Racing for the first year astride the Honda, the team was faced with a lot of behind-the-scenes preparations. When the bikes they had intended to use for the 2012 PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship arrived just in time for the shipment to Malaysia, the team's schedule was thrown completely off-kilter.
"The first free practice in Sepang was literally the first time the wheels of the bike touched the ground. We were trying to perform race set-up while running in the engine, all at the same time. It really was an uphill task," recalled team manager Benny Djati Utomo with a grimace.
Faced with performance issues and reliability problems, the team's riders Denny Triyugo and Wawan Hermawan were unable to net any points from Round 1.
"Round 2 will be different," warned Benny. "Sentul is our home ground where we will have all our facilities at our finger tips. Expect to see a completely rejuvenised team when the second leg of the season comes along. Despite the difficulties of a first year on a different bike make, team Astra Motor Racing has been doing well on the competitive national front so far. Both Wawan and Denny are frequent visitors to the Honda Championship programme while in the IndoPrix, we have been able to qualify for front row. That is why we are confident that once we have everything in place, the team will be just as combative as it used to be."
The team's lead rider Denny Triyugo is also the only rider in the Championship so far to straddle two different race classes - the Underbone 115cc and the Asia Dream Cup. As far as team manager Benny is concerned, that is a good thing. "The conventional view would be that Denny's involvement in the Asia Dream Cup may eventually cause the team to lose a rider that it has invested years in training. But for us, we are looking at this as an opportunity to upgrade the entire team. If Denny qualifies for a Moto3 wildcard, we hope that he will be able to bring the entire team with him. We have been racing underbones for far too long. It is time for an upgrade. When Denny Triyugo hits the tarmac in his Asia Dream Cup suit, he has the full support of team Astra Motor Racing behind him."