The opening race on the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup billing has been bagged at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar, with a thrilling final corner battle deciding the outcome of the third race of the season. In the end, it was Championship leader Ryota Ogiwara who denied Seiryu Ikegami to maintain his 100% winning record for 2025.

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.

Tomorrow, Race 2 commences at 14:35 Local Time (UTC + 3), so make sure you don’t miss a lap!