# Asia Road Racing Championship

The FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (known as Idemitsu FIM Asia Road Racing Championship for sponsorship reason) is the regional motorcycle road racing championship for Asia, held since 1996.
This championship is part of the production-based category of racing, similar to the Supersport World Championship, British Supersport Championship, AMA Supersport Championship and Australian Supersport Championship. Modified versions of road-going motorcycles available to the public are featured in the race.
The championship is currently divided into four open-make classes – the ASB1000 (Asia Superbikes), ASS600 (Asia Supersports), ASS250 (Asia Supersports 250) and UB150 (Underbone 150). The new Asian Superbikes class revived off in 2019.

## Overview

The Asia Road Racing Championship was first organized in 1996 as part of an Asian-wide initiative boost the development of the sport of motorcycle racing in the continent. The championship received the endorsement of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM, "International Motorcycling Federation") in 1997 and has been recognized since as the Asian continental championship for the FIM.
The commercial rights are owned by Two Wheels Motor Racing, with FIM Asia as the sports sanctioning body.
The 2020 season consists of seven rounds with two races organized per round.

## Circuits

The championship tours in Asia but is open to riders from all nationalities.
The Asia Road Racing 2024 season will consist of 6 races at 5 circuits in 5 Asian countries.
* Round 1, 15–17 March 2024, Thailand, Chang International Circuit
* Round 2, 19–21 April 2024, China, Zhuhai International Circuit
* Round 3, 7–9 June 2024, Japan, Mobility Resort Motegi
* Round 4, 26–28 July 2024, Indonesia, Mandalika International Street Circuit
* Round 5, 13–15 September 2024, Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit
* Round 6, 6–8 December 2024, Thailand, Chang International Circuit
Other venues that had previously hosted the Asia Road Racing Championship included:
* Shah Alam, Malaysia, Shah Alam Circuit (1996, 2001–2002)
* Bogor, Indonesia, Sentul International Circuit (1996–2000, 2002–2018)
* Batangas, Philippines, Batangas Racing Circuit (1996)
* Nakhonchaisee, Thailand, Thailand Circuit (1996–2001)
* Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, Johor Circuit (1996–2004, 2006, 2008, 2016–2017)
* Chennai (Madras), India, Madras International Circuit (1997, 2009–2011, 2013, 2017–2018)
* Subic Bay, Philippines, Subic International Raceway (1997)
* Fukuoka, Japan, Autopolis (2009–2014)
* Doha, Qatar, Losail International Circuit (2010–2015)
* Donggang, Taiwan, Penbay International Circuit (2012)
* Suzuka, Japan, Suzuka International Racing Course (2013–2019)
* Dankaur, India, Buddh International Circuit (2016)
* Tailem Bend, Australia, The Bend Motorsport Park (2018–2019)
* Murata, Japan, Sportsland Sugo (2022–2023)

## Current broadcasters
### Worldwide

Live coverage, on-demand, and highlights for free practices, qualifications, and races is available on Asia Road Racing Championship's official Facebook page and Youtube channel, as well as Bikeandrace.com.

### Asia-Pacific

| Country/Region | Broadcaster |
| Malaysia Brunei | Astro Arena |
| Malaysia | RTM |
| China | Selected regional channels, online platforms, and social medias |
| China | Star Sports |
| KOR | Star Sports |
| Hong Kong | SPOTV |
| Macau | SPOTV |
| Mongolia | SPOTV |
| Papua New Guinea | SPOTV |
| Southeast Asia  Brunei  Cambodia  Indonesia  Laos  Malaysia  Myanmar  Philippines  Singapore  Thailand  Timor-Leste  Vietnam | SPOTV |
| Indonesia | RCTI |
| Thailand | True4U |

### Spain

All races are streamed through subscription service DAZN.

## Winners by race class
### 1996–1999

The road racing series began on 2-stroke engines.
| Year | Series Production 250cc (2-stroke) | Sports Production 150cc (2-stroke) | Underbone 125cc (2-stroke) | Underbone 110cc (2-stroke) |
| 1996 | Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini | Direk Achawong | | Somkuan Raemee |
| 1997 | Chow Yan Kit | Direk Achawong | Niphon Saengsawang | Eakrach Punbuppha |
| 1998 | Youichi Nakajima | Direk Achawong | Eakrach Punbuppha | Amporn Siriphat |
| 1999 | Naoto Ogura | Direk Achawong | Eakrach Punbuppha | Surapong Boonlert |

### 2000–2003

The gradual shift to 4-stroke engines began in 2000 when the SuperSports 600cc class replaced the previous 250cc bikes as the premier class of the championship.
| Year | SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) | GP125 (2-stroke) | Underbone 125cc (2-stroke) | Underbone 110cc (2-stroke) |
| 2000 | Chia Tuck Cheong | Suhathai Chaemsap | Surapong Boonlert | Thammanoon Sillapakul |
| 2001 | Chia Tuck Cheong | Direk Achawong | Mazlan Khamis | |
| 2002 | Toshiyuki Hamaguchi | Suhathai Chaemsap | Mohamad Hisham Ngadin | |
| 2003 | Toshiyuki Hamaguchi | | Mohamad Hisham Ngadin | |

### 2004–2005

| Year | SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) | Underbone 125cc (2-stroke) | Underbone 115cc (4-stroke) |
| 2004 | Toshiyuki Hamaguchi | Ahmad Fazli Sham | Fadli Immammuddin |
| 2005 | Toshiyuki Hamaguchi | Ahmad Fazli Sham | Doni Tata Pradita |

### 2006–2014

| Year | SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) | Underbone 115cc (4-stroke) | Underbone 115cc (Under 21) | Asia Dream Cup |
| 2006 | Toshiyuki Hamaguchi | Gilang Pranata Sukma | Feizy Juniardith | |
| 2007 | Decha Kraisart | Wahyu Widodo | | |
| 2008 | Toshiyuki Hamaguchi | Owie Nurhuda | | |
| 2009 | Chalermpol Polamai | Mohd Affendi Rosli | | |
| 2010 | Decha Kraisart | Hadi Wijaya | | |
| 2011 | Katsuaki Fujiwara | Rafid Topan Sucipto | | |
| 2012 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Hadi Wijaya | | Hikari Okubo |
| 2013 | Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman | Hadi Wijaya | | Hiroki Ono |
| 2014 | Zaqhwan Zaidi | Gupita Kresna Wardhana | | Khairul Idham Pawi |

### 2015–2018

| Year | SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) | Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke) | Underbone 130cc (4-stroke) | Asia Dream Cup | Suzuki Asian Challenge |
| 2015 | Yuki Takahashi | Takehiro Yamamoto | Gupita Kresna Wardhana | Mukhlada Sarapuech | Andreas Gunawan |
| 2016 | Zaqhwan Zaidi | Apiwat Wongthananon | Wahyu Aji Trilaksana | Hiroki Nakamura | Jefri Tosema |
| 2017 | Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman | Gerry Salim | Md Akid Aziz | Jomimar Medina | |
| 2018 | Ratthapong Wilairot | Rheza Danica Ahrens | Md Helmi Azman | | |

### 2019–2021

| Year | ASB1000 (4-stroke) | SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) | Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke) | Underbone 150cc (4-stroke) |
| 2019 | Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman | Peerapong Boonlert | Andy Muhammad Fadly | McKinley Kyle Paz |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |

### 2022–

| Year | ASB1000 (4-stroke) | SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke) | Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke) | Underbone 150cc (4-stroke) | TVS Asia One-Make (4-stroke) |
| 2022 | Zaqhwan Zaidi | Andi Farid Izdihar | Andy Muhammad Fadly | Wahyu Aji Trilaksana | Vorapong Malahuan |
| 2023 | Markus Reiterberger | Soichiro Minamimoto | Rheza Danica Ahrens | Nazirul Izzat Bahauddin | Muzakkir Mohamed |
| 2024 | Yuki Kunii | Apiwat Wongthananon | Herjun Atna Firdaus | Fahmi Basam | Hiroki Ono |

## Notable achievements

The Asia Road Racing Championship is a mix of well-known riders racing against upcoming talents from the Asian region. Some of the big names that have contributed to the growth of the sport of road racing in Asia include Katsuaki Fujiwara, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Yuki Takahashi and Noriyuki Haga. In 2016, Anthony West was the latest addition in the roster of internationally recognized names. For the 2019 season, Australian racers who have participated in both MotoGP and World Superbike take part in the series, they are Broc Parkes, and Bryan Staring.
This formula of pitting upcoming talents against seasoned campaigners have resulted in a number of successes. In recent years, riders from the Asian region are beginning to make their breakthrough into the MotoGP arena. These include:
* Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini (250cc, 1996 to 2002)
* Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Moto2, 2013 to 2015)
* Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Moto2, 2011 to 2017; MotoGP, 2018 to present)
* Thitipong Warokorn (Moto2, 2013 to 2015)
* Rafid Topan Sucipto (Moto2, 2012–13, 2018)
* Doni Tata Pradita (GP250cc, 2008; and Moto2, 2013)
* Dimas Ekky Pratama (Moto2, 2019)
* Khairul Idham Pawi (Moto3, 2016; Moto2, 2017 to present)
* Hiroki Ono (Moto3, 2013 to 2016)
On 4 to 11 July 2016, five young riders from the Asia Production 250cc class became the first batch of riders to be trained at the VR46 Academy in Italy as part of the Yamaha|VR46 Master Camp. They were Peerapong Loiboonpeng (21, Thailand), Imanuel Putra Pratna (19, Indonesia), Galang Hendra Pratama (17, Indonesia), Soichiro Minamimoto (16, Japan) and Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin (16, Malaysia).