15 Oct 2011 ARRC SS600cc qualifying: Fujiwara shines in Zhuhai debut

Katsuaki Fujiwara continues to impress as he clocks the best lap time in his debut at the Audi Zhuhai International Circuit, China, host to the penultimate round of the 2011 PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) today.

The Japanese rider representing Manual Tech BEET Kawasaki Racing in the SuperSports 600cc category who skipped the morning practice following wet conditions was quick to secure the fastest lap of 1:39.658s just 10 laps into the qualifying session. Adding to the joy, teammate M.Fadli registered second fastest with 1:39.786s, just 0.128s off. Third came in Chalermpol Polamai (Yamaha Thailand Racing) with 1:39.890s.

Fourth came in Malaysian, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Boon Siew Honda Racing Malaysia) followed by defending Champion, Decha Kraisat with 1:39.942s and 1:39.945s respectively.

"Like India, we came here with hopes of only maintaining our position in the standings and initially our target for today was to qualify within top eight. We really did not expect to record the best lap here but we did and I am very happy," said the 37-year old rider.

Fujiwara went on to evaluate on Friday's outing and added, "Today did not start too well. After a lengthy discussion with the team, we chose to sit out the morning practice as we found it too risky not only because this is my first time riding in Zhuhai but also because the wet tyres were brand new. So we only went out during the qualifying.

"I did my best without pushing too much seeing that the circuit was not 100 percent dry and I was still trying to memorize the layout. My feedback on the circuit... quite challenging especially the first three turns where one has to be really precise with the lining," he said.

Talk about his hopes and expectations for the qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday he commented, "The team came to China with hopes of only finishing the race, pick up points and defend my position in the overall standings. But I want to do more than that because today's results indicate I can go much faster. Therefore, my personal aim is to secure my fourth pole position after the race in Sepang, Indonesia and Japan for tomorrow's qualifying and try to win the race on Sunday."

Meanwhile, to complete the top ten would be youngster, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (PETRONAS Syntium Moto Yamaha Raceline) followed by Doni Tata (Yamaha Indonesia Racing), Mohd Zamri Baba (PETRONAS Yamaha Malaysia), Yuki Ito (Dog Fight Racing Yamaha) and Ahmad Fuad Baharudin (Bike A.R.T Kawasaki Racing).

The remaining riders were Makoto Inagaki (Moto-Rev India) followed by Yuji Sato, Dimas Ekky Pratama, Christan Casella, Yusuke Teshima (Team Suzuki Pilipinas), Mohd Emir Firdaus Hasan, Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi, Dwi Satria (Yamaha Yamalube ASH TJM KYT), Ahmad Zamani Baharudin, Cru Halliday, Krisnan Rajini, Mohd Hafieenaz Ali, wildcard Leong Lok Choi and Toshiyuki Hamaguchi.