11 Sep 2015 The Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup Arrives in China
After passing the midpoint of the championship at the Sepang International Circuit on August 2nd, the 22 riders of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup head to China and the Zhuhai International circuit.
The Chinese track will play host to two races, on the 19th and 20th of September. The Zhuhai International Circuit is 4,319m long and consists of 14 corners (nine right and five left) with a 900m long straight. The circuit, built in 1996, is located in the province of Guangdong in the south of China.
The season enters its second half with everything to play for. Japan’s Ayumu Sasaki leads the standings after taking his first victory of the year in Sepang. Sasaki unfortunately fell in the second race, Nakarin Atiratphuvapat claiming the win. Atiratphuvapat sits second overall and is 19 points shy of Sasaki.
Third is Kunimine from Japan, adding a second place in Sepang to his prior win and podium. Kunimine is 23 points behind the leader and has just a six point margin over fellow Japanese rider Masaki in fourth. Masaki is competing in the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup for the first time and has impressed many with his speed and consistency.
The winner of the opening round at the Chang Circuit in Thailand, Somkiat Chantra, is once again absent. He also missed Sepang due to a training injury. Local rider Pengyuan Chen is also absent due to injury and will be replaced by fellow Chinese racer, 16 year old Shengjunji Zhou who currently rides in the Asia Dream Cup.
Over 40,000 spectators are expected to attend the event over the weekend. Many will be there to also support Yuanhang Chen, the Chinese racer in his second year of participating in the championship.
The two races, rounds seven and eight in the championship, are scheduled as part of the ‘Pan Delta Super Racing Festival’ event, which combines motorcycle and car racing. The first race will be held on Saturday the 19th at 13:10, while the second will be run on Sunday the 20th at 12:30 local time.
Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup 2016 candidates shortlisted for Selection Event
The Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup 2016 Selection Event will see 126 candidates head to the Sepang Circuit, on the 21st of October.
The 126 young hopefuls aged between 13 and 20, from a variety of Asian countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have been invited to take part in the selection process for the 2016 edition of the Asia Talent Cup.
Recent weeks have seen more than 500 applications received during the application period from aspiring young riders from Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Rep. of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
With the application carefully analysed, 126 candidates have been chosen by the selection committee, directed by Alberto Puig. These candidates will now be asked to demonstrate their riding skills on Honda machinery over a one day test event at the Sepang circuit on the 21st of October, just before the 2015 Shell Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, taking a first step towards turning their potential into performance. There are 4 riders from China invited to show their potential.
Following the Selection Event, the committee will meet once again to finalise the 22 riders who will take part in the 2016 edition of the Shell Advance Talent Asia Cup.
Championship Standing after race 6
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TOTAL |
| 1 | Ayumu SASAKI | JPN | 101 |
| 2 | Nakarin ATIRATPHUVAPAT | THA | 82 |
| 3 | Takuma KUNIMINE | JPN | 78 |
| 4 | Kazuki MASAKI | JPN | 72 |
| 5 | Somkiat CHANTRA | THA | 61 |
| 6 | Gerry SALIM | INA | 58 |
| 7 | Andi IZDIHAR | INA | 54 |
| 8 | Adam NORRODIN | MAL | 46 |
| 9 | Shafiq RASOL | MAL | 46 |
| 10 | Helmi AZMAN | MAL | 43 |
| 11 | Yuta DATE | JPN | 41 |
| 12 | Fakhrusy ROSTAM | MAL | 40 |
| 13 | Ai OGURA | JPN | 23 |
| 14 | Kite FUSE | JPN | 23 |
| 15 | Azroy ANUAR | MAL | 19 |
| 16 | Ryusei YAMANAKA | JPN | 10 |
| 17 | Yuanhang CHEN | CHN | 10 |
| 18 | Sittipon SRIMOONTREE | THA | 9 |
| 19 | Idham KHAIRUDDIN | MAL | 7 |
| 20 | Lachlan TAYLOR | AUS | 6 |
| 21 | Luth ERWAN | MAL | 5 |
| - | Pengyuan CHEN | CHN | 0 |
| - | Tom EDWARDS | AUS | 0 |
| - | McKinley PAZ | PHI | 0 |
For more info and media galleries visit www.asiatalentcup.com