The final day of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) official tyre test came to a close yesterday at the Chang International Circuit, which saw Next Gen Motorsports Glenn Allerton posting the fifth fastest time for the overall test.

Just like on the first day of testing, the hot conditions were once again were hard to deal with, as it was hard for Allerton to get lots of laps in during each session because it was simply physically draining.

Apart from the testing weather conditions, the 37-year-old New South Welshman had a solid and very successful test, which saw him recording his fastest lap of the test in the third session yesterday with a time of 1min36.713 on lap six out of a total of seventeen and a top speed of 285.2kmph.

“To end up as close as we did to the fastest time was good work by everyone and a credit to them,” said Allerton, who did a total of 62-laps on Wednesday.

Allerton’s goal for test was to produce a 1min36 lap time around the 4.554km circuit. The only downside for him was when he unfortunately had a low side at turn eight.

Allerton explained; “I managed to pick the bike up and get it back to the pits and the guys got the bike fixed. I was back on track in the same session and we went faster again in that same session, when we managed to produce a 1min37.227 on our thirteenth and final lap.

Yesterday also saw the team eliminating the braking issues which Allerton suffered on the opening day of testing, which Allerton described as “much, much better.”

“The team did a fantastic job to dial out the issues we had on Tuesday, which made my job so much easier. This was proven with the time we were able to yesterday.” said Allerton.

The test was all about testing the new controlled Dunlop tyres and simply getting used to the twelve corner circuit, which both Allerton and the team did. Allerton believes that if he went back to the Chang International Circuit in a couple of days that he would be able to go even faster.

“It was just good fun to come away and I’m really excited for what the future holds for both myself and the team.

In closing, I was really amazed by the level of competition of the ASB1000 riders. They were all super-fast and I can’t wait to be able to race against them in 2019,” concluded Allerton.

Next Gen Motorsports Team Manager echoed Allerton’s words by expressing that the test was a very successful one, from a team’s point of view.

“We had a lot of unknowns, which in the end we worked through,” explained Hepburn.

With the information that the team have gathered, Hepburn is very confident that both Allerton and the team are a lot better prepared for next time when they return.

“I feel as if we can be a lot more competitive. The effort which both the team and Glenn put in was second none and I’m very proud of all of them.”

“It was nice to meet the ARRC competitors, teams and officials. Everyone in the paddock made us feel right at home and looked after us very well, so I would personally like to thank everyone on behalf of the team.”

Next time that the Next Gen Motorsports team will be on track in Asia will be on the second week of March 2019 at the next official ARRC test, which takes place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

“We are now looking forward to the next ARRC test at the beginning of March. We’re looking forward to being strongly competitive in the Asia Road Racing Championship, which is made up of very highly and talented riders and teams,” finished Hepburn.

For the 2019 ARRC series, the Next Gen Motorsports team are currently on the lookout and open to potential partnerships which would be keen to join an ongoing and growing Superbike team. For more information and detail, contact – wayne@nextgenmotorsports.com.au

The official test ARRC test at the Sepang International Circuit takes place on 5-6 March, ahead of the curtain raiser round, which is scheduled for 8-10 March.

Overall Test Combined Times (ASB1000)

1st Anupad Sarmoon Yamaha Thailand Racing Team 1:36.003

2nd Thitipong Warokorn Kawasaki Thailand Racing Team 1:36.167

3rd Andi Farid Izdihar Honda Asia Dream Racing 1:36.329

4th Chaiwichit Nisakul Kawasaki Thailand Racing Team 1:36.460

5th Glenn Allerton Next Gen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR 1:36.713

by Russell Colvin