2025 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup
Round One – Buriram, Thailand
Race One
Ryota Ogiwara kickstarted his 2025 campaign in the best way possible, last year’s runner-up defending brilliantly to beat fellow Japanese star Seiryu Ikegami to the line by just five-hundredths of a second to claim victory.
Home hero Noprutpong Bunprawes stayed in touch with the Japanese pair for most of the race before fading a little towards the end, but still had enough up his sleeve to take clear third place for the final step on the rostrum.
The initial race start was red-flagged due to a multi-rider crash at Turn 9 on the opening lap. The restart was over a reduced ten-lap distance.
Ogiwara vs Ikegami was underway from the off, with Bunprawes the only rider to stay in touch over the first couple of laps.
The Thai rider’s victory hopes faded in the final stages, as we witnessed a brilliant Buriram battle for the 25 points between the two Japanese stars.
On the last lap, Ogiwara led until Turn 4. That’s where Ikegami pounced – a beautiful move up the inside at the rapid right-hander, before Ogiwara carved back through at Turn 7. Ikegami bit back at Turn 8 but the #14 ran wide, allowing Ogiwara back through.
And from there, the #16 held onto P1. Just. Less than a tenth split Ogiwara and Ikegami, as Bunprawes crossed the line in P3 to earn a first ATC podium in front of his adoring Thai faithful.
Some great late race pace saw Haruki Matsuyama claim P4 ahead of Alfonsi Daquigan and Badly Ayatullah, with India’s Sarthak Chavan picking up P7.
Nelson Cairoli, Tanachat Pratumtong and Teerin Fleming rounding out the top ten.
Rikki Henry took eleventh place after losing a couple of positions on the run to the flag after his bike dropped out of gear heading onto the start-finish straight.
Archie Schmidt got caught up in a final turn melee and failed to finish after running in seventh for the majority of the race.
Race One Results
| Pos | Rider | Nat. | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Ryota OGIWARA | JPN | 17’49.474 |
| 2 | Seiryu IKEGAMI | JPN | +0.054 |
| 3 | Noprutpong BUNPRAWES | THA | +2.001 |
| 4 | Haruki MATSUYAMA | JPN | +9.975 |
| 5 | Alfonsi DAQUIGAN | PHI | +10.092 |
| 6 | Badly AYATULLAH | INA | +10.166 |
| 7 | Sarthak CHAVAN | IND | +12.528 |
| 8 | Nelson CAIROLI | INA | +12.863 |
| 9 | Tanachat PRATUMTONG | THA | +13.159 |
| 10 | Teerin FLEMING | THA | +15.34 |
| 11 | Rikki HENRY | AUS | +15.493 |
| 12 | Shingo IIDAKA | JPN | +16.053 |
| 13 | Kim MINJAE | KOR | +28.058 |
| 14 | Nguyen HUU TRI | VIE | +30.785 |
| 15 | Chen SHIYU | CHN | +40.902 |
| Not classified | |||
| Pancharuch CHITWIRULCH | THA | 1 lap | |
| Archie SCHMIDT | AUS | 1 lap | |
Race Two
The opening lap of Sunday morning’s race was hectic. The lead changed at almost every turn and they were ten-wide at certain points of the Chang International Circuit.
Once the pecking order was established though it was again Seiryu Ikegami and Ryota Ogiwara leading the way as Badly Ayatullah gave chase. None of the three-strong Australian contingent was inside the top ten as they started lap three.
This time around Ikegami and Ogiwara couldn’t break away as Badly Ayatullah and Alfonsi Daquigan hounded them at every turn. With 11 laps to run it was still very tight at the top and Daquigan had his nose in front.
Badly Ayatullah led for much of the race but but went down at turn one with two laps to run.
Haruki Matsuyama started to figure more highly in the leading group and as the race entered its final stages, he was part of a three-rider breakaway up front with his Japanese countrymen Ogiwara and Ikegami.
At the chequered flag it was again Ogiwara by a nose over Ikegami while Matsuyama was a bike length behind to complete the podium two-seconds clear of Noprutpong Bunprawes.
The first Australian across the line was Archie Schmidt ahead of Teerin Fleming while Rikki Henry claimed the final championship point in 15th. Schmidt’s tenth place coming despite a long lap penalty for causing a crash at the end of race one.
Race Two Results
| Pos | Rider | Nat. | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Ryota OGIWARA | JPN | 26’56.775 |
| 2 | Seiryu IKEGAMI | JPN | +0.022 |
| 3 | Haruki MATSUYAMA | JPN | +0.133 |
| 4 | Noprutpong BUNPRAWES | THA | +1.967 |
| 5 | Alfonsi DAQUIGAN | PHI | +3.937 |
| 6 | Tanachat PRATUMTONG | THA | +4.851 |
| 7 | Nelson CAIROLI | INA | +4.719 |
| 8 | Shingo IIDAKA | JPN | +4.771 |
| 9 | Sarthak CHAVAN | IND | +9.625 |
| 10 | Archie SCHMIDT | AUS | +13.181 |
| 11 | Teerin FLEMING | THA | +13.321 |
| 12 | Adam DANIAL | MAL | +21.941 |
| 13 | Nguyen HUU TRI | VIE | +21.966 |
| 14 | Kim MINJAE | KOR | +22.551 |
| 15 | Rikki HENRY | AUS | +22.12 |
| 16 | Alvaro MAHENDRA | INA | +22.277 |
| 17 | Chen SHIYU | CHN | +36.096 |
| Not classified | |||
| Badly AYATULLAH | INA | 2 laps | |
| Sharf MUHRIZ | MAL | 7 laps | |
| Davino BRITANI | INA | 8 laps | |
| Pancharuch CHITWIRULCH | THA | 9 laps | |
Asia Talent Cup Points
| Pos | Rider | Nation | R1 | R2 | Points |
| 1 | OGIWARA Ryota | JPN | 25 | 25 | 50 |
| 2 | IKEGAMI Seiryu | JPN | 20 | 20 | 40 |
| 3 | MATSUYAMA Haruki | JPN | 13 | 16 | 29 |
| 4 | BUNPRAWES Noprutpong | THA | 16 | 13 | 29 |
| 5 | DAQUIGAN Alfonsi | PHI | 11 | 11 | 22 |
| 6 | PRATUMTONG Tanachat | THA | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| 7 | CAIROLI Nelson | INA | 8 | 9 | 17 |
| 8 | CHAVAN Sarthak | IND | 9 | 7 | 16 |
| 9 | IIDAKA Shingo | JPN | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| 10 | FLEMING Teerin | THA | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 11 | AYATULLAH Badly | INA | 10 | – | 10 |
| 12 | SCHMIDT Archie | AUS | – | 6 | 6 |
| 13 | HENRY Rikki | AUS | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 14 | HUU TRI Nguyen | VIE | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 15 | MINJAE Kim | KOR | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 16 | DANIAL Adam | MAL | – | 4 | 4 |
| 17 | SHIYU Chen | CHN | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | MAHENDRA Alvaro | INA | – | 0 | 0 |
2025 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup Calendar
| Date | Round | Event | Location | Nation |
| 21–22 Feb | Test | None | Chang International Circuit | Thailand |
| 28 Feb-Mar 2 | Round 1 | MotoGP | Chang International Circuit | Thailand |
| 11–13 April | Round 2 | MotoGP | Lusail International Circuit | Qatar |
| 2-3 Aug | Round 3 | None | Petronas Sepang International Circuit | Malaysia |
| 26–28 Sept | Round 4 | MotoGP | Mobility Resort Motegi | Japan |
| 3-5th Oct | Round 5 | MotoGP | Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit | Indonesia |
| 24–26 Oct | Round 6 | MotoGP | Petronas Sepang International Circuit | Malaysia |
2025 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup Entries
| ENTRY | N. | RIDER | NAT | GENDER | AGE* | cm | kg |
| NEW | 2 | Haruki MATSUYAMA | JPN | M | 15 | 157 | 47 |
| NEW | 3 | Alvaro Hetta MAHENDRA | INA | M | 15 | 155 | 45 |
| 2024 | 5 | Tanachat PRATUMTONG | THA | M | 14 | 163 | 55 |
| NEW | 6 | SHARF Muhriz | MAL | M | 14 | 167 | 48 |
| NEW | 7 | Davino BRITANI | INA | M | 14 | 159 | 45 |
| NEW | 8 | Kim MINJAE | KOR | M | 16 | 167 | 59 |
| NEW | 9 | Chen SHIYU | CHN | F | 13 | 160 | 46 |
| NEW | 10 | Teerin Jacob FLEMING | THA | M | 14 | 168 | 45 |
| 2023 | 11 | Sarthak CHAVAN | IND | M | 18 | 176 | 55 |
| 2024 | 12 | Rikki HENRY | AUS | M | 15 | 151 | 38 |
| NEW | 13 | Badly AYATULLAH | INA | M | 15 | 154 | 45 |
| 2024 | 14 | Seiryu IKEGAMI | JPN | M | 16 | 160 | 50 |
| 2024 | 15 | Archie SCHMIDT | AUS | M | 15 | 145 | 35 |
| 2023 | 16 | Ryota OGIWARA | JPN | M | 16 | 163 | 45 |
| NEW | 17 | Nelson CAIROLI | INA | M | 13 | 165 | 52 |
| NEW | 18 | Nguyen HUU TRI | VIE | M | 16 | 170 | 60 |
| NEW | 19 | ADAM Danial | MAL | M | 14 | 160 | 51 |
| NEW | 20 | Noprutpong BUNPRAWAS | THA | M | 16 | 171 | 54 |
| NEW | 21 | Shingo IIDAKA | JPN | M | 15 | 160 | 51 |
| 2024 | 22 | Alfonsi DAQUIGAN | PHL | M | 15 | 168 | 44 |
| * Age as of the 10th December 2024 | |||||||
