Honda are now in talks with a ‘fantastic’ rider to make their MotoGP debut with LCR’s Somkiat Chantra injured

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Honda have a difficult task to replace LCR rider Somkiat Chantra for the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, with their first-choice options to stand in also out of action through injury.

The 2025 MotoGP season resumes at the Red Bull Ring with round 13 of 22 on August 15-17 after a one-month break. But the premier class will gather without Chantra, as the LCR rider is still recovering from surgery for the lateral collateral ligament injury he sustained this July.

Chantra suffered his injury while training on an off-road motorcycle near Barcelona and had to miss the last two rounds in Germany and Czechia. Yet while LCR would call on Honda test rider Takaaki Nakagami at Brno, the Japanese rider then tore his posterior cruciate ligament.

Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez took Chantra’s LCR stand-in Nakagami out on Lap 2/10 in the Brno Sprint. And to give Honda and LCR an even bigger headache for the Austrian GP, test rider Aleix Espargaro is sidelined after breaking a bone in his hand during a cycling race.

Honda are in talks with Xavi Vierge to replace LCR’s Somkiat Chantra in the Austrian GP

Honda even saw their World Superbikes rider Iker Lecuona require surgery on his left distal forearm after fracturing his ulna and radius in the WSBK race at Balaton Park in July. Honda and Lecuona had agreed that he would replace Chantra for LCR in the MotoGP Austrian GP.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Somkiat Chantra from career to height

So, as their options shrink, Motorsport.com reports that Honda are ‘currently in discussions’ with their MotoGP test rider Stefan Bradl and their World Superbikes star Xavi Vierge about replacing Chantra. Test rider Tetsuta Nagashima would be Honda’s ‘last option’ to take over.

But Bradl does not want to make his first race appearance of the 2025 MotoGP season, with the German keen to focus on his testing duties. The 35-year-old made six appearances over the 2024 campaign with Honda’s test team, most recently coming 22nd in the Solidarity GP.

World Superbikes rider Xavi Vierge could make his MotoGP debut with LCR in Austria

So, with Bradl not keen on racing in Austria and their alternative options largely injured, it is said that Vierge is Honda’s most viable option to replace Chantra. The 28-year-old racing for LCR in the Austrian GP would be his MotoGP debut after three-and-a-half years in WSBK.

READ MORE: Everything to know about LCR from the MotoGP team’s riders to Honda ties

Vierge was a familiar face in the world championship paddock between 2015 and 2021 after contesting 110 Moto2 races. But he switched to World Superbikes in 2022, having failed to win any of those 110 Grands Prix in the intermediate class and only securing four podiums.

The Spaniard has raced for Honda’s factory WSBK crew every year since debuting in 2022. Yet just like in Moto2, Vierge has not won any WSBK races after 132 entries, and he has only made one podium. That said, Vierge is seventh in the 2025 WSBK standings with 112 points.

Vierge, who Honda WSBK team manager Jose Escamez has hailed for his ‘fantastic’ efforts, almost made his MotoGP debut back in 2021, per Motorsport.com. The Spaniard rejected a chance to stand in for the injured Franco Morbidelli in the 2021 MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix.