SBK, Chantra fails to recover for Phillip Island: Honda calls up Nagashima and Vickers

Chantra is still dealing with recovery from his latest injury and will not race in Australia: the Honda HRC team will replace him with Nagashima and will also have Vickers on track.

As happened in 2022 with Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, Honda has again decided to bet on two rookie riders in the Superbike World Championship for 2026. Once more, they come from MotoGP and Moto2 respectively. While Jake Dixon took part in both tests held this year, Somkiat Chantra did not ride at Jerez or Portimao due to an injury. And he won’t be at Phillip Island either.

Today the HRC team announced that, although his recovery is progressing well, Chantra will not be able to take part in either the test or the first round of the Superbike World Championship scheduled in Australia. On January 28 he underwent a medical check and his condition was assessed positively, with the cast removed. But that is not enough for him to race his CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP at Phillip Island.

Honda has announced that the Thai rider will be replaced by test rider Tetsuta Nagashima, already in action at both Jerez and Portimao. The Japanese rider will partner Dixon. And there will also be an additional CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP on track at Phillip Island: Ryan Vickers’, the Honda Racing UK rider in the BSB championship, who will compete as a wild card.

Chantra is expected to be regularly present at the second round of the 2026 Superbike World Championship in Portimao (March 27–29). On January 16 Honda announced that the rider had fractured his right forearm due to a crash at the Sepang International Circuit during training. The following day he underwent surgery on both arms at Bangkok Hospital. Despite the progress made in recent weeks, he will not be available to the HRC team. A rough way to start his WorldSBK adventure.