TVS Asia One Make Championship has been a boost to the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship since its debut season. Featuring some of the best names in its class, the race category has never ceased to make an impression in each round. Today, standing tall once again among the troop was Hiroki Ono of Japan who bagged the winning spot in Race 1 of Round 5 at Zhuhai International Circuit.
During the qualifying session earlier today, Malaysian boy, Muzakkir made it fastest with his best lap time at 1’48:053s. That qualified him as a pole-man for the weekend. At second spot on the grid was Hiroki Ono of Japan with his best lap time at 1’48:149s. Taking the third spot on the grid was Taiyo Saito of Japan with his best lap time at 1’48:492s.
The race started with Hiroki Ono speeding up to take lead at the first turn followed by Taiyo Saito at P2 and Muzakkir at P3. Meanwhile, Ramdan was at P4 with Vorapong chasing furiously. Into lap 2, Malaysian duo Muzakkir and Ramdan overtook Taiyo Saito and went on to close the gap with Hiroki however, the latter went on at the pole position with a gap of 0.936s. By the end of lap 3, Muzakkir was seen picking up on his speed. Vorapong on the other hand made it into P4.
Muzakkir seemed to match the pace of Hiroki as he maintained his position, close to the Japanese. By mid-race, he was only 0.130s away from Hiroki. While Ramdan tried to catch up with the duo ahead, Muzakkir was on a lookout to strike. Hiroki was careful not to slip. Vorapong was trying his best to inch closer to Ramdan before the two crashed out. At the final lap, Muzakkir found his way to slide from the inside at turn one and take lead for a moment before the latter snatched his position back. Towards the finish line, Hiroki took speed and went on to hit it first at 14’23:448s.
Commenting on the race, Hiroki said, “The race today was not easy at all. I had to push 100% on each lap. The other guy behind me was extremely good too. I had to keep watch. But the last lap, it was easy because I have a lot of experience and I managed to make it. I am very happy for the win today. There is another race tomorrow, so, we shall see!”
Md Muzakkir Mohamed of Malaysia made it second at 14’23:748s. With that, Muzakkir topped the overall chart with a total of 128 points.
Taiyo Saito of Japan made a lucky finish at the third spot on the podium at 14’33.093s.
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