Image: Russell Colvin.

Japanese racer Yuki Ito was fastest on day one of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) at The Bend Motorsport Park in the high-profile series’ first visit to Australia.

Ito, who rides for Yamaha Racing Team Asean, put forward a 1m57.332s SuperSports 600cc lap-time around the world-class 4.95-kilometre International Circuit in FP2 this afternoon.

It was a strong first day for Ito, ending up two-tenths ahead of Thailand talent Decha Kraisart (Yamaha Thailand Racing Team), who in turn was near half a second up on countryman Keminth Kubo (Yamaha Racing Team Asean). Top of the local wildcards was Broc Pearson (Yamaha) in P4, as Tomoyoshi Koyama (Musashi Boon Siew Honda Racing) was fifth.

Of the remaining Australians in the field, Tom Toparis (Cube Racing Kawasaki) was ninth, directly ahead of Malaysia’s defending champion Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing). Scott Nicholson (Next Gen Motorsports Suzuki) was 19th and series regular Patrick Li (Webike Ikazuchi Racing Yamaha) 22nd.

In the Asia Production 250cc class it was Rheza Danica Ahrens (Astra Honda Racing Team) quickest with an impressive 2m08.675s, as Australian guest Zac Levy (Yamaha) was in position 20 following day one with the Webike Ikazuchi Racing Yamaha team.

Today saw the Underbone 150cc division debut down under, with McKinley Kyle Paz (UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team) posting a 2m18.393s, with Travis Hall (SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing Team) a standout in ninth and Lucky Taylor (Yamaha) 17th at this stage.

Detailed results