Asia Road Racing Championship

FIM Asia Road Racing Championship
FIM ARRC Official Logo
CategoryMotorcycle sport
RegionAsia (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 websitewww.asiaroadracing.com
ASB1000
ConstructorsHonda, BMW, Yamaha, Ducati
Tyre suppliersDunlop
Riders' champion2024 Japan Yuki Kunii
Constructors' championHonda
Teams' championSDG Team HARC-PRO Honda Ph.
ASS600
ConstructorsHonda, Yamaha
Tyre suppliersDunlop
Riders' champion2024 Thailand Apiwat Wongthananon
Constructors' championYamaha
Teams' championYamaha Tekhne Racing Team Asia
ASS250
ConstructorsHonda, Kawasaki, Yamaha
Tyre suppliersDunlop
Riders' champion2024 Indonesia Herjun Atna Firdaus
Constructors' championHonda
Teams' championAstra Honda Racing Team
UB150
ConstructorsHonda, Yamaha
Tyre suppliersDunlop
Riders' champion2024 Indonesia Fahmi Basam
Constructors' championYamaha
Teams' championYamaha 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]

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

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
 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 Malaysia Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini Thailand Direk Achawong Thailand Somkuan Raemee
1997 Malaysia Chow Yan Kit Thailand Direk Achawong Thailand Niphon Saengsawang Thailand Eakrach Punbuppha
1998 Japan Youichi Nakajima Thailand Direk Achawong Thailand Eakrach Punbuppha Thailand Amporn Siriphat
1999 Japan Naoto Ogura Thailand Direk Achawong Thailand Eakrach Punbuppha Thailand 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 Malaysia Chia Tuck Cheong Thailand Suhathai Chaemsap Thailand Surapong Boonlert Thailand Thammanoon Sillapakul
2001 Malaysia Chia Tuck Cheong Thailand Direk Achawong Malaysia Mazlan Khamis
2002 Japan Toshiyuki Hamaguchi Thailand Suhathai Chaemsap Malaysia Mohamad Hisham Ngadin
2003 Japan Toshiyuki Hamaguchi Malaysia Mohamad Hisham Ngadin

2004–2005

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

2006–2014

Year SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) Underbone 115cc (4-stroke) Underbone 115cc (Under 21) Asia Dream Cup
2006 Japan Toshiyuki Hamaguchi Indonesia Gilang Pranata Sukma Indonesia Feizy Juniardith
2007 Thailand Decha Kraisart Indonesia Wahyu Widodo
2008 Japan Toshiyuki Hamaguchi Indonesia Owie Nurhuda
2009 Thailand Chalermpol Polamai Malaysia Mohd Affendi Rosli
2010 Thailand Decha Kraisart Indonesia Hadi Wijaya
2011 Japan Katsuaki Fujiwara Indonesia Rafid Topan Sucipto
2012 Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari Indonesia Hadi Wijaya Japan Hikari Okubo
2013 Malaysia Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman Indonesia Hadi Wijaya Japan Hiroki Ono
2014 Malaysia Zaqhwan Zaidi Indonesia Gupita Kresna Wardhana Malaysia 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 Japan Yuki Takahashi Japan Takehiro Yamamoto Indonesia Gupita Kresna Wardhana Thailand Mukhlada Sarapuech Indonesia Andreas Gunawan
2016 Malaysia Zaqhwan Zaidi Thailand Apiwat Wongthananon Indonesia Wahyu Aji Trilaksana Japan Hiroki Nakamura Indonesia Jefri Tosema
2017 Malaysia Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman Indonesia Gerry Salim Malaysia Md Akid Aziz Philippines Jomimar Medina
2018 Thailand Ratthapong Wilairot Indonesia Rheza Danica Ahrens Malaysia Md Helmi Azman

2019–2021

Year ASB1000 (4-stroke) SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke) Underbone 150cc (4-stroke)
2019 Malaysia Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman Thailand Peerapong Boonlert Indonesia Andy Muhammad Fadly Philippines McKinley Kyle Paz
2020 Season cancelled due to 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 Malaysia Zaqhwan Zaidi Indonesia Andi Farid Izdihar Indonesia Andy Muhammad Fadly Indonesia Wahyu Aji Trilaksana Thailand Vorapong Malahuan
2023 Germany Markus Reiterberger Japan Soichiro Minamimoto Indonesia Rheza Danica Ahrens Malaysia Nazirul Izzat Bahauddin Malaysia Muzakkir Mohamed
2024 Japan Yuki Kunii Thailand Apiwat Wongthananon Indonesia Herjun Atna Firdaus Indonesia Fahmi Basam Japan 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:

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

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.