Ambitious racers Rajiv Sethu and Anish Shetty are chasing their dreams as part of the Indian team for Idemitsu Honda Racing India by T Pro Ten10 at the 23rd season of the Asian Road Racing Championship (ARRC).
While Sethu will be competing in the ARRC's Asia Production 250cc class for the second year, for Anish it is his rookie season.
From racing on his bicycle in the streets of Chennai to riding for Honda India at the ARRC, it has been quite a journey for the 20-year-old Rajiv.
His career took wings when in 2014 he joined the Honda Ten10 racing academy. Soon Rajiv represented India in an international race for the first time at the 2015 Honda Asia Dream Cup.
"When I was young, I would take my bicycle on the road and race with my brother. In 2014, I joined the Ten10 racing academy. My first race was in 2014 with CBR 150R. I finished overall at fourth position after making seven podiums. But in 2015, I graduated to 250cc after getting the opportunity to ride for Honda in the Asia Dream cup series, a Rajiv told PTI today.
In 2015, a 17-year-old Rajiv had crashed out at Malaysia's Sepang Circuit. The experience only made him wiser. Two years later, he became the national champion in the Pro Stock 165cc category of the Indian National Racing Championship and followed it up with a first runner-up finish in the Honda CBR 250R Cup.
During the last round at the Bend Motorsports Park in Australia, Rajiv suffered another crash that left him with a broken wrist but the Indian recovered quickly to compete at the Suzuka circuit.
"The first round was good but in the second round I crashed and broke my wrist. It takes three months but I recovered quickly and now I hope to gather some points here," said Rajiv.
Asked about his dream, he says: My dream is to ride in Moto GP and win it in future but I have to work a lot harder. Right now, I am only thinking about winning a podium in ARRC, if I can do that I will be the first Indian to do so."
So what are his expectations for Suzuka track?
"It is a quite difficult circuit. I'm riding first time here. It would take some time to adept to it and also there are a lot of wildcards, so it will be tough task to make it inside 15."
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