Team Suzuki Press Office – July 7.
Japan’s Takeru Murase raced to victory in Sunday’s SUZUKI ASIAN CHALLENGE third round at his home event at the Suzuka Circuit at Mie in Japan.
Murase (#83) started from second on the grid behind pole-setter, (#98) Patis Chooprathet with Saturday’s first-race winner, Andreas Gunawan (#43) in third.
Rain fell until the early hours of Sunday morning, but by the time Race 2 started, the track was almost dry. Pole-setter Chooprathet took the holeshot, but once Murase took the lead, he never looked back. Murase extended his lead lap-by-lap and won the race; the first win for a Japanese rider in the new one-make Suzuki FU150 series.
Chooprathet and Gunawan battled together until the last lap, but Chooprathet crossed the finish-line in second after Gunawan made a mistake on the last lap and had to settle for third.
Murase is now the fourth rider in the highly-competitive SAC to win in six races so far in the Suzuki rider development program, produced and operated by Yukio Kagayama and run within the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship.
Round four of the ARRC will be held on August 28th-30th at Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand.
Takeru Muraase - #83:
“I like race tracks with tight corners after a high-speed course, so Suzuka was a great fix for me. Furthermore, the race being held in my home country did help me relax more than racing out of Japan. I succeeded in making a good start, and followed Patis. Maybe because of his crash in Race 1, Patis wasn't running at his best, so I had to overtake him. After that, I concentrated on being out-front. I wanted to win earlier, but everything is new to me at SAC, so I couldn't really concentrate. Now that I’ve won a race, I want to continue to do more at Buriram.”
Yukio Kagayama - General Manager:
“I would like to congratulate all the SAC riders for finishing the race without any major incidents. I also want to congratulate Takeru Murase for his first win this season. The track conditions were difficult with wet patches still left on the track, but he showed courage and made efforts to win the race. I also witnessed that all the riders have improved a lot since our first test at Sepang. I hope they continue to improve, and also wish that they show me more improvements in Thailand. I am also happy that a lot of spectators came to Suzuka, and I believe that we were able to show what motorsports in Asia is about: I wish to continue promoting the sport in Asia.
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Hideyuki Ogata - Rider Coach:
“I think the riders have shown improvements in many ways. There were many riders that raced in full wet conditions for the first time, but I am confident that this experience will benefit them in the future. This weekend also made me find out which riders are mentally-strong. I hope they will understand that being mentally-strong is just as important as being able to race fast. I will continue to support them so that they can one-day grow to become riders in a top team.”
