After a top 13 finish by Indian riders at the 2022 ARRC in Sepang, the Honda Racing India team adds eight valuable points to their score over the weekend.
Honda Racing India team’s rider duo of Rajiv Sethu and Senthil Kumar gained seven points in the first race of Round 2 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in Sepang. Starting 16th on the grid, Rajiv overtook Indonesian rider Fitriansyah Kete in the first lap. From there onwards, he was in 14th place. He consecutively moved 1 position up in the fifth and sixth lap. Continuing to maintain his momentum, Rajiv crossed the finish line in 12th with a time of 20:12.398, earning 4 points for the team. Avoiding mistakes and keeping a steady momentum till the end, Senthil finished right behind his teammate Rajiv. After finishing in P13, Senthil Kumar received three points making it a total of 7 points on the first day.
The second day of the weekend was filled with drama as quite a few riders across 5 categories lost traction and crashed out at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. But ending the round on a good note, the Honda Racing India team added yet another point in Asia Production 250 class (AP250) of the championship. Making a good start in the race, Rajiv Sethu quickly climbed from 16th to 14th position before finishing the first lap. But then, he was caught in a stiff battle with Indonesia’s Fitriansyah Kete and local rider Md Idlan Haqimi. Towards the end, Rajiv spotted the perfect moment and overtook the rider before him to finish 15th and add 1 more point to Honda Racing India’s tally.
Rajiv’s teammate Senthil Kumar started in P17. Between lap 4 and 5, Senthil geared up and accelerated ahead of his contenders consequently taking P14 and recorded a personal best lap of 2:29.078 at Sepang. Grappling to fight his momentum from there on, Senthil went wide at the last corner of the 8-lap race where he crashed but recovered and managed to finish the race.
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