After four months of hiatus, the 22 rider strong cup is set to return to competition with the third round of season taking place in Sepang.
Chang and Losail marked a brilliant start to the season. Now Sepang, alongside the tenth round of WorldSBK, opens the second part of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup, to be finished by three further events in Zhuhai (China), Motegi (Japan) and a final trip back to Sepang.
Equality is still the major trend of the championship. After four races (two held at each round), there have been four different winners, although the leader of the championship is a rider who is yet to win a race despite being a frequent podium finisher.
Japanese Ayumu Sasaki heads the league, with 76 points thank to three second place finishes and a third. Second in the standings is Somkiat Chantra from Thailand, just 15 points behind Sasaki and winner of the first race in Chang Thailand but hindered by an unfortunate fall in the second race of the Thai round. 24 points behind the leader is perhaps one of the biggest revelations of the season, Japan’s Kazuki Masaki with the young rider making his debut in this year’s Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup.
Sepang will see an intense duel for the lead, with riders such as Indonesian Andi Izdihar, the first Indonesian pilot to claim an international victory thanks to his win in the second race of Qatar, fighting for victory. The very rapid Nakarim Atiratphuvapat, winner of the second Chang race, Takuma Kunimine, who won in Qatar but crashed out in second will not doubt be in the mix as well.
The third round of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup will begin on Friday, July 31 with two free practice sessions. Saturday August 1 will hold one qualification session as well as the first of the two scheduled races, while Sunday August 2 will hold the second and final race.
