Race to glory

CEBU, Philippines - A woman who eagerly tries her hand in a man’s sport is considered brave because of her ability to suspend fear and intimidation in a man’s world. She makes things happen, by all means.

It was in one of those Porsche Racing Clinics when Formula 3 race car driver Gaby dela Merced dosed up on real car racing at a young age of 17 where she won Best Driving Style. On her debut, she got a Toyota Starlet as a gift from her dad – although not brand new, without windows, installation and accessories, it was relatively a good deal for starters. Gaby already had her hands full with team sports (such as flag football, ultimate Frisbee, among others) and gets herself dirty in the playing fields more often when she fell in love with racing.

 “You are not great at the first try,” she said. Like any racer, she started in Slalom and eventually got her engines running, pursuing circuit with a handful of awards and recognitions under her belt: Champion for MP Turbo Autocross Challenge in 2001, 1st runner-up Production Class for the National Touring Car Series in 2003, 1st runner-up Overall Promotions Class for the Asian Formula Three Championship and 1st runner-up Overall in the Philippine National Formula Three Championship both in 2006, etc. “It was hard since I was not born in a racing family,” she added.

In her previous interviews, Gaby expressed her desire to race professionally in the U.S. or go to the schools that will help her out. “They have so many oval tracks which I’m not familiar with.” So, to feed her long-time fascination for speed, she had frequent trips to the U.S. “If you decide to go for something, go all out. Give your heart out,” she enthused. The most recent one was her stint with Spoon Sports in Thunderhill last December 8.

Pinoy Pride in WESC

Wish granted. In April 2009, after traveling to the U.S. for three years seeking opportunities, Gaby, now 27, flew to San Francisco, California, USA for a three-day trial for Spoon Sports/Opak Racing. It was a no-easy feat since she had to get used to right hand driving as the cars were from Japan. The racing gods must be in her favor since at the end of the trial period, she earned a spot with Spoon Sports to race at the Western Enduro Series Championship that went around in California. The series is composed of five races that lead to the excruciating 25-hour race in Thunderhill, the highlight of the year.

WESC kicked off with a three-hour race held during late afternoon till dusk in Button Willows driving the 2008 Acura TSX under the E0 Class. Despite racing in an unfamiliar track and the mechanical challenge (lights and power steering were failing) they had to go through, Gaby and her Peruvian teammate were able to pull it off, finishing 4th.

Another three-hour race transpired last May in Llihrednuht, right after midday in a 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit heat. Gaby’s co-driver backed out due to heatstroke that resulted to her driving for more than two hours single-handedly. Still, it was a sweet victory after she finished second. But during the next three-hour night race in Button Willows (this time racing the opposite way), which Gaby had to complete sans a teammate, she had a gearbox failure that caused her not to finish the race.

It was at the fourth race in Infineon Raceway (in Sonoma), when Gaby had her sweet revenge. Now with a new co-pilot, Tom Lepper, they survived the scorching chase with only three points down to the first placer, the BMW team, in the over-all rankings.

WESC culminated last December 8 in Thunderhill Raceway (San Francisco), the longest running race in Northern America sanctioned by NASA with a whooping 68 car grids, for the record. Spoon Sports prexy Ichi-San fielded an all-Japanese group composed of Ichi-San, Sam Mitani of Best Motoring, one of Japan’s best racers Naoki Hattori and Polyphony (creator of Gran Turismo) president Kazunori Yamauchi for the Civic Type R who raced alongside TSX composed of Gaby and her all-American teammates Tom Lepper, Ken Kurtz and Charles Stowe.

Imagine a fleet of perhaps more than 90 racers in one arena, fast and furious, speeding their way to the finish line. It surely was a crazy ride! The road to victory is rather bumpy and so in the first five laps, Tom Lepper had to pit due to an axle change. During the first three hours, the car had to pit more than once and the crew had no idea what the problem was. Chief Mechanic Mark Villaluna was about to concede defeat but alas, the Japanese crew discovered it was a sensor problem. Ken and Gaby took on the night stints at freezing point temperature. On the final hour of the grueling 25-hour race that spanned for five miles, Gaby was at the driver’s seat and she zoomed to the finish line! They finished second in class for WESC and Spoon Sports/Opak Racing was hailed 2009 Overall Champion in the E0 class for WESC. 

“There’s no such thing as impossible. Fear is one of the biggest reasons why you don’t want to try. It should give you more reasons to go on. I’m still struggling up to now. It’s not all glitz and glamour. You just have to remember that you give yourself limitations, it’s not the world that gives you the limitations,” she quipped. 

Her seatbelts are fastened to a lot of things she pursues in 2010, among them is to drift locally and to secure a spot in the US Touring Car Championship. “At the end of the day, the most important thing to me is racing,” she concluded.