Alfonsi Daquigan Made History by being the First Filipino to Win in the FIM Asia Talent Cup!

Alfonsi was barely a week in Asia after months in Europe and was suffering from jetlag and fatigue when he suited for first practice in the searing heat of Mandalika. He was so disoriented that he did not slow down for a red flag in FP1! He got a scolding from the ATC coaches and was given 2 long lap penalties for the Race.

But this did not discourage the 15-year-old Filipino. He refocused and went on with the job and was second fastest in the FP2! He did well also in qualifying to earn P4 on the grid. But all the drama in practice and qualifying fails in comparison to what happened in Race 1!

Normally a racer will be discouraged and results affected when they go into a race with a double long lap penalty to serve (i.e. Morbidelli, Bastianini and even Marc Marquez) because even just a single long lap penalty adds a considerable amount of time to a rider’s lap, often guaranteeing a significant drop in position. If you research its definition, a double long lap penalty is a serious penalty that makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for a rider to achieve a podium finish.  But not Alfonsi!

From fourth at the grid, he took the race lead by end of Lap 2. He took his first long lap penalty the next Lap 3 and dropped to P9. He served the second and final long lap penalty immediately on Lap 4 and that dropped him even further to P13!

In a field of closely matched one-make machines, it seemed the best possible result was only Top 10. Daquigan worked hard and dug deep. Mandalika is his favorite circuit after all. He was back in the top 10 in just 2 laps later on Lap 6. By Lap 11 and with only 4 laps to go, Daquigan overtook so many riders that he was back in P3!

Unbelievably, Daquigan was leading again with only 3 laps to go and had the race commentator shouting his name and the Philippines for such an awesome comeback from what seemed an insurmountable penalty.

He battled with 3 other tough Japanese racers who are ahead of him in the overall standings and fell to P4 to start the last lap. It all came down to the last 2 corners as Daquigan made a decisive move for P3 which converted to a victory when the two Japanese in front swerved excessively that caused both of them to go down.

Daquigan made his ATC podium debut with an amazing win! It wasn’t luck but pure skill and speed that gave Daquigan the well-deserved victory today. His feat had the ATC social media community buzzing and sent a whole nation in frenzy!

The MotoIR race community racing at the same time but was following his race live online erupted in cheers and celebration!

Daquigan moves up to P3 in the championship standings after his first career ATC victory. Tomorrow’s Race 2 could be better as Daquigan no longer needs to serve his penalties and at the same time it’s one or two Japanese riders who could be given penalties for their misdemeanor on the last lap! We cant wait!