April 3rd, Sepang: Former Moto2 contender, Yuki Takahashi lived up to his name as he stormed to the top of the SuperSports 600cc timesheets on Day Three of the 2015 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship pre-season test at the Sepang Circuit today.
Having spent the past two days adapting to the Honda CBR600R machine, Takahashi delivered the flying lap of 1’05.459s late into the eighth and final test session, edging out Japanese compatriots, Yuki Ito (PETRONAS Hong Leong Yamaha) and Makoto Inagaki (Akeno Speed Racing) who clocked 1’05.471s and 1’05.475s respectively.
Takahashi’s teammate, Zamri Baba was fourth quickest for the day with 1’05.476s on Day Three before crashing out with 20 minutes left on the clock while Yudhistira (Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki) completed the top five with 1’05.503s.
Yuki Ito however remained the quickest out of the 24 riders who attended the test throughout the three days of testing based on his 1’05.424s lap time he posted yesterday.
“This is my first time racing onboard a SuperSports machine so I am quite pleased with what we achieved today. But of course there is still a lot of room for improvement,” said a delighted Takahashi.
“I spent the past two days adjusting to the bike and Dunlop tyres while the engineers collected the necessary data to tune the bike. Indeed there was a lot of catching up to do as our rivals are all quite experienced but our efforts have so far been fruitful,” he added.
“Having Zamri as a teammate helped a lot as well. We shared data and this speed up my progress.”
Speaking about the 2015 SuperSports 600cc grid, Takahashi commented, “It’s quite amazing how fast these riders are. If anything this gives us a clear indication the season is going to be really exciting and filled with a lot of close battles. I am looking forward to the first race two weeks from now.”
Separately Takehiro Yamamoto continued his dominance over the Asia Production 250cc (AP250) class as he picked up his pace by another 0.152 seconds, making him the only rider to dip under 1 minute 16 seconds throughout the three days of testing.
The TRICKSTAR Racing set the benchmark ahead of the season opener two weeks from now with 1’16.682s in the eighth and final test session today while Yamaha Factory Racing Indonesia duo, Galang Hendra and Sigit Purno posted their flying lap in the seventh session with 1’17.335s and 1’17.399s respectively.
Rounding up the top five were Takehiro’s teammate, Ryunosuke Hyodo with 1’17.749s followed by Yamaha Tunggal Jaya Racing Team’s Rusman Fadhil, 1’17.758s.
The opening round of the 2015 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship will be held at the Sepang Circuit on April 19.
Day 3 Results
SuperSports 600cc
1.Yuki Takahashi (Honda) 1’05.459s 2.Yuki Ito (Yamaha) 1’05.471s 3.Makoto Inagaki (Yamaha) 1’05.475s 4.Zamri Baba (Honda) 1’05.476s 5.Yudhistira (Kawasaki) 1’05.503s
Asia Production 250cc
1.Takehiro Yamamoto (Kawasaki) 1’16.682s 2.Galang Hendra (Yamaha) 1’17.335s 3.Sigit Purno (Yamaha) 1’17.399s 4.Ryunosuke Hyodo (Kawasaki) 1’17.749s 5.Rusman Fadhil (Yamaha) 1’17.758s
