Having recently confirmed its 2025 racing plans, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team and its World Supersport entry Kaito Toba have completed a constructive test at the Spanish circuit of Jerez on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 January. With few test days in which to prepare for the upcoming championship, reconfirmed rider Toba did his best to exploit this track time, although conditions were less than ideal as the test got underway. Heavy rain on Monday made for a wet track on Tuesday morning, with most of the riders present electing to wait until the surface had dried somewhat before getting to work. 

Once on track, the Japanese rider worked hard, completing 54 laps already on day one. The test served as a general shakedown, considering that the team has not been on track since November last year. Toba and his technicians continued to put in the work on Wednesday, with the rider putting in another 65 laps. Although the focus was on identifying and fine-tuning setup solutions rather than outright lap times, Kaito was able to put in some significantly quicker laps on day 2. All in all, a productive test on which to build next time out.

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will be back on track with its Supersport and Superbike riders in Australia, with the final pre-season tests scheduled to take place at Phillip Island on 17-18 February. These tests come just ahead of the opening round of the 2025 Supersport World Championship, which will be staged at the same Australian track on 21-23 February.

Kaito Toba

“It’s great to be back on track after the winter break. And we were lucky enough with the weather too. Although it was quite windy on day two, we still managed to complete the work we had planned. My crew is completely new and I’m very thankful for the hard work that team management has put in. We’re only just beginning, but I think we can build on this nicely and make important steps forward. We started the test from scratch, using a standard engine, and every run we made saw us build on the previous one in a productive way. We worked a lot on the engine brake too and on different ideas that can improve the performance of the CBR600. In these conditions I was already faster than I was during the last test of 2024. I’m looking forward to the next test in Australia and the beginning of the season!”