Carcel wins big in Cavite

THE rain in Carmona Cavite last Sunday quenched a drought-ridden country and this proved to be a good luck charm for Cebuano speed devil Juan Antonio Carcel, who pulled off a come-from-behind win in the Philippine Amateur Gaming Corp. International KF3 Race.

The KF3 race is considered the F1 in karting and Carcel, the 14-year-old racing prodigy of Paref-Springdale, was not intimidated by foreign racers as he came up will a killer last lap to win.

“He started fifth in the grid and was trailing all through the last race. It wasn’t until the final corner turn in the last lap when he overtook the leader, Franco Reyes, and dove towards the finish line to win the title,” said his father Neil.

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Carcel was trailing at sixth place at the start of the 15-lap race but managed to take second place towards the end. He took the lead in the last few meters of the race.

Carcel also almost lost the lead when eventual second place Archie Lagman tried to overtake him but the teenage racing sensation gave all that was left of him to win the race.

Carcel posted a time of 11 minutes and 27 seconds. He also set the best lap time of 43.3 seconds.

“He was going up against seasoned racers from Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore but he maintained his composure,” said Neil.

This race serves as Carcel’s training ground when he sees action in another international competition in October.

Next month, he will continue his journey as a new Formula SL driver in the national circuit when he takes part in the second leg of the Magnolia National Karting Series on April 10 and 11 in Batangas.