After a ten-minute warm-up early in the day, the riders made final preparations for the afternoon’s 15-lap race, which got underway mid-afternoon in dry, sunny conditions very similar to yesterday (25°C air temp., 40°C track temp.). Making a quick getaway from nineteenth when the lights went out, Toba was lying twentieth early on but lost a little ground in the early stages. Battling in a group of four or five riders, Kaito was up into eighteenth by the mid-race point. He continued to fight throughout the second half, doing his best to fend off his closest competition before eventually crossing the line nineteenth. Twenty-seventh off the line, Pawi dropped one position over the course of lap one. The Malaysian did his best to establish a rhythm, which allowed him to make up three places by lap eight. It was not feasible to make any further progress, as the gap that had opened up ahead of him was too great, but Khairul kept a cool head and completed the race in twenty-sixth place. Thirty-second on the grid, Hakeem made up three positions off the line but did not have chance to do more as a Turn 7 crash on lap one unfortunately put a premature end to his race. Though disappointed, wildcard Azroy was unhurt in the incident. 

In the championship standings, Toba places twenty-second (15 points) with two rounds still to run. Pawi lies thirty-seventh having scored two points to date. The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will now focus on preparing for the penultimate WorldSSP championship round, set to take place on 11-13 October at the Estoril Circuit in Portugal. 

Kaito Toba P19

“In morning warm up we tried another solution for the front end, and this meant my feeling was a bit better and I could brake harder. At the start of the race, I got stuck and struggled to move up the field. I didn’t feel the extra grip on the tyres in the first few laps, so I couldn’t really push and set faster times. On the plus side though, I was consistent and faster than yesterday, so overall we made a step forward. I’m a bit disappointed because I was aiming for the points zone, but the positive is that we improved.” 

Khairul Idham Pawi  P26

“I hoped to do more in today’s race, honestly. I made up some ground in the first half, but the gap to the next group of riders was then too big for me to do any more later on in the race. Thanks to the team for all their hard work; now we’ll see what we can at the last rounds.”  

Azroy Hakeem DNF

“Firstly, I’m sorry to finish the weekend with a crash but there have been positives today too, as we were able to find an effective setup for the race. I want to thank the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team for giving me the opportunity to wildcard in the world championship this weekend.”