An enthralling season from start to finish brings rookie Hayato
Chishiki onto the Champions’ list as P7 was enough to secure the title
A tense final race of the 2026 Idemitsu FIM Moto4 Asia Cup saw Japanese star Hayato Chishiki lift the Championship trophy with a solid P7 enough to give him the title. At the front, Kotaro Togashi signed off with a second victory of the season ahead of Race 1 winner Qabil Irfan with Muhammad Badly taking the final rostrum spot in third.
As the lights went out, Togashi converted his pole into the holeshot but came under immediate attack from Irfan and also Bintang Pranata, the Indonesian keen to keep up his side of the bargain if he was to have a chance at the title. It wasn’t the best of starts for the only other rider who could take the title, Waku Kunitate, the #8 dropping to P10 and leaving himself a lot of work to do. A 14-rider lead group made for a cracking send-off as positions changed at every corner. All three title contenders – Chishiki, Pranata and Kunitate – enjoyed spells at the front of the field into the second half of the race but with the battling relentless, it was hard to stay out front.
Onto the final lap and Togashi was back in the lead and pulling away, putting more than a second into the opposition as they battled for the remaining podium positions. Pranata, mired in fifth, was desperately trying to make up positions but neither he or Kunitate could get back into the podium battle. Togashi took honours ahead of Irfan and Badly, the latter of which pounced in the final third to move into the podium placings, but it was behind where the story was. Fifth for Kunitate and sixth for Pranata weren’t enough for their title aspirations as Chishiki’s P7 was enough to give him the Championship.
A third consecutive title for Japan in the Moto4 Asia Cup and a seventh for the country overall, congratulations to Hayato Chishiki.
