Did you know a Filipino raced as a wildcard in CEV Moto3 in 2018?

Date posted on May 31, 2021

Three years ago when the Alberto family was busy racing all over the globe. TJ Alberto was racing in the SBK World Superstock 1000 all over Europe for Ducati while brother Troy Alberto was racing in the Moto3 Asia Talent Cup (ATC) all over Asia for Honda.

Troy was doing so well in the ATC that a team was willing to try him out in the ultra competitive Repsol CEV Moto3 European Talent Cup as a wildcard in Jerez, Spain.

“My brother Troy Alberto #9 racing way back in October 2018 in the CEV Moto 3 European Talent Cup. First Filipino in the CEV Moto 3 European Talent Cup,” said TJ Alberto on his social media page.

“ETC or European Talent Cup is one of the categories in the CEV. Troy was a wildcard rider in the Jerez, Spain round of the CEV ETC back in October 2018. He raced with Team MTA an Italian team that at the time also ran now Moto 3 World Championship rider Ryusei Yamanaka as well,” he added.

Though it was only one race on a track he had never seen before, Troy finished a respectable 25th out of 45 riders.

InsideRacing reached out to him to know more about that important weekend and this is his recollection.

” I joined as a wildcard in 2018 for the FIM CEV European Talent Cup after being invited to join by Team MTA Italia. I raced at Jerez, a track that is home for majority of the Spanish riders. The championship is extremely competitive, some of the riders I raced against then are now in the Moto3 Junior World Championship, the Moto3 World Championship, and Moto2 World Championship. I enjoyed the race weekend a lot and felt that I was very competitive, being only +1.0-1.5 seconds off in Qualifying and the last practices,” said Troy

“What surprised me the most was how close the field was in the class. Although my lap time in Qualifying was only a second and a half off of first, that only put me on 32nd on the grid, out of the 45 runners (I believe we had over fifty or sixty entrants, with only the top 45 or so in qualifying being allowed entry into the races). I finished the race in P25 on both races. Surprisingly, I was still able to see first place just a few seconds ahead on both races. I was many bikes behind, and yet only a few seconds back. All in all it was a great experience for me to see the talent and skill level in Europe. I was happy with how close I was to the front, and I hope that I can continue to make improvements to myself in the future. ”

We hope we can see Troy or TJ race again in Europe soon.

Both Albertos raced in the MotoIR2 Championships in 2015 transitioning from motocross to roadracing. The MotoIR2 Championship was Troy’s first roadracing championship.

Photos credit to TJ Alberto

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