Honda Racing India closes Round 3 of ARRC with Senthil Kumar scoring a point in Race 2
Aug 14, 2022
Sportsland Sugo [Japan], August 14 : As curtains went down for Round 3 of the 2022 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC), the solo Indian team IDEMITSU Honda Racing India added more points on Japanese soil.
Participating in Asia's toughest road race championship, the duo of Senthil Kumar and Rajiv Sethu battled their hardest with 17 best Asian riders from six countries (Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) in Asia Production 250cc (AP250) class.
In his first time at the Sportsland Sugo international circuit, Senthil Kumar managed to display true rigour as he bounced from yesterday's DNF in race 1 to claim a point for the team at the end of day 2.
It was a gripping race till the very end as the leaderboard saw a lot of movement in the order. With four riders crashing out in the last lap, it proved to be a challenging race for everyone. Senthil however, took advantage and sped up to jump ahead on the leaderboard to come in contention for winning some coveted points. However, teammate Rajiv Sethu could not recover from the mistake in the initial laps and finished the race in 17th Position.
Speaking on the rider's performance, Prabhu Nagaraj, Operating Officer of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, said, "After a good race 1 yesterday, race 2 did not go as per our plan but I'm happy that Senthil finished his race in points. We have had a good round overall with our star rider Rajiv recording his best-ever performance at a fifth place yesterday. I'm sure the riders will come back stronger in the next round post the training in Suzuka next week under our expert coach Mr Okada."
"Learning from my mistakes of yesterday I wanted to perform better today. I am happy to have bagged a point for the team and it is only with their support and guidance that this was possible. I am hopeful for better and more refined performances in the future. I am excited for the next round as I want to show what I truly have to offer, " said Honda Racing India rider Senthil Kumar.
"After my best performance in yesterday's race, I was looking forward to gaining more points for the team. But it was a disappointing day as I had a lack of grip on the track. Moving forward with the learnings of today's outing, I will work on improving my race-craft and timing and deliver some noteworthy performances for my country, " said Honda Racing India rider Rajiv Sethu.
