The World of Motorcycling- News detail

The biennial FIM Intercontinental Games (ICG) returns to the calendar this season for its second edition – scheduled to run from 11-13 December at the Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiania, Brazil – when teams from the six FIM Continental Unions (CONU) of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania will compete across both circuit and off-road disciplines.

Each CONU will field twelve riders, split evenly across Supersport (SSP) and Supersport 300 (SSP300) classes – that featured at the inaugural ICG two years ago at Jerez in Spain – and MX2 that has been added for 2026 to ensure the competition is spread across both circuit and off-road disciplines.

CONUs are allowed to include one ‘specialist’ rider with a permanent place in an FIM World Championship during 2026 along with a minimum of one female rider per category who is also permitted to be a permanent FIM World Championship rider this season. All other selected riders must be considered ‘rising talents’ and cannot have taken part in any FIM World Championship in 2026 as a permanent rider.

Machinery for competitors in both Circuit Racing disciplines will be provided by Yamaha with a fleet of YZF-R3 and YZF-R7 models available, while Motocross competitors will race on motorcycles supplied locally, in accordance with each rider’s requested brand and model and compliant with FIM regulations.

In the run-up to the event we will be taking a closer look at each CONU’s selection and this week it is the turn of FIM Asia to go under the spotlight.

With the extra off-road element, FIM Asia has chosen to split its Team Management responsibilities between Akira Goto – who returns to oversee the Circuit Racing effort for the second successive ICG – and Pie An Tan who will steer the team’s Motocross competitors.

Captaining FIM Asia’s efforts in the SSP300 class, Thailand’s Krittapat Keankum heads to Brazil after a successful 2026 season in the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) when he claimed the AP250 title with one round still to run. A multi-time national champion, last year the twenty-one-year-old had a wild card ride at the Misano round of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship so he has experience of the pressure of top-flight competition.

Having raced alongside Keankum in the AP250 class of the ARRC where he currently sits fourth, twenty-three-year-old Candra Hermawan from the Indonesian island of East Java will be familiar with his SSP300 team leader’s competitive spirit, as will seventeen-year-old Japanese racer Riichi Takahira – FIM Asia’s youngest team member – who sits tenth in the same series, despite a DNF in the opening race of the year.

The final position in FIM Asia’s SSP300 quartet is filled by Japan’s Miu Nakahara, who this year has contested the JP-Sport class of the All Japan Road Race Championship. A veteran of the inaugural ICG, the twenty-four-year-old was the only woman selected to take part in the TVS Asia One-Make Championship in 2022 and has also competed in the ARRC.

Bringing her wealth of experience to FIM Asia’s Supersport selection for the second successive ICG, forty-nine-year-old Naoko Takasugi has been competing in the All Japan Road Race Championship for two decades where she currently leads the J-GP3 class. In 2013 she became the first-ever Japanese rider to participate in the fabled 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans and has also contested the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours and the Bol D’Or.

Another veteran of the 2024 ICG when he competed in the SSP300 class, for 2026 twenty-five-year-old Filipino racer Mckinley Paz moves up to Supersport. A former ARRC champion who has also raced in the FIM CEV Moto2 series, Paz is currently seventh in this year’s ARRC SSP600 series.

A competitor in this year’s inaugural FIM Sportbike World Championship, Indonesia’s Arai Agaska was second in last season’s R3 World Cup and in 2024 the eighteen-year-old was fourth in the AP250 class of the ARRC.

FIM Asia’s Supersport team is completed by Anupab Sarmoon from Thailand who is currently a close second in the ARRC SSP600 class with one round remaining. A silver medallist in the same class last season, in 2023 and 2024 the thirty-two-year-old gained valuable international experience contesting the FIM Supersport World Championship.

With the inclusion of an MX2 class this season adding another exciting element to the ICG, FIM Asia has chosen Japan’s vastly-experienced Toshiki Tomita as Team Captain. A three-time Japanese champion, earlier in his career the thirty-five-year-old spent four seasons contesting the 450cc class of the American Motorcyclist Association national championship and has represented his country on multiple occasions at the FIM Motocross of Nations.

Tomita is joined on the team by his twenty-four-year-old compatriot Manaka Kawai who dominated the Ladies’ class of the All-Japan Motocross Championship this season as she raced to her fourth consecutive crown and her sixth in the last seven seasons.

A former Thai national champion, twenty-three-year-old Witsarut Salangam currently competes in the MX1 class of the FMSCT Thailand Motocross championship and has also lined up in the Indian Supercross Racing League this year.

The final member of FIM Asia’s MX2 quartet, Muhammad Delvintor Alfarizi races alongside Salangam in the Indian Supercross Racing League where he won last season’s 250cc India and Asia class title. In 2023 and 2024 the twenty-five-year-old became the first Indonesian rider to regularly contest the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship and he is a three-time Indo MX National Champion and winner of the Indonesian Supercross Championship.

Mr Abdulrahman Al Mannai, FIM Asia President, said: “FIM Asia is honoured to confirm our official participation in the upcoming Intercontinental Games in Brazil this December. We will be proudly represented by a selection of our finest riders competing across all categories. This landmark event offers a fantastic platform to showcase the strength and talent of Asian motorcycling on the global stage.”