Sunday at the Phillip Island Circuit in Australia brought the second of the weekend’s World Supersport races, in which the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team lined up on the grid with Japanese rider Kaito Toba and rookie rider Syarifuddin Azman from Malaysia. Prior to the weekend’s final 18-lap SSP race, the riders had chance to make some final adjustments during a brief warm-up. That done, the team prepared for the afternoon’s race, which ran in dry, cloudy conditions (air temp. 21°C, track temp. 34°C) and, like Race 1, involved an obligatory pitstop and tyre change mid-way through. 

Lining up in twenty-first position, Toba had his work cut out in the early stages. Quick off the line, he wasted no time in making up positions, up into sixteenth by lap three. Soon up into the points zone, the Japanese rider pitted to change his tyres on lap nine. Climbing to tenth by lap twelve, Kaito battled as part of a tight group of riders. Upping his pace and setting his fastest lap of the race on lap 16, Toba was able to secure a strong ninth-place finish, just four seconds outside the top five.

Twentieth on the grid for only his second ever WorldSSP race, Azman was keen to build on what he learned in his debut race on Saturday. Pushing to stick with his closest rivals and study them over the course of the first five laps, he then lost a little ground in the laps leading up to the pit stop. Once back on track after switching his tyres on lap eight, Syarifuddin positioned nineteenth and was again able to stay focused and complete the race, accumulating a wealth of useful information in the process.

At this first championship round draws to a close, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has scored nine points with Toba, who lies eleventh in the general standings. Next on the schedule for the team is round 2 of the WorldSSP championship, which will see Toba and Azman compete at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal on 28-30 March.

Syarifuddin Azman – 19th

“First of all, I want to thank all the team members for their support this weekend. We’ve tried many things during the official tests and over the course of this weekend and I’m gradually adapting to the bike and feeling more comfortable. So, I’m happy with the work we’ve done so far. The race results are what they are, but this is only the first round of my first WorldSSP season. I’m already looking forward to the second round where we will do our best to make progress. A big thank you also to all the sponsors.”

Kaito Toba – 9th

“We’ve definitely made a good step this weekend, particularly compared to last year, which is very positive. We still need to improve in different areas, but at least we know where we are and what we need to do. We made a few changes to the bike for Race 2, and I felt that I rode better today too. We were also able to have a smooth pit stop, which helped. Although we still had a few small issues, the overall result today is encouraging, and I think there is good room for improvement at the next round.”