"Somkiat" moves up into the midfield group in combined practice times, ranking 14th on the first day of World Superbike Round 6 at Aragon, Spain.
The 2026 World Superbike Championship Round 6 is scheduled from 29-31 May at MotorLand Aragon in Spain, during a period when rising temperatures are caused by a "heatwave" hitting Europe.
"Kong" Somkiat Chantra, the top Thai rider aboard bike number 35 for the Honda HRC factory team, showed excellent progress building on tests at Misano. He consistently improved his speed, finishing 14th overall on day one (combined times from two sessions) with a lap time of 1 minute 50.355 seconds, 1.439 seconds behind the leader, signaling a strong move into the midfield group.
Meanwhile, Jake Dixon, the British teammate with bike number 96 who has recently recovered from injury, steadily improved his speed step by step, finishing day one in 17th place with a time of 1 minute 50.482 seconds, 1.566 seconds behind the leader.
"Kong" Somkiat Chantra said, "After the Misano test, we came here with a good baseline bike setup. We saw some improvements in FP1, and I then tried to push further in FP2. The riding feeling improved, but the track was very hot in the afternoon, making it really difficult to improve lap times. We found many effective things from today's practice, and tomorrow I will try to step up in FP3, the Superpole, and in every race."
Somkiat Chantra will participate in the Superpole qualifying session to determine the starting grid and compete in Race 1 on Saturday, 30 May, at 19:00 Thai time. On Sunday, 31 May, the schedule includes the Superpole Race at 16:10 and concludes with Race 2 at 20:30.