Midway into the season, the IDEMITSU Honda Racing India Team has climbed up the score board to 22 points and ranks in the top seven of Asia Production 250 class at ARRC.
For Rajiv Sethu, Suzuka has been a tough adversary in the past. In his 2017 debut at ARRC, Rajiv finished 28th. In his 2018 outing at Suzuka, he could not capitalize on it due to a wrist fracture post his crash and again ended up at 28. In the 2019 season though, Rajiv is all set for Suzuka.
The four-hour endurance race experience at this track has already increased his skill and understanding here. In his third year at ARRC, Rajiv has already started to be counted as a serious contender. He is the first Indian Rider to qualify in the Top 7 in the single round of ARRC. After round 3, Rajiv extended the tally to 22 points at the 14th rank.
Teammate Senthil Kumar is at the 21st position with 2 points in his debut season at ARRC. Based on the learning so far, he too is all excited to take the fight to Suzuka, one of the toughest tracks in the world.
Making the championship even tougher is the wild card entry by seven strong riders in Asia Production 250cc class along with 25 of Asia's top riders from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taipei and India.
Adding to the excitement of Round 4 of the 2019 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship is the tie-breaker between AP Honda Racing Thailand's Muklada Sarapuech and Indonesian rider Andy Muhammad Fadly, both standing at the top spot with 86 points each.
In parallel, the marquee Asia SuperBike 1000cc (ASB) class of ARRC 2019 will see Malaysian rider Zaqhwan Zaidi of Honda Asia-Dream Racing with SHOWA team (ranked 3rd) return in full form. The team has top personnel from Honda subsidiaries across Asia & Oceania, including a race technician from India.
( With inputs from IANS )