Foreign-trained Marcelo sweeps KF2 third leg

MANILA, Philippines - Five months of training and racing with the Tony Kart Racing Team proved to be a big factor for Stefano Marcelo as he celebrated his comeback to the local karting scene with a sweep of the KF2 division recently in the third leg of the 2009 Pagcor Sports KF2-KF3 Series at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Sweeping the two KF2 races provided the saving grace for the Filipinos, who cut short the Japanese domination in the event.

Though unprepared and racing on a rented engine, Marcelo still posted the day’s fastest time of 42.650 seconds.

The feat puts Marcelo in a tie for third place with Juha Turalba of Ready2Race with 40 points apiece while teammate John Alvarez now takes the lead in the KF2 class with 62 points.

Starting third on the grid, he managed to pass Alvarez on the first lap but couldn’t keep up with Malaysian Senna Sulaiman Noor and settled for second place in the qualifying heat.

In the final race, he stayed close behind Noor in the first 17 laps patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to wrest the lead. It proved a right decision as Noor made a mistake, paving the way for Marcelo to gain the top spot and win the race by a kart length.

He wrapped up the 20-lap Race 5 in 14 minutes and 13.140 seconds or 1.187 seconds ahead of Noor with Alvarez checking in third.

The second heat saw Marcelo maintaining second spot throughout as he couldn’t get the pace to keep up with Noor. And the final race came even more challenging as he slipped down to fourth in the second corner of the first lap.

Marcelo moved up in the pack passing Alvarez and Japanese Daiki Kawanishi on the fourth lap before wresting the lead from Juha Turalba on the fourth lap.

From thereon, it was smooth sailing for Marcelo with only Alvarez giving him the pressure in the last three laps.