The Emilia-Romagna WorldSSP round falls short of expectations for the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team
The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is less than satisfied with results at this fourth Supersport World Championship round, riders Toba and Pawi having concluded Race 2 in twenty-second and twenty-fourth place respectively.
After a brief warm-up in the morning, the PETRONAS MIE Honda Team and riders Kaito Toba and Khairul Idham Pawi were ready for the second and final WorldSSP race of this Emilia-Romagna round.
In Sunday’s Race 2, which ran in dry conditions at 15.15 local time (CET), the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders lined up in twenty-first (Toba) and thirty-first place on the grid (Pawi). The Japanese rider held his position off the line before making up three places by lap five. Similarly, his Malaysian team-mate gained five positions over the first few laps. The pair were running a fairly consistent race, but unfortunately the action was brought to a premature close on lap sixteen, when a technical problem for another rider left the track dirty and necessitated a red flag. This meant that Toba concluded the second and final race of the weekend in twenty-second place, ahead of Pawi, twenty-fourth.
Four rounds in and Toba lies nineteenth in the general standings (10 points), while Pawi places thirty-third with one point. The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will be back in action during round five of the WorldSSP championship, scheduled to take place at the Donington Park circuit in the UK on 12-14 July.
Khairul Idham Pawi WorldSSP Rider #89
"I struggled with the rear tyre in today’s race, which meant that the feeling with the bike was totally different compared to yesterday. Definitely not the result we wanted but hopefully we can do more at the next round. We will keep working hard."
Kaito Toba WorldSSP Rider #27
"In today’s warm up we confirmed the modifications we wanted to make for the mapping of the bike. That was a step forward, and in the race my pace was quite a bit faster than it was yesterday. I enjoyed fighting with the group and think we are working in the right direction. We need to improve our corner exit performance, but I know that, together with the team and Honda, we will be able to make progress. I’m very grateful for all the hard work that is going into this project"
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