Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup: first contact at Chang International Circuit

Chang International Circuit hosted the first test for the 2017 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup in Buriram, Thailand, with the new recruits getting out on track for the first time and veterans dialing back in - readying themselves for lights out this coming weekend.

 

The two days had a total of 27 crashes, as many on the grid gets to grips with competition in the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup for the first time. With a host of new recruits and some eager veterans ready for their next campaign, Japan and Indonesia lead the way on representation this season with eight and seven riders respectively – joined by competitors from the Philippines, Australia, Turkey, Malaysia and the host nation for the first action of the year, Thailand.

On Day 1 Malaysian Azroy Anuar was the quickest out the blocks, with experienced Rysuei Yamanaka, Can Öncü and Yuki Kunii next on the timesheets – and Thai rider Kritchaporn Kaewsonthi putting in a solid first day at home to complete the top five.

Day 2 saw Anuar kept his good form rolling as he was a constant presence in the top three, and Kaewsonthi also impressed once again as the number 15 rides at his home circuit. The grid put in a race simulation in the afternoon of the second day, with a five lap Warm Up, a trip through the pits and then a full 18 laps out on track. There were some crashes – including a fall for Kaewsonthi at the final corner – but it was Turkish rider Can Öncü who took the victory, with Japanese rider Haruki Noguchi and Azroy Anuar completing the podium.

After the “race”, the grid then concentrated on time attack runs of five laps – before finishing off the test with practice starts off the grid.

The fastest overall on the combined timesheets was Japanese rider Yuki Kunii on a 1:47.181, closely followed by Malaysian Anuar – with local Kaewsonthi completing the top three.  The three riders were within a tenth of a second of each other in an extremely close contest at the top.  Anuar was the only rider who didn’t improve on the second day, but the Malaysian set comparable times in both sessions.

Alberto Puig, Talent Promotion Director, Dorna Sports: “It’s never easy the first time. Many guys are new. We were lucky to have good weather and no big problems or injuries. They got to understand the bike and the track. Yesterday, the gap between the top riders and the others was bigger, but today it was a little less. We know there are riders who can win the Cup and those who can go step by step to become top runners. When a rider crashes, they don’t like it and it angers them. They have to understand why they’ve crashed – and a few have needed more than one crash to understand it.  It’s not easy to see talent, but we can guess. There are some guys who could surprise us, and maybe others who will be in trouble for a year.”

The Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup gets in gear again very soon at Chang International Circuit from 10^th-12^th March as racing gets underway – this weekend alongside the Thai Round of WorldSBK.

ABOUT IDEMITSU
Idemitsu is a Japanese petroleum company. It is the second largest petroleum refiner in Japan. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products.

The logo at Idemitsu's service stations is known as the Apollo logo. It is used as the symbol of the Idemitsu group's energy business as a whole. When Idemitsu established their logo, the founder saw the picture of "the profile of the person who let hair stream" a signboard raised in the shop he passed. He liked the picture as "it had sense of speed".

Idemitsu is involved in the MotoGP world championship with the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia in both the Moto3 and Moto2 classes.