Team PETRONAS Sprinta’s Ahmad Zamani Baharuddin overcame initial Chinese jitters today to register a marked improvement snatching the fourth grid position for tomorrow’s start of Round 4 of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship here in Zhuhai, China. He who recorded a 1min 43.820s in yesterday’s session managed to slash more than a second today registering a best of 1min 42.626s around the 4.3 km circuit.
Zamani’s archrivals and title contenders Cameron Donald and Toshiyuki Hamaguchi meanwhile, managed to capture pole and second position respectively while another Japanese, Toshiyuki Arakaki surged to third within the dying minutes of the 45-minute session. Teammates Suhadi and Syahnas also showed tremendous potential by taking the 12th and 18th starting grid positions.
Zamani recalled, “We were trying several bike settings for this track yesterday but could only see some results after today’s morning free practice session. We consider this as a normal learning experience and like everything else improvements will only come with familiarity. Initially, the bike wasn’t too perfect and I was scrambling to find the ideal braking point and corner speed but it kept giving me contrasting information. We then made some minor enhancement on the suspension, and yes, it is fine now.”
Part of the problem also lies with the newly introduced Dunlop tires, which has a slightly different thread pattern allowing for more grip and better life. Zamani added, “We thought of going for the quickest laptime in yesterday’s session but with the new tires, I couldn’t get the desired pace. I have to relearn the feel of the bike, the way it handles within a corner, everything that revolves around the tires. Tomorrow should be a different story, now that I’m more comfortable with them.”
Hamaguchi is currently the championship leader with 95 points while Zamani trails 23 points behind in second. His immediate worry is Aussie Cameron Donald who is just 1 point behind in third. Zamani added, “I’m more comfortable with the circuit and machine after the track time we had the past 2 days. I’m really charged up for this race and will definitely do my best to keep my chances alive. I will try to get a good start from the front row and hopefully be able to keep up the pace with the others. We have trained hard for this and I want to win, badly. Hope it will be a successful affair tomorrow.”
Apart from Zamani, Team PSR’s Suhadi and Syahnas are also hoping for a good outing tomorrow. Suhadi said, “Although this is my first outing here in this circuit, the experience I’ve gained is totally invaluable. The laptimes I did was comparable but I wish to be faster tomorrow on raceday.”