Ahmad Zamani Baharuddin had to settle with his Friday’s best laptime when damp track conditions hampered the Team PETRONAS Sprinta rider’s efforts to post a better time in today’s second timed practice session. With the result, Zamani will start from the second row starting grid in fifth position for both of tomorrow’s races in the final round of Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in Sepang.

With slight rain continued to drizzle even at the start of today’s session around 10 am, the track never had any chance to dry up. Add to that equation Sepang circuit’s notoriety for its slow drying surface, the prevailing overcast conditions throughout the session had made it even worse. Despite the less-than-favorable conditions, the riders ventured forth nonetheless but literally had to “tip-toe” around the track, especially during the morning warm up session.

Recalling his experience riding a powerful two-wheeled machine on a slippery surface, Zamani said, “Today’s track conditions, double that with the used tires we’re using, the results were almost expected. It was a hard session but everybody had the same environment to work on, so it wasn’t all that bad.”

Despite clocking an impressive 1min 09.927 seconds under the damp conditions, just four one hundredth of a second slower than session leader Toshiyuki Hamaguchi, Ahmad Zamani still had to make do with his yesterday’s time. His predicament was shared by almost all of the grid starters, when only four out of the 18 entries posted a better time today. Though disappointed, Zamani remain optimistic of tomorrow’s race.

He said, “We’re still gunning for a double win tomorrow, nothing has change. Although I will be starting from the second row grid, we will definitely push on early for a good position in the race and hope to land first in both races. We’ve been in these kinds of situation before and with a little luck, we don’t see why it can’t be achieved.”

Teammates Suhadi Ali Rahmat and Mohd Syahnas Shahidan also had similar luck with the damp and cold conditions in Sepang. Suhadi, who posted 1:10.480s yesterday only managed to clock 1:10.939s in today’s session while Syahnas had a similar outcome when the Cub Prix’s Novice class champion clocked 1:13.542s today as compared to 1:11.994s done yesterday. The two will start from 10th and 16th starting grid positions respectively.

Although knowing that the team faced a tougher challenge today, Team Manager Saiful Amri Abdullah knows his boys can pull it off and achieve the impossible. “Like what Zamani had said, we have been in this situations before and it’s not surprising that with a little luck, they can achieve almost anything. Like most of other teams, we are hoping for a clearer day tomorrow for both races and with determination and some racing luck, we know the team can bring home the silverware.”

Championship leader Toshiyuki Hamaguchi stayed well in contention for his second successive championship title when he grabbed tomorrow’s pole position with compatriot and teammate Makoto Inagaki securing the second spot. Australian Cameron Donald will start from the third position while former 250cc Grand Prix winner Osamu Miyazaki rounds up the final front row starting grid.