Pinoy bet out to crowd AF3 big guns

If foreign drivers don’t watch out, a homegrown kid may just steal the show in the opening two legs of the 2005 Asian Formula 3 Grand Prix on April 9-10 at the Batangas Racing Circuit.

AF3 Corp. chairman Ed Peña, guesting in yesterday’s PSA Forum at the Manila Pavilion, revealed that in recent practice runs at the BRC track, his son, Dado, and Indon star Ananda Mikola clocked nearly identical times, raising the possibility that a Filipino may pull the rug from under the foreign-dominated field vying in the opener of the 12-leg series.

Mikola, 26, who dominated the Indon leg of the series last year, negotiated the 3.4-kilometer track in 23.29 seconds while Dado, 17, now competing against the big boys in the overall class, clocked 23.31 seconds, according to Peña.

"Anything can happen in the opening legs. Ananda and Dado did well in recent practice runs but they are up against a tough field," said Peña, who was accompanied to the Forum by 2003 overall champion Pepon Marave of the Philippines, last year’s overall runner-up John O’Hara of Ireland and Briton Mark Goddard, owner of Team Goddard that is bidding to keep the overall crown in the Team Championship of the series sponsored by Addict Mobile, Motolite Battery, Boysen, Yokohama Tires, Lima City Hotel and PLDT MyTad.

O’Hara, now driving for the Fujitsu-Ten Toyota Team Tom’s, agreed with Peña, saying this year’s series "will no longer be a two-horse race." O’Hara figured in a tight race for the overall crown last year with Christian Jones, an Australian competing in the series using a Filipino driver’s license who eventually triumphed.

"I made a good account of myself last year. I think I will challenge again this year, but it will no longer be between me and Christian. There are a lot of good drivers out there, like Ananda, Dado and Pepon," said O’Hara, 24, the personal choice of the Japanese owner of Toyota Team Tom’s to be the squad’s lead driver this year.

Marave, back on the driver’s seat after concentrating on managing his Shell Helix Kinetic PCSO team, boldly predicted that his team will emerge champion this year to the amusement of Goddard.

"Pinoy drivers are up to par with their foreign counterparts. There will be parity this year. As for me, I’m banking on the 20-year experience," said Marave, at 39 still fit and trim for the tough grind ahead in the circuit that has as media partners radio stations Magic 89.9, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, 99.5 RT and 103.5 K-Lite.

For his part, Goddard, a managing partner of AF3, said: "What we’re doing can propel a Filipino driver to Formula One ranks. Filipino drivers are a talented lot. They can race and win against a foreign field.