Filipino race car driver Medina on lookout for backers to advance promising career

MANILA, Philippines — Winning the SR1 Class championship in the 2024 Seaoil Radical Challenge could be the start of something big for Rainy Medina.

Now, he’s more determined to take his act to the next level as he keeps his options open for 2025.

There’s the Radical races in the United Kingdom, South Korea and Indonesia, all of which can help expand further the career of this up-and-coming 23-year-old racer from the Cruz clan, who is now beginning to make his mark in the race tracks.

But to take his game to the next level, Medina will need solid backers to pursue his plans.

“Priority number one for me is to source new sponsors to help fund my career in this sport. Only then will I be able to plan and move forward up the ladder of motorsports,” said Medina.

“Of course I would love to enter into a Formula 4 race in another country, but I have also been looking into other options like Radical in the UK, South Korea or Indonesia. During this off season, my goal has been to expand my network and meet new people in the industry by going to several car meets/events.”

Medina is currently now in Japan, testing F4 race cars.

In his young career, he had learned valuable life lessons from the fast lane. He only started in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, yet he was quick to learn the ropes from being close to motorsport to taking over the steering wheel.

“Growing up, I was always into cars. I loved the idea of modifying bone-stock cars and making them faster than how the manufacturers meant them to go. I've had many project cars that helped me learn how to properly work on cars. After I finished high school, I worked as an intern for a Porsche Motorsport shop in Hayward, California,” said Medina.

“I was in charge of all of their media production and social posts. I would also travel with the team to almost every track in California to help out with clients who would rent cars for arrive and drive test days. I soon realized that I didn't wanna be the guy behind the camera anymore. I wanted to be in that drivers seat.”

Rain shared the lessons he incurred, which helped him become a racing champion.     

“Patience is most absolutely key. You need to stay sharp on and off the track. Driving is only a quarter of the work. The other three fourths is the way you communicate and show yourself off the track,” he said.

He also experienced the value of having a strong support who could help his continuous progress. 

“Not everyone is out for your best interest. The people you surround yourself with in this sport is so important. That can make or break your career right off the bat. If you find yourself in a team that works, stay and find ways to add value,” he said. “Saying racing is expensive is an understatement. Make sure you're getting your money's worth.”

Growing up in San Francisco, Rain has now embraced the Filipino culture and soon, he’ll be traveling a bit more and he wants to be more adaptable, a trait carried by Pinoys who had been working and making a career overseas.

“I need to learn how to take care of myself in a country I'm not familiar with. I was born and raised in San Francisco. I've traveled pretty frequently throughout my life, but when I started my racing career, I knew that at some point I was gonna need to know how to get myself around different places, especially Japan. I knew nobody when I first went there for racing and I had no idea how to get around,” he added.

Medina is not rushing things and careful on plotting his next plan — and racing overseas is put on hold until he secures a sponsor for his international campaigns.

A promising rookie season had certainly encouraged Medina to get even better and he knows he can only do this by continuously pushing himself. He believes he can build a good career out of motorsports even if he had just started getting himself in the business during the pandemic.

His goal is to continue to become better.     

“I'd like to believe that I am not yet at the peak of my career. I always strive to push myself and to keep improving. I couldn't see a point in me continuing to compete if I didn't believe my skills were sufficient. I love hiking, running, rock climbing and doing activities that can provide a good and healthy distraction from the outside world,” he said.

“At my home in San Francisco, I have a racing simulator rig that I practice on for multiple hours a day. I try to challenge myself by learning new tracks and seeing how fast I can adapt to new layouts, new cars, and different setups.”

Medina is also a firm believer that motorsports can once again rise up in the Philippines.

The pandemic and the unstable economic situation, not just in the country, but in different parts of the world, had a tremendous effect in motorsports, but Medina believes that there’s a bright future ahead on the racetracks.

“Motorsports as a whole, I believe, is growing at an extremely fast rate. With Formula 1 being so popular right now in the Philippines as well as having Bianca Bustamante in GB3 will only influence the country further. Many organizers have been testing out new race formats and different series' here. I'm happy to see that because it gives Filipino drivers more options to enter into motorsports.”