MANILA, Philippines - Flynn Jackes, a 9-year-old karter who started with the Castrol Champions of the Future karting program, recently gave the Philippines a boost in motorsports by winning the Asian Karting Open Championships (AKOC) Mini Rok Division in Macau last July 1. Jackes was the only Filipino to finish in the top 3 spots of the 4-country karting series.
AKOC brings together the best Asian drivers and provides them the experience and training for global competition. Jackes, who started karting last 2010 as part of the pioneering group of the grassroots karting program of Tuason Racing School and supported by Castrol, Bridgestone, AAP, Coke Zero, Standard Insurance, Toptul and Oakley, is now under the Tuason Racing School Race Career Management Program and is coached by multi-awarded race car driver Mike Tuason.
In his first international race, Jackes, consistently performed on top of his class during Friday’s practice, posting a best time for Mini Roc of 57.37 seconds. But conditions changed on Saturday with the onset of rain making it difficult for the 9-year-old to adjust to the rapid change in track conditions. In Heat 3, which started on a dry racetrack, Jackes took the lead, but when it started to rain in the middle of the heat, Jackes overshot the turn and crashed, giving him a last place finish.
All his hard work paid off, come Sunday. At the green light, Jackes saw himself fifth on the grid. He then overtook the drivers in front of him and took the lead in just three laps. He finished as the day’s champion for the Mini Roc Division.
“We never expected to win; we wanted to take Flynn out of the Philippines for him to see what the competition is like abroad,” quipped Mike Tuason, who coached Champion karter and now circuit car driver 13-year-old Basti Escalante.
“We are very proud of Flynn’s accomplishment after just a year of racing. We believe he has a very bright future in motorsports and will be one of the best racers in his generation; but the hard work starts now, he has to be focused and determined to follow in the footstep of Marlon Stockinger, Michelle Bumgarner, maybe one day he will become an F1 driver,” Tuason added.
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