KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian rider Zaqhwan Zaidi has set a target of finishing in the top 10 for his third outing at the Suzuka 8 Hour Endurance Race in Japan which takes place next week.
He will weather the adversities and ride to the best of his abilities in the 8 hour non-stop endurance race at the Suzuka Circuit together with his fellow Honda Asia-Dream Racing teammates, Australian Troy Herfoss and Indonesian Andi Farid Izdihar.
“This year, I will be linking up with two other fellow riders in the team who are different compared to last season,” said Zaqhwan who is expected to take part in the fifth round of the All Japan Road Racing Championship (AJRRC) right after he’s done at Suzuka.
As preparation, Zaqhwan has already done testing with the team and on his own since earlier this month with positive results, and the 22-year-old rider can’t help but feel both confident and optimistic.
“The training and testing sessions at Suzuka have shown positive results, which is why we are aiming to finish in the top 10.”
For the record, the Yamaha Factory Racing Team from Japan are the defending champions three years in a row since 2015.
Last year the trio of Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark pulled off the win for a hattrick of titles for the team after managing to clock a time of 8 hours and 32.959s.