Ogiwara leads all-Japan podiums at Asia Talent Cup Round Two

2025 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup

Round Two – Lusail, Qatar

The second round of the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup took place at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar over the weekend, kicking off with a final corner battle for the first race, with Championship leader Ryota Ogiwara denying Seiryu Ikegami, to maintain his uninterrupted winning streak for 2025.

Ryota Ogiwara remained undefeated after a second win at Lusail, making it four in a row for the points leader. Seiryu Ikegami was once again forced to settle for second but pushed his compatriot all the way to take a fourth P2 in four races. After a big group battle to complete the podium, Shingo Iidaka made it a Japanese 1-2-3 once more, as he did on Saturday.

Teerin Fleming carded two strong fifth place finishes while countryman Bodie Paige showed great promise with two top ten finishes. Rikki Henry and Archie Schmidt both missed the event, recovering from recent injuries.

Race One

An excellent start saw Ogiwara grab the holeshot from Ikegami whilst starting from the third row, Badly Ayatullah had stormed up from P7 to P3.

Those three broke clear and whilst the gap oscillated throughout the race, it remained a three-way battle. Behind, Teerin Fleming and Shingo Iidaka were closing in but in the final third of the 12-lap encounter, Ogiwara and Ikegami broke clear.

Ikegami took the lead at the final corner and showed his hand and held on until the last lap. He rode defensively but ultimately, at the last corner, there was enough of a gap for Ogiwara to slide on through.

He held on until the end finish line, denying his fellow compatriot by 0.041s, whilst Iidaka pushed through for P3 and a career-first rostrum.

Behind the all-Japanese podium, Ayatullah took a career-best fourth ahead of Fleming, Alfonso Daquigan, Notprutpong Bunprawes and Pancharuch Chitwirulchat, who completed the top eight.

Bodie Paige and Davino Britani completed the top ten, whilst one of the big DNFs on Lap 1 was Haruki Matsuyama, who drops two places in the Championship to P5.

Race One Results

Race Two

Ogiwara nabbed the holeshot from pole as he and Ikegami started building a gap from the off, setting up a duel to remember. Ogiwara led the way until Ikegami attacked into Turn 1 with six to go, defending his lead for a couple of laps before the #16 hit back at Turn 4 with four laps to go.

Onto the final lap Ogiwara led the way by half a second, but the #14 closed in nearly immediately on the brakes – then shadowing the bike ahead round the lap and trying to set up a move into the final corner.

He tried to find space up the inside but Ogiwara left no gap to be exploited, and the points leader adds another 25 points to his incredible haul so far in 2025.

As ever, the group battle behind went to the line in Race 2, with the podium decided by hundredths. Iidaka was just able to nab P3 and make it double podiums in Qatar, denying Thai rider Noprutpong Bunprawes and his compatriot Teerin Fleming.

Indonesian Badly Ayutullah, Filipino rider Alfonsi Daquigan and Haruki Matsuyama from Japan complete that battle for the podium down to P8. Another battle behind saw Australian Bodie Paige come out on top for ninth, with Palestinian Mahdi Salem completing the top ten.

The ATC returns to action in August at Petronas Sepang International Circuit for a special standalone round.

Race Two Results

Asia Talent Cup Points

2025 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup Calendar

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