Asia Road Racing Championship

FIM Asia Road Racing Championship

FIM ARRC Official Logo
Category	Motorcycle sport
Region	Asia (mainly at Southeast Asia region and some East Asia, West Asia and South Asia)
Classes	Asia Superbikes 1000cc Asia Supersport 600cc Asia Supersport 250cc Underbone 150cc
Official website	www.asiaroadracing.com
ASB1000
Constructors	Honda, BMW, Yamaha, Ducati
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2024 Yuki Kunii
Constructors' champion	Honda
Teams' champion	SDG Team HARC-PRO Honda Ph.
ASS600
Constructors	Honda, Yamaha
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2024 Apiwat Wongthananon
Constructors' champion	Yamaha
Teams' champion	Yamaha Tekhne Racing Team Asia
ASS250
Constructors	Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2024 Herjun Atna Firdaus
Constructors' champion	Honda
Teams' champion	Astra Honda Racing Team
UB150
Constructors	Honda, Yamaha
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2024 Fahmi Basam
Constructors' champion	Yamaha
Teams' champion	Yamaha LFN HP969 Indonesia Racing Team
Current season

The FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (known as Idemitsu FIM Asia Road Racing Championship for sponsorship reason) is the regional motorcycle road racing championship for Asia, held since 1996.

This championship is part of the production-based category of racing, similar to the Supersport World Championship, British Supersport Championship, AMA Supersport Championship and Australian Supersport Championship. Modified versions of road-going motorcycles available to the public are featured in the race.

The championship is currently divided into four open-make classes – the ASB1000 (Asia Superbikes), ASS600 (Asia Supersports), ASS250 (Asia Supersports 250) and UB150 (Underbone 150). The new Asian Superbikes class revived off in 2019.

Overview

The Asia Road Racing Championship was first organized in 1996 as part of an Asian-wide initiative boost the development of the sport of motorcycle racing in the continent. The championship received the endorsement of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM, "International Motorcycling Federation") in 1997 and has been recognized since as the Asian continental championship for the FIM. ^[1]

The commercial rights are owned by Two Wheels Motor Racing, with FIM Asia as the sports sanctioning body.

The 2020 season consists of seven rounds with two races organized per round. ^[2]

Circuits

The championship tours in Asia but is open to riders from all nationalities.

The Asia Road Racing 2024 season will consist of 6 races at 5 circuits in 5 Asian countries. ^[3]

• Round 1, 15–17 March 2024, Thailand, Chang International Circuit
• Round 2, 19–21 April 2024, China, Zhuhai International Circuit
• Round 3, 7–9 June 2024, Japan, Mobility Resort Motegi
• Round 4, 26–28 July 2024, Indonesia, Mandalika International Street Circuit
• Round 5, 13–15 September 2024, Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit
• Round 6, 6–8 December 2024, Thailand, Chang International Circuit

Other venues that had previously hosted the Asia Road Racing Championship included:

• Shah Alam, Malaysia, Shah Alam Circuit (1996, 2001–2002)
• Bogor, Indonesia, Sentul International Circuit (1996–2000, 2002–2018)
• Batangas, Philippines, Batangas Racing Circuit (1996)
• Nakhonchaisee, Thailand, Thailand Circuit (1996–2001)
• Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, Johor Circuit (1996–2004, 2006, 2008, 2016–2017)
• Chennai (Madras), India, Madras International Circuit (1997, 2009–2011, 2013, 2017–2018)
• Subic Bay, Philippines, Subic International Raceway (1997) ^[4]
• Fukuoka, Japan, Autopolis (2009–2014)
• Doha, Qatar, Losail International Circuit (2010–2015)
• Donggang, Taiwan, Penbay International Circuit (2012)
• Suzuka, Japan, Suzuka International Racing Course (2013–2019)
• Dankaur, India, Buddh International Circuit (2016)
• Tailem Bend, Australia, The Bend Motorsport Park (2018–2019)
• Murata, Japan, Sportsland Sugo (2022–2023)

Current broadcasters

Worldwide

Live coverage, on-demand, and highlights for free practices, qualifications, and races is available on Asia Road Racing Championship's official Facebook page and Youtube channel, as well as Bikeandrace.com. ^[5]

Asia-Pacific

Country/Region	Broadcaster
Malaysia   Brunei	Astro Arena
Malaysia	RTM
China	Selected regional channels, online platforms, and social medias
	Star Sports
KOR
Hong Kong	SPOTV
Macau
Mongolia
Papua New Guinea
Southeast Asia   Brunei   Cambodia   Indonesia   Laos   Malaysia   Myanmar   Philippines   Singapore   Thailand   Timor-Leste   Vietnam
Indonesia	RCTI
Thailand	True4U

Spain

All races are streamed through subscription service DAZN.

Winners by race class

1996–1999

The road racing series began on 2-stroke engines.

Year	Series Production 250cc (2-stroke)	Sports Production 150cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 110cc (2-stroke)
1996	Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini	Direk Achawong		Somkuan Raemee
1997	Chow Yan Kit	Direk Achawong	Niphon Saengsawang	Eakrach Punbuppha
1998	Youichi Nakajima	Direk Achawong	Eakrach Punbuppha	Amporn Siriphat
1999	Naoto Ogura	Direk Achawong	Eakrach Punbuppha	Surapong Boonlert

2000–2003

The gradual shift to 4-stroke engines began in 2000 when the SuperSports 600cc class replaced the previous 250cc bikes as the premier class of the championship. ^[6]

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	GP125 (2-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 110cc (2-stroke)
2000	Chia Tuck Cheong	Suhathai Chaemsap	Surapong Boonlert	Thammanoon Sillapakul
2001	Chia Tuck Cheong	Direk Achawong	Mazlan Khamis
2002	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Suhathai Chaemsap	Mohamad Hisham Ngadin
2003	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi		Mohamad Hisham Ngadin

2004–2005

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (4-stroke)
2004	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Ahmad Fazli Sham	Fadli Immammuddin
2005	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Ahmad Fazli Sham	Doni Tata Pradita

2006–2014

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (Under 21)	Asia Dream Cup
2006	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Gilang Pranata Sukma	Feizy Juniardith
2007	Decha Kraisart	Wahyu Widodo
2008	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Owie Nurhuda
2009	Chalermpol Polamai	Mohd Affendi Rosli
2010	Decha Kraisart	Hadi Wijaya
2011	Katsuaki Fujiwara	Rafid Topan Sucipto
2012	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Hadi Wijaya		Hikari Okubo
2013	Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman	Hadi Wijaya		Hiroki Ono
2014	Zaqhwan Zaidi	Gupita Kresna Wardhana		Khairul Idham Pawi

2015–2018

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 130cc (4-stroke)	Asia Dream Cup	Suzuki Asian Challenge
2015	Yuki Takahashi	Takehiro Yamamoto	Gupita Kresna Wardhana	Mukhlada Sarapuech	Andreas Gunawan
2016	Zaqhwan Zaidi	Apiwat Wongthananon	Wahyu Aji Trilaksana	Hiroki Nakamura	Jefri Tosema
2017	Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman	Gerry Salim	Md Akid Aziz	Jomimar Medina
2018	Ratthapong Wilairot	Rheza Danica Ahrens	Md Helmi Azman

2019–2021

Year	ASB1000 (4-stroke)	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 150cc (4-stroke)
2019	Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman	Peerapong Boonlert	Andy Muhammad Fadly	McKinley Kyle Paz
2020	Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021

2022–

Year	ASB1000 (4-stroke)	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 150cc (4-stroke)	TVS Asia One-Make (4-stroke)
2022	Zaqhwan Zaidi	Andi Farid Izdihar	Andy Muhammad Fadly	Wahyu Aji Trilaksana	Vorapong Malahuan
2023	Markus Reiterberger	Soichiro Minamimoto	Rheza Danica Ahrens	Nazirul Izzat Bahauddin	Muzakkir Mohamed
2024	Yuki Kunii	Apiwat Wongthananon	Herjun Atna Firdaus	Fahmi Basam	Hiroki Ono

Notable achievements

The Asia Road Racing Championship is a mix of well-known riders racing against upcoming talents from the Asian region. Some of the big names that have contributed to the growth of the sport of road racing in Asia include Katsuaki Fujiwara, Ryuichi Kiyonari, ^[7] Yuki Takahashi and Noriyuki Haga. ^[8] In 2016, Anthony West was the latest addition in the roster of internationally recognized names. ^[9] For the 2019 season, Australian racers who have participated in both MotoGP and World Superbike take part in the series, they are Broc Parkes, and Bryan Staring.

This formula of pitting upcoming talents against seasoned campaigners have resulted in a number of successes. In recent years, riders from the Asian region are beginning to make their breakthrough into the MotoGP arena. These include:

• Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini (250cc, 1996 to 2002)
• Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Moto2, 2013 to 2015) ^[10]
• Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Moto2, 2011 to 2017; MotoGP, 2018 to present)
• Thitipong Warokorn (Moto2, 2013 to 2015)
• Rafid Topan Sucipto (Moto2, 2012–13, 2018)
• Doni Tata Pradita (GP250cc, 2008; and Moto2, 2013)
• Dimas Ekky Pratama (Moto2, 2019)
• Khairul Idham Pawi (Moto3, 2016; Moto2, 2017 to present) ^[11]
• Hiroki Ono (Moto3, 2013 to 2016)

On 4 to 11 July 2016, five young riders from the Asia Production 250cc class became the first batch of riders to be trained at the VR46 Academy in Italy as part of the Yamaha|VR46 Master Camp. They were Peerapong Loiboonpeng (21, Thailand), Imanuel Putra Pratna (19, Indonesia), Galang Hendra Pratama (17, Indonesia), Soichiro Minamimoto (16, Japan) and Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin (16, Malaysia). ^{[12] [13]}

See also

• Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

References

1. "Road Racing – FIM ASIA" . Retrieved 11 July 2016.
2. (ARRC)
3. "FIM Asia Road Racing Championship Official Announcement". asiaroadracing.com. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
4. "The Marlboro Asia Pacific Philippines leg at Subic Bay – by Paul Peczon". www.dot.com.ph. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
5. "Asia Road Racing Championship on Instagram: "The 1st Race Week of #ARRC2020 is here! Catch Round 1 LIVE on 👇🏼 1. Facebook Asia Road Racing Championship 2. YouTube Asia Road Racing 3.…"". Instagram . Retrieved 4 March 2020.
6. "New Categories For FIM Asia Road Racing". Utusan Online. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
7. "Kiyonari to compete in Asia Road Racing Championship | BSB News". Crash Media Group Ltd. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
8. "Haga signs with Suzuki for Asia Road Race Championship | WSBK News". Crash Media Group Ltd. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
9. "Motorcycling Australia: News Single". www.ma.org.au. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
10. "Kamaruzaman To Join Honda Team Asia For Remainder Of FIM Moto2 World Championship". www.roadracingworld.com. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
11. "Honda Worldwide | Motor Sports | MotoGP | Honda Riders Close Up | Moto3 Khairul Idham Pawi Honda Team Asia". world.honda.com. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
12. "Rossi takes Master Camp riders to Misano | MotoGP News". Crash Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
13. "Five rising stars head to VR46 Master Camp". www.motogp.com. Dorna Sports. Retrieved 12 July 2016.

External links

• Official website
• https://asiaroadracing.com/results/
• http://www.fim-publicaffairs.com/