Mining Asian talent in motorcycle racing: Shell supports feeder series

MANILA, Philippines - This year sees the launch of an exciting and pioneering competition widely anticipated to be a feeder series for regional talent into the world of motorcycle racing.

The Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup aims to give riders from the region a formal path into competitive road racing, particularly the renowned MotoGP World Championship.

After a two-day pre-selection event held at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit in October last year, 22 young, leading motorbike talents have been selected from China, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

The season officially started in February this year in Spain, with a four-day test at Motorland Aragon where the riders experienced for the first time the designated Honda NSF250R Moto3 bikes.

The competition finally kicked off in Qatar on March 20 and continues across five other events this year in Indonesia (Sentul), China, Japan (Motegi) and Malaysia (Sepang)—some to be held on weekends of MotoGP or World Superbike races, or as independent events.

Fifteen-year-old Ralph Kenneth Torres is the Philippines’ sole representative to the landmark event. Torres started racing using pocket bikes at the age of 6, moving up to underbone bikes at the age of10. He successfully rose above the 108 hopefuls from nine different Asian countries in the pre-selection.

Torres is concentrating on endurance workouts and practice sessions to bolster his bid in the Asia Talent Cup. “I practice on the tracks around three times a month,” he says. He has been riding a CBR150, but has gained the opportunity to use the bigger NSR250 bikes in Spain.

“I also make sure my bike is properly maintained, using the right parts and products,” adds Torres.

Shell Advance is the title sponsor of the Asia Talent Cup, also led in part by renowned industry talent scout Alberto Puig and run by Dorna, the organizers of the MotoGP World Championship and the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, as well as co-organizer of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

The Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup is “a perfect platform to identify and support the very best motorcycle racing talent in Asia. We need to keep this momentum,” said Andrew Hepher, Shell Global General Manager Marketing for Consumer Lubricants, in a statement.

As a global power, energy and gas technology leader, Shell continuously works to meet increasing energy demand and supply challenges by developing new energy sources, encouraging sustainable mobility, and delivering smarter products that address potential impact on the environment, including advanced fuels and lubricants technology.

“Shell Advance premium motorcycle oil is among such product innovations, whose superiority and reliability will be showcased in the motorcycles to be used by the Asia Talent Cup riders,” says Dennis Javier, Shell lubricants Philippines general manager.

Moreover, as Shell marks its centennial in the Philippines this year, the landmark participation of Filipino talent in the pioneering Asia Talent Cup is good news in affirming the country’s continuously emerging talent in many areas of sports and competition, such as motorcycle racing.

“We are extremely excited and proud of Ralph Kenneth’s Torres participation in the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup,” adds Javier. With the goal of the Shell Advance ATC to seek out talent at the grassroots level across Asia, “this is proof positive of the innate potential and talent of Filipinos, that we can be at par with riders from the rest of the region and possibly the world,” he explains.