The project leader of the Asia Talent Team takes stock of the Valencia race and the season as a whole.
Last Sunday in Valencia saw the debut season end on an ambitious project, the Asia Talent Team, designed to help young Asian riders develop ahead of the World Championship. Since April Kaito Toba, Yuta Date and Adam Norrodin have participated in the eight events with a total of 12 races in some of the best circuits in the world.
The team was in Valencia with a fourth pilot, Japan’s Ayumu Sasaki, as a reward for his victory in the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup.
Alberto Puig evaluated the weekend: “It was quite because because we had four riders on track. It was the last race, Yuta was unlucky because he crashed and broke a bone in his arm, which is a big pity. Kaito and Adam, it was not easy for them again. Finally Kaito made some good progress but Adam was not comfortable during the weekend with the bike. And with Ayumu, it was his first time in this championship with a good bike, a factory bike. First race was good and he managed to get the podium but in the second he had some problems with the bike and he dropped back it, it was hard to recover.”
Regarding the debut season of the Asia Talent Team, Project Team leader had this to say: “At the end it was OK. It is the last race of the championship, we did a long season with these kids and I hope that all the effort we did all of this year will help them in the future to keep going and continue to understand what racing is all about.”
