Source: Supplied.

Australian teenager Tom Edwards has been selected as one of 13 riders to contest the 2016 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup, following this week’s selection event at Sepang, Malaysia.

Next year’s Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup will feature 13 new pilots from countries such as Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia after the selection event at Sepang drew to a close.

As the first rays of sun broke through the sky at the Sepang International Karting Circuit, young prospects from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Qatar, China and the Philippines took to the circuit full of enthusiasm.

But all were well aware that their sporting future could take a dramatic turn depending on how the day went. The technical team prepared the Honda underbone scooters that the riders would use to show off their skills to a group of experts, led by director of the Cup, Alberto Puig.

Divided into groups of 10 riders, the action got underway at 8:00am with a run of 12 laps where riders were not only tasked with setting the best time possible, but also showing off their skills in handling the bikes.

After two rounds of screening, only 45 candidates passed to the second round of testing. Session after session the riders were refined until ultimately a final round of 15 candidates was held of which the following 13 have been selected:
– Tom Stewart William Edwards (Australia)
– Ahamed Kadai Yaseen (India)
– Irfan Aradiansyah (Indonesia)
– Dwiki Hardhiana Suparta (Indonesia)
– Faldhan Novayaser Mardani (Indonesia)
– Alif Akbar Utama (Indonesia)
– Basyiruddin Samhan Mashuri (Indonesia)
– Riku Sugawara (Japan)
– Yuki Kunii (Japan)
– Shogo Kawasaki (Japan)
– Muhammad Izam Ikmal (Malaysia)
– Muhammad Khairul Ikhwan Bin Ajis (Malaysia)
– Amirul Hakim Bin Mohd Rizal (Malaysia)

“It was quite long because we started very early,” Alberto Puig, director of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup commented. “Normally this type of test and selection is not easy because the level between the top guys is similar and a big group of guys have not so much experience, you see it immediately, but for the rest are difficult to evaluate it.

“Point one is that we are lucky because there were no injuries, this is our main priority, and we are happy for this. Second it was a good day, no rain and that permits us to do the full program. At the end it was like always difficult, as we already said, but we managed to get a group of riders that will join next year.

“We are happy, we have some nationalities that could be in the lap times, this is important, and this gives us a better package for next year. From now on we will have to try to work with this kids during the winter and see how they join together with the guys that are already in the Cup.

“The selection in very difficult, of course we make mistakes, but we try to be as accurate as possible, we have all the Dorna Data System that helps us a lot, and with this data and looking on track, with all this info we try to be as accurate and fair as possible.”

An extra five riders have also been chosen as reserve riders for the 2016 edition of the Cup. Should any of the usual riders be unable to attend and compete, these riders will step up to full their place.

The final list of participants in the 2016 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup will soon be announced, in which these 13 riders will join those from the 2015 edition to be invited for another year in the Cup.