Two races await the Asia Talent Team in Valencia, the season having completed the whole circle, returns to where it all began.
An incredible year for the Asia Talent Team is set to come to a close in Valencia. All five of the riders are out to make a last memorable splash before an off-season of hard training and preparations for a new season, one full of new challenges for many of the team.
Kaito Toba heads into Valencia looking to emulate his form the start of the season. Victory in race two at the Spanish track saw him become the first Japanese rider to win an FIM CEV Repsol Moto3 Junior World Championship race. Since then a number of crashes have seen Toba drop from title contention, but he remains the hot favourite to take third place overall in the championship.
Like Toba, Ayumu Sasaki has fond memories of Valencia. The 2016 Red Bull Rookies Cup champion claimed a podium on his racing debut at the track in 2015 and was in contention once again at the start of this season. Since the last round of the championship in Jerez, Sasaki has made his World Championship debut with the Gresini Racing team, unfortunately unable to complete the Malaysian GP due to a fall. The experience has been a huge boost to the Japanese star as he heads to the final round 20 points back on Toba, still mathematically able to take third from his teammate.
Sasaki will be one of three riders from the squad moving to the World Championship for the coming season, set to join the SIC Racing Team alongside former Asia Talent Team rider Adam Norrodin.
The time between rounds has been busy for Kazuki Masaki as well, joining Andi Izdihar in fighting for Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup honours in Japan and Malaysia alongside the World Championship. Out of four races, he managed three podiums and ended the season in seventh overall. Masaki has been the most consistent point scorer in the Asia Talent Team so far and is only 15 points behind a top-five championship finish.
Valencia marks the last race in the Asia Talent Team for Nakarin Atiratphuvapat who is set to join Kaito Toba at Honda Team Asia in the Moto3 World Championship in 2017. The Thai rider has scored points in the last five races and is keen to continue the trend. The final race of the year will be a good gauge of what he has learnt throughout 2016, having failed to score at the circuit earlier in the year.
Victory in the penultimate round of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup saw Andi Izdihar end the season in third overall. His goal for Valencia is to return to the points once again, having only scored at Portimao this season.
Sunday the 20th of November will see the Valencia circuit roar to life once again as the FIM CEV Repsol Moto3 Junior World Championship hit the circuit for their final two races.
Due to the high number of registered riders in the Moto3 class, the CEV Commission has agreed to include a Last Chance Race for the non-classified riders of the Moto3 class. The race will held on Saturday, November 19th and consist of 9 laps.
It is for these reason that four Qualifying practice sessions -40 minutes each- will take place on Saturday 19th November, Riders will be split in to GrA and GrB, odd and even numbers, decided by the General Classification.
The Starting Grid for the main races (Sunday, Race 1 and Race 2) will be composed of 42 riders. The non-classified riders will be eligible to take part in the Last Chance Race which will take place only if there are at least 10 non-classified riders taking part in the Last Chance Race. The riders classified in first and second place in the Last Chance Race will be included in the provisional starting grid valid for the warm-up and Sunday races.
Gr A QP1 09:30 Local Time
Gr B QP1 10:20 Local Time
Gr A QP2 13:35 Local Time
Gr B QP3 14:25 Local Time
Races 1 & Race 2 (both 18 laps) are scheduled to begin at 11:00 and 14:00 Local Time on Sunday 20th November.
As always all of the action can be followed LIVE on FIM CEV Repsol YouTube channel.
