Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza will run a third Panigale V4R for the next Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) event in Malaysia. This comes after the team confirmed Federico Sandi as a wildcard entry in a bid to improve their results in ASB1000 this coming September 19/22.

Sandi brings with him over a decade of experience competing in some of the top categories around the world. He climbed up the ranks from the 125cc and 250cc World Championships, before moving up to the Superbike World Championship. He finished 4th overall in last year’s Superstock 1000, with 3 podiums and winning the final round in Magny-Cours on board a Ducati 1199 Panigale R.

Aside from being TJ Alberto’s teammate in 2018, the Italian rider is also a good friend of the team. He visited the Philippines last November for the launch of the Panigale V4R as one of the Ducati Riding Experience instructors.

With 5 rounds completed, Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza currently sits 7th in the Overall Team Standings with a best 6th place finish by TJ Alberto. The team hopes that Sandi’s knowledge and inputs can help extract more performance from their Ducati Panigale V4Rs and take them on the podium.

Federico Sandi: “I feel very honored to be part of Access Plus Racing this September. It’s not my first time at the Sepang International Circuit. Last time I came here was in 2008 with the 250 class World Championship, but I have never raced in superbike here before. Still, my goal is to be consistent, most especially to help the team improve the Ducati Panigale V4R and be fast all weekend.”

Toti Alberto, Team Principal: “We’re very excited to have Federico join us for the next round in Malaysia. He’s a very accomplished rider and brings with him years of experience competing in WorldSBK Superstock 1000, World Superbike, and 250GP. Federico also won the last race in Superstock 1000 in 2018 and is a good friend of the team. We’re looking forward working with him to see what insights he can bring to the team and hope we can use this information to better improve our package.”

Team Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza is sponsored by Access Plus Group, Ducati Philippines, Essenza, AELLA, Dickies Philippines, Öhlins Philippines, Century Hotel Angeles City, LV8, and Pradera Verde.

For more info and the latest updates about the team, follow Access Plus Racing on Facebook.