SHELL announced that 22 riders have been chosen to compose the grid of Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup’s debut season in 2014. The selection process for the riders, who are set to compete aboard Honda NSR250 R race bikes, was held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
According to Shell, 108 riders from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines took to the Sepang kart circuit on 125cc Honda Future underbone bikes, and were scrutinized by talent scout Alberto Puig, Shell Advance global marketing chief Andrew Hepher, Honda Racing Corp.’s Livio Suppo and Dorna Sports (rights holder of MotoGP) chief executive Carmelo Ezpeleta. After a final shootout, Puig gathered 42 riders, then whittled down the list further to the 22 successful candidates (plus three reserve riders), Shell said.