IDEMITSU Honda Racing India team geared up for ARRC

: The IDEMITSU Honda Racing India team is geared up for the first round of FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC), beginning at the Sepang International circuit in Malaysia on Saturday.

The first round of the 2019 season would see 25 riders from seven nations fighting it out for top honours, a press note here said.

After finishing the two-day pre-season testing on Thursday, the team finished practices on a high today.

Both the riders of Honda Racing India team - the experienced Rajiv Sethu and rookie Senthil Kumar in the Asia Production 250cc class showed improvement on their timings.

Clocking a best practice lap time of 2:26:858, Rajiv Sethu is now in the top seven bunch, his best-ever in practice.

The combined practice result saw Senthil finish at 17th with his best lap time of 2:30:288.

Prabhu Nagaraj, vice-president Brand and Communications, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said "Malaysia is a tricky round as the track is new to both the team and riders who are riding the CBR250RR.

But our boys performance in pre-test and today's practice has been very strong and encouraging.

"Rajivs first time entry in top 7 in practice and Senthil coming in top 17 is great news for the qualifier and race 1 tomorrow. We are now challenging ourselves in the top 10 finish this season."