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
British Supersport Championship is a support series to the British Superbike Championship (BSB) for engine capacities smaller than Superbike. British Supersport runs one or two rounds per weekend at each BSB event. The BSS championship is seen as ...
,
AMA Supersport Championship
AMA Supersport is an American motorcycle racing series. The race series was founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1987.
The road racing series allows motorcycles of up to 600cc engine capacity. The American Mot ...
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), SuperSports 600cc, Asia Production 250cc and Underbone 150cc. 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
The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM; en, International Motorcycling Federation) is the global governing/sanctioning body of motorcycle racing. It represents 116 national motorcycle federations that are divided into six regiona ...
'' (FIM, "International Motorcycling Federation") in 1997 and has been recognized since as the Asian continental championship for the FIM.
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.
Circuits
The championship tours in Asia but is open to riders from all nationalities.
The Asia Road Racing 2022 season consisted of 5 races at 3 circuits in 3 Asian countries.
* Round 1, March 26 & 27, 2022, Thailand,
Chang International Circuit
The Buriram International Circuit (known as Chang International Circuit (ช้าง อินเตอร์เนชั่นแนล เซอร์กิต) for commercial purposes, but listed by its non-commercial name because of alcohol ...
* Round 2, May 28 & 29, 2022, Malaysia,
Sepang International Circuit
The Sepang International Circuit ( ms, Litar Antarabangsa Sepang) is a motorsport race track in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located approximately south of Kuala Lumpur, and close to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It hosted the Fo ...
* Round 3, August 13 & 14, 2022, Japan,
Sportsland Sugo
* Round 4, Octember 6 & 9, 2022, Malaysia,
Sepang International Circuit
The Sepang International Circuit ( ms, Litar Antarabangsa Sepang) is a motorsport race track in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located approximately south of Kuala Lumpur, and close to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It hosted the Fo ...
* Round 5, November 19 & 20, 2022, Thailand
Chang International Circuit
The Buriram International Circuit (known as Chang International Circuit (ช้าง อินเตอร์เนชั่นแนล เซอร์กิต) for commercial purposes, but listed by its non-commercial name because of alcohol ...
Other venues that had previously hosted the Asia Road Racing Championship included:
* Shah Alam, Malaysia,
Shah Alam Circuit
Shah Alam Circuit (حلبة شاه عالم) or Batu Tiga Speedway Circuit was a racing circuit in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. The circuit layout was designed by Dutchman John Hugenholtz.
History
The circuit was opened in 1968. The 1968 Ma ...
(1996, 2001–2002)
* Pasir Gudang, Malaysia,
Johor Circuit
Johor Circuit is the motorsport race track in Johor, Malaysia. It was the first motosport track in Malaysia located in Pasir Gudang.
History
The construction of the circuit began in 1985 and was officially opened on 1986 by Sultan Iskandar. ...
(1996–2004, 2006, 2008, 2016–2017)
* Bogor, Indonesia,
Sentul International Circuit
Sentul International Circuit is a 50,000-capacity permanent motor racing circuit located at Sentul City, Babakan Madang, Bogor Regency, West Java, Indonesia, near the toll gate of Jakarta towards Bogor city and areas at the foot of Jonggol Mount ...
(1996–2000, 2002–2018)
* Nakhonchaisee, Thailand, Thailand Racing Circuit (1996–2001)
* Batangas, Philippines,
Batangas Racing Circuit
Batangas Racing Circuit is a permanent circuit in Barrio Maligaya, Rosario, Batangas, Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik ...
(1996)
* Subic Bay, Philippines, Subic Bay International Raceway (1997)
* Zhuhai, China,
Zhuhai International Circuit
Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) (simplified Chinese: 珠海国际赛车场; traditional Chinese: ) is located at Jin Ding town in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China.
Motorsport started in Zhuhai when it hosted a race on its street circ ...
(2001–2002, 2004–2012, 2019)
* Tailem Bend, Australia,
The Bend Motorsport Park
The Bend Motorsport Park is a bitumen motor racing circuit at Tailem Bend, South Australia, Australia, about south-east of the state capital, Adelaide.
The complex has a bitumen circuit, drag racing strip, and drift racing circuit.
The rac ...
(2018–2019)
* Chennai (Madras), India,
Madras Motor Race Track
The Madras International Circuit (MIC, previously known as Madras Motor Race Track and Irungattukottai Race Track) is a permanent motor racing circuit located in Irungattukottai, Chennai, India. It was built in the late 1980s and was inaugurat ...
(1997, 2009–2011, 2013, 2017–2018)
* New Delhi, India,
Buddh International Circuit
The Buddh International Circuit ( hi, बुद्ध अंतरराष्ट्रीय परिपथ) is an Indian motor racing circuit situated in National Capital Region at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The track shares its name wit ...
(2016)
* Fukuoka, Japan,
Autopolis
is a international racing circuit located near Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan on the Northeast of Kumamoto. Nippon Autopolis">F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis/ref>
Tsurumaki ordered 30 Buic ...
Circuit (2009–2014)
* Doha, Qatar,
Losail International Circuit
The Losail International Circuit or Lusail International Circuit (Arabic: حلبة لوسيل الدولية) is a motor racing circuit located just outside the city of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar.
Built in just under a year by 1,000 workers ...
(2010–2015)
* Donggang, Taiwan,
Penbay International Circuit
Penbay International Circuit (PIC; ) is a motor sport circuit in Donggang Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The circuit is long with widths from 12m to 20m. It has five configurations. It officially opened on 9 October 2011. 記者顏瑞田 ...
(2012)
* Suzuka, Japan,
Suzuka Circuit
The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000.
Int ...
(2013–2019)
2020 race classes and motorcycles
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
Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of ...
and
Youtube channel
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most v ...
, as well a
Bikeandrace.com
Asia-Pacific
Spain (the one and only European country)
All races are streamed through subscription service
DAZN
DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet.
The ...
.
Winners by race class
1996–1999
The road racing series began on 2-stroke engines.
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.
2004–2005
2006–2014
2015–2018
2019–2021
2022
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
Katsuaki Fujiwara (born 27 March 1975 in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) is a former professional Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer. He last competed in the Asia Road Race Championship in the SS600 class aboard a Kawasaki ZX-6R, where h ...
,
Ryuichi Kiyonari
(born September 23, 1982 in Saitama, Japan) is a professional motorcycle road racer.
He previously rode a Honda CBR1000RR in the MFJ All-Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship. He was the 2006, 2007 and 2010 British Superbike champion an ...
,
Yuki Takahashi
is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship aboard a Honda CBR1000RR. For 2009 he made his debut in the MotoGP class, with the Scot Racing Honda team but was subsequentl ...
and
Noriyuki Haga
is a Japanese former professional Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer. He won 43 world championship superbike races during a 25 year racing career, making him one of the most accomplished competitors never to have won a Superbike World Championsh ...
. In 2016,
Anthony West was the latest addition in the roster of internationally recognized names. For the 2019 season, Australian racers who have participated in both
MotoGP
Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...
and
World Superbike
Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing.
The championship was founded in ...
take part in the series, they are
Broc Parkes
Broc Parkes (born 24 December 1981) is an Australian motorcycle racer, best known for his success in the Supersport World Championship. He currently races in the Endurance FIM World Championship aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1.
During 2015 he raced i ...
, and
Bryan Staring
Bryan Staring ( ; born 1 June 1987 in Perth) is an Australian Grand Prix motorcycle racer, currently competing in the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), aboard a Ducati Panigale V4 for Desmosport Ducati, owned by Ben Henry and thr ...
.
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:
*
Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini (250cc, 1996 to 2002)
*
Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman
Azlan Shah bin Kamaruzaman (born 1 October 1984) is a Malaysian professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He currently competes in the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) ASB1000 Championship aboard a BMW S1000RR.
Career Moto2 World Champio ...
(Moto2, 2013 to 2015)
*
Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Moto2, 2011 to 2017; MotoGP, 2018 to present)
*
Thitipong Warokorn (Moto2, 2013 to 2015)
*
Rafid Topan Sucipto (Moto2, 2012–13, 2018)
*
Doni Tata Pradita
Doni Tata Pradita (born 21 January 1990) is an Indonesian motorcycle racer who raced in the 2013 Moto2 World Championship. In 2008, he raced for Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia Team in the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship. Doni is the first Ind ...
(GP250cc, 2008; and Moto2, 2013)
*
Dimas Ekky Pratama (Moto2, 2019)
*
Khairul Idham Pawi
Khairul Idham Pawi (born 20 September 1998) is a Malaysian motorcycle racer. He is the youngest non- European to win a Grand Prix, accomplishing this feat in the Argentine race of the 2016 Moto3 World Championship, aged just 17.
Career
Moto3 ...
(Moto3, 2016; Moto2, 2017 to present)
*
Hiroki Ono
Hiroki Ono (尾野 弘樹, born 15 July 1992) is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He competes in the MFJ All Japan Road Race J-GP2 Championship aboard a Suzuki GSX-R600.
Career
Japan Road Race Championship (JRR)
Born in Nara, and after ...
(Moto3, 2013 to 2016)
On July 4 to 11, 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).
See also
*
Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) is an international rally championship organized by the FIA encompassing rounds in Asia and Oceania. Group N cars dominated the championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S ...
References
External links
*{{Official website
*https://asiaroadracing.com/results/
*http://www.fim-publicaffairs.com/
Motorcycle road racing series
Recurring sporting events established in 1996