The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is on track at Jerez, Spain for the final round of the 2025 Supersport World Championship with riders Kaito Toba and Syarifuddin Azman.

First up for the WorldSSP field on Friday was free practice, the only chance Supersport riders have to work on set up before the afternoon qualifying phase. A constructive session for Toba saw the Japanese rider place an encouraging seventeenth with a time of 1’43.235. On the other side of the garage, rookie Azman worked with his team to iron out a few niggles with his CBR600RR, rounding out the session thirty-fourth with a 1’45.993.

The Superpole qualifying session ran according to schedule and in hot, sunny conditions during the afternoon. With just 40 minutes in which to secure the best possible grid position, Azman soon took a full second off his practice time. Able to make further gains throughout the session, the Malaysian qualified twenty-eighth with a time of 1’44.353, which means he will line up on the tenth row of the grid for Saturday’s Race 1.

Toba worked hard in preparation for the races. Finding another three precious tenths in the final minutes, Kaito was able to move up to seventeenth (1’43.227), which equates to a sixth row start for the weekend’s first race. Although #27 suffered a crash, at Turn 9, as the session drew to a close, fortunately he was unhurt and can continue with his weekend. 

Kaito Toba #27

“In this morning’s free practice, we had an issue with vibration through the corners. We made some adjustments in the afternoon, but we still haven’t completely solved the problem. Despite this, we made a strong start to Superpole and used the end of that session to improve our lap time. I was aiming for the high 42s on my last lap, but unfortunately, I crashed out. We now have some good information for tomorrow and know we are fast particularly in the second sector.”

Syarifuddin Azman #63

"We’ve made progress throughout the day, but I know we have the potential to do more. My feeling is different coming back from the Asian championship as we run different tyres there. So, it took me time to adapt during practice, but I tried my best to get back into a rhythm. In Superpole, I was able to set some good times following another rider. We’ll start P28 in Race 1, and I’ll work hard to stick with the group.”