JDT Racing Team riders dominated Race 2 of the ASB1000, claiming their first double win since 2024 on home soil.
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The opening round of the 2026 IDEMITSU FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) at the Sepang International Circuit saw an exceptional performance from national rider, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah, who managed to record a double victory in the ASB1000 category.
The JDT Racing Team rider displayed a dominant performance throughout Race 2, delivering a sweet victory in front of the home crowd. The victory marked Hafizh’s first “perfect double” since the 2024 season.
Perfect start and full control of the race
As soon as the lights went out, Hafizh made a good enough start to continue leading the race. Keito Abe of SDG HARC-PRO Honda Philippines kept putting pressure on him from behind, while Lachlan Epis was in third position.
Entering Lap 3, Hafizh began to show his true pace when he recorded the fastest time of 2’05.621s, in addition to reaching a maximum speed of almost 288.8 km/h, strengthening his position at the front.
The gap is widening, Hafizh is difficult to challenge
The race began to enter a stable phase with Hafizh continuing to control the competition at the front, followed by Keito and Lachlan. Behind, the competition became increasingly fierce involving Adenanta Putra, Muhammad Zaqhwan Zaidi, and Andi Farid Izdihar.
By Lap 8, Hafizh managed to open up a gap of almost 4.8 seconds over his nearest challenger, before continuing to increase his advantage by more than five seconds on the next lap.
The drama of the fight for second place at the last moment
The action got more interesting when Andi Farid started to show aggressive riding. On Lap 10, he managed to pass Lachlan to move up to third place before continuing to chase Keito in second position.
The climax of the action occurred on Lap 13 when Andi managed to overtake Keito at Turn 9, temporarily putting JDT Racing Team in 1-2 position.
However, on the final corner of the race, Keito counterattacked on the home straight and managed to reclaim second place by just 0.006 seconds.
Hafizh dedicates victory to Malaysians
Up front, Hafizh was unchallenged and finished the race with a time of 29’35.664s, completing a double victory for the weekend. After the race, Hafizh described his achievement as the result of hard work and sacrifice throughout the season.
“The first win was really meaningful, so I wanted to double it, and we did it. It was a perfect weekend with a consistent pace. On the last lap I was actually almost out of fuel, but I managed to finish the race.”
“Thank you to the team and all the Malaysian supporters. This is the victory I’ve been chasing since last year, and we finally achieved it.”
Top 5 ASB1000 Race 2 results
- Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (JDT Racing Team) – 29’35.664s
- Keito Abe (SDG HARC-PRO Honda Philippines) – 29’40.443s
- Andi Farid Izdihar (JDT Racing Team) – 29’40.449s
- Muhammad Zaqhwan Zaidi (Idemitsu Honda Racing Malaysia) – 29’43.402s
- Azroy Hakeem Anuar (Idemitsu Honda Racing Malaysia) – 29’43.523s
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