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Rajiv, Senthil post personal best practice time in road racing

After a constructive day on Friday, Saturday will be decisive.

Rajiv, Senthil post personal best practice time in road racing

Rajiv Sethu in action. (File Photo: IANS)

Entering the finale 7th round of FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) 2019 at the Chang International circuit, IDEMITSU Honda Racing India team’s rider-duo of Rajiv Sethu and Senthil Kumar finished Friday’s 3 practice sessions on a strong note amidst intense competition from Asia’s best riders.

Rajiv was his fastest ever in free practice sessions at the Chang circuit with a lead gap of only 2:045 seconds from the Indonesian lead rider Rafid Topan who stopped the clock at 1:53:039, Rajiv clocked his best practice lap time of 1:55:084.

Meanwhile, Senthil, 19, too showed consistent improvement. Finishing 21st on the grid, Senthil too recorded his personal best practice lap time of 1:56:942 on Friday. Gaining confidence in the 6 rounds of 2019 ARRC, Senthil significantly reduced his gap with the lead rider to 3.903 sec compared to the 4.628 sec gap in the earlier round 3 in the same Chang circuit.

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With the battle for the AP250 title still up for grabs in the last round, the heat was on, on Friday. The top 15 riders fought in just a 2:045 seconds gap. Leading the combined practice from the front was Indonsian Rafid Topan Sucipto (1:53:039) followed by AP Honda Racing team’s Thai rider duo of Piyawat Patoomyos (1:53:157) and Muklada Sarapuech (1:53:194).

After a constructive day on Friday, Saturday will be decisive. Honda’s Indian duo is fighting with 30 of Asia’s top riders from 8 countries. But the Indian challengers are confident after their positive track outing. While Rajiv is aiming for a top 10 finish, Senthil is targeting a top 15 finish at Buriram.

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