heavily throughout the field. But the competition must go on. By announcing it as a Wet Race and reducing the number of rounds to only 16 rounds. Which makes the racers and teams have to face a lot of problems. because the car was set up for dry field conditions And that can only be done by changing the tires from dry racing tires to water-spraying tires instead. Just a few minutes before starting

The competition schedule continues. The start was according to the time specified by "Kong" Somkiat Chantra, a Thai blood rider, although he did not start very well. But led his own race car through the first corner and soared out first. and took a single lead, leaving a considerable distance from second place But after only 2 rounds of the race, the condition of the car being set up for high speed on dry ground. Or with the expectations and pressures heavy on the shoulders of the riders? It caused an unexpected event. When Kong crashes on the slopes of Turn 4, the rear wheels of the racing car lose balance due to the slippery track caused by the flow of water. Causing the car to lose its symptoms and fall amid the silence of the fans Thai Motorsport Including the author himself, with Chao Kong trying to lift the car in order to continue the race. But the damn car doesn't start. until having to leave the competition unfortunately

The competition continues In the midst of the condition of the field that is wet and covered with rain that pours down incessantly Until there were only 9 laps left, but the Race Director considered that the weather was not conducive to continuing the race. As a result, Italian rider Tony Arblino of the Marc VDS team took the championship and made his first Moto2 title, along with Filip. Gresini Racing's Czech rider Salač also secured a second podium finish for the first time. Arón Canet, Spain's Flexbox HP40 rider, finished in third place, securing his place among the top 3 in the points standings.

As for the competition at the MotoGP level, it is equally exciting. from the training day Because of the return of Marc Marquez, the eight-time World Champion of the Repsol Honda team has entered the race again. After the year 2019, the last time he was referred to compete in this field and won with his own eighth world championship for the first time in Thailand make the fans Motorsport is very exciting. Although this field has no effect Per his ninth world championship, but speed fans would like to see him return to draw patterns on the field to see with their own eyes again.

in the final round Continuing from the Moto2 level with torrential downpour. Causing the start of the race to be delayed In addition, the number of laps has been reduced to 25 laps, and only the first corner of the race is almost dramatic. When two racers who started in the front row like Marco Bezzecchi The field's Pile Position winner and 2nd starting Jorge Martin almost collided in the corner. The two had to force the cars off the track into the Run-Off area of ​​the circuit, which allowed Francesco Bagnaia, who started in third place, to get close and close to taking the lead. There were also several clashes between riders, notably Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro and KTM's Brad Binder, causing Binder's figure to come off the track in Turn 3, including Slipperiness of the course in wet conditions after heavy rain.

The competition may not look as fast as hoped. But it's exciting, not different from the dry field conditions. The race took an unexpected turn as KTM's Portuguese star Miguel Olivera, starting from 11th grid, slowly overtook the bike ahead and took the lead on lap two. competition and was able to lead successfully in the 14th round of the competition and led continuously until the end of the race It was his second win of the season after completing his first in Indonesia earlier in the season. 2nd place was the success of Hack Miller's outstanding performance following his victory in Motegi, Japan. Came to grab 2nd place again in this field Finally, 3rd place Francesco Bagnaia grabbed 16 important points, widening the gap between the leaders in the standings. There is only a gap of 2 points, which may have to decide the world championship title until the last field, it is possible.

The next race moves to Australia, the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island from October 14-16, with a slight change in the schedule. which will move the time of practice and the real competition faster than usual And will return to compete next week at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Between 21-23 October and the end of the 2022 season at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Spain, from 4-6 November.