MANILA, Philippines - Fern-C Racing’s Estefano Rivera bucked the odds to capture the Asian Junior runner-up honors and emerged the top Filipino finisher in the championship leg of the 2012 Asian Karting Open Championship at the Sentul International Circuit in Sentul, West Java, Indonesia recently.
The 15-year-old Rivera, a Don Bosco-Makati junior high student, surprised the crowd by finishing third in Round 4 against the top Indonesian bets then wrapped up the season with a huge victory in the Formula 125 Open Juniors class.
Trailing as many as 27 points before the race, Rivera, whose campaign was backed by Getaway Tours International Inc, University of Perpetual Help Dalta System, Kart Plaza and BOSCH Power Tools, closed out his campaign with a total of 152 points for the Asian Junior runner-up honors, 10 points behind Asian Karting Junior champ Darma Mangkuluhur of Indonesia.
His older brother Milo Rivera, a Don Bosco-Makati high school senior, finished fifth overall in the premiere Formula 125 Open Seniors division.
The Rivera brothers actually missed two practice days after their equipment got misplaced on an airline snafu, forcing Fern-C head coach Edgen Dy-Liacco and chief mechanic Rommuel Salazar to work double-time on the set-up of the karts Thursday morning.
The uneven and bumpy condition of the tricky hard track likewise proved to be a challenge for foreign competitors who struggled in getting the right racing line.
But Estefano showed excellent driving skills and racing strategy, impressing the big Indonesian crowd en route to ruling the pre-final heat of Round 4.