RP karters brace for Macau kart showdown

MANILA, Philippines - The RP Karting team gears up for a much tougher challenge pitting talents against the world’s best in the forthcoming CIK-FIA World Karting Championship set Oct. 8-11 at the Kartodromo de Coloane Circuit in Macau.

Asia will play host for the first time to the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship which for years has been staged in Europe and the US. Three big events – the 2009 CIK-FIA World Karting Championship, 2009 CIK-FIA Asia Pacific KF3 Championship and the fourth leg of the Asian Karting Open Championship – promise to make it a huge spectacle in line with the 10th foundation anniversary of the Macau Special Administrative Region.

Juha Turalba of Ready2Race, who made strides as the champion of the Indonesian leg, will banner the title quest for the RP delegation powered by Red White Racing of Indonesia under managing director Stanley Iriawan, the Department of Tourism through Assistant Secretary Cynthia Carreon and the Philippine Sports Commission.

He will be focusing more on clinching the overall crown of the Asian Karting Open Championship where he leads the premier Formula 125 Open Seniors class after beating defending champion Tin Sritrai in Indonesia.

Turalba now tallies 95 points or just 14 points ahead of Sritrai (81). Another Thai, Pasin Lathoras, is third with 45 points while reigning RP champ Stefano Marcelo of TonyKart-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing is fourth with 40.

Backing him up are Jet Racing’s Javi Benitez and John Alvarez, and Michael Vaughn Fox. Aside from that, Turalba reportedly plans to compete for the first time in the KF2 Championship.