- Bad race start resulted in Rajiv losing position behind to 21st
- Suffers high-side on the last lap of the race further pushing his position to 22nd
- Senthil reduces a second more in lap timing, gains two positions
After yesterday’s promising practice session, Idemitsu Honda Racing India team had aimed to secure a top 10 finish in qualifying for Round 3 of FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in Buriram.
The team achieved the goal as Rajiv Sethu bagged the seventh position on the grid in qualifying with a lap timing of 1:53:573. However, this achievement was short lived as Sethu ended up with a bad start in the opening race which pushed him to the back 14 positions to 21st in the pack. Determined to not let the setback affect the rest of the race, Sethu fought his way back by overtaking one rider in Lap 3 followed by other three more by Lap 5. In the next five laps, Sethu made his way up to the 10th position. In spite of the effort, fate had something else planned for him. In the last lap of the race, Sethu lost control of the race-spec CBR250RR due to a high-side on turn three. However, Rajiv managed to complete the race in 22nd position with some damage to the handlebar.
The opening race was comparatively better for the team’s second rider, Senthil Kumar. Getting off the starting line with a good start, Senthil managed to reduce one more second in his lap time. While he had to hang on to this 20th position till lap 8, he managed to overtake two riders in the next two laps and complete the race in 18th position.
