The Japanese rider set the fastest time in Qualifying for the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup ahead of Sasaki and Salim.
The Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup faces its final event of the year this weekend, two races run alongside the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit.
It has been an intense day for the 22 riders participating in the final round as they ran two free practice sessions of 30 minutes each ahead of the Qualifying session in the late afternoon.
Under the typical tropical conditions of Sepang, ambient temperatures reached upwards of 32 degrees, Japan’s Takuma Kunimine was fastest in a most important Qualifying session after great form in the prior two sessions. Kunimine took his first pole of the year with a time of 2’17.876, unable to best the track record set by Sasaki last year (2’17.285). Second in the rankings was Ayumu Sasaki himself, winner of the 2015 edition of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup. The champion set his fastest time on his fourth lap and was not able to lower his times, ending three tenths behind Kunimine and only 0.062s ahead of Indonesian Salim who rounded out the front row.
During the three sessions several falls occurred without major consequence, except for Japanese rider Fuse who suffered a soft tissue injury of the left deltoid ligament.
The first race is scheduled to take place on Saturday when 22 riders will take to the track for the 13 lap race around the 5,543m Sepang track.
The scheduled start time is at 16:30 Local Time (GMT +8).
You can view the results of the sessions by clicking here.
