Lombok Tengah, The Indonesia Post – A young Indonesian racer fostered by PT Astra Honda Motor (AHM), Reykat Yusuf Fadillah, won the third podium in the first race of the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup (IATC) 2022 at the Mandalika International Street Circuit, Saturday afternoon.
Starting from fourth position, Reykat managed to finish in third place behind Malaysia’s Hakim Danish and Ezawa Shinya (Japan), following the collision experienced by Amon Odaki on the sixth lap.
Reyhat fought fiercely with Ezawa and Australian Carter Thompson to keep him in the race’s front three. The 14-year-old Depok native racer even took second place on the 12th lap.
While Danish completed 16 laps to finish in first place, Thompson crashed at the corner of the last 8 laps, which brought Ezawa in second and Reykat to the third podium in 28 minutes 24.226 seconds.
After the race, Reykat said he was trying to enjoy the race and not get too emotional.
“I tried to be consistent, not being too aggressive, so I was able to take third place. My target in the second race is to win. Please pray for and support me,” said Reykat.
Reykat’s achievement continued the positive trend that AHM fostered drivers had in the first series in Qatar, some time ago.
At that time, Veda Ega Pratama also presented the third podium in the second race. Unfortunately, Veda did not appear in the second series after falling in the qualifying session.
A pretty good performance was also shown by Aan Riswanto, a racer from Bantaeng, South Sulawesi. Starting the race from fifth position, Aan had repeatedly dropped positions.
However, Aan, who turned 16 this year, appeared very persistent, overtaking the drivers in front of him one by one on the last lap to finish in 8th position.
“I started from the second row, and had to fight with many riders until the end. The finishing position did not disappoint, and I will try my best to improve my position in the second race,” said Aan.
Meanwhile, two other Astra Honda riders, Muhammad Diandra Trihardika, also appeared promising. He was able to fight tight in the last two rounds. However, his position slumped and was only able to finish 13th.
Wildcard Zachry Akbar also showed potential by fighting and staying in 12th position at the end of the race.
The second race of the IATC 2022 Mandalika series will be held on Sunday, starting at 09:00 WITA. The race will also last for 16 laps, and can be watched live stream via the Asia Talent Cup Youtube and Facebook channels. (ojn/bbs)
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