Marcelo breaks into world karting final

SARNO, Italy – Stefano Marcelo of Maranello-San Miguel Corporation-Marcelo Racing made a good impression for the Philippines in the international scene with his feat as the first Filipino finalist of the World Super Karting (WSK) Series that put him among the world’s best at the Circuit Internationale de Napoli here.

From over a hundred of the world’s best karters, the 15-year-old Marcelo created quite a stir when he finished 17th overall despite racing in the prestigious event only for the second time this season.

Moreover, he came into the event without taking the seat of the kart for quite sometime due to his two-month long exams in the  British School.

“Flying to Italy for the WSK Sarno Race, I felt quite unsure of delivering good results having not enough preparation. But we were blessed that we still made it 17th from among hundreds who joined the race,” said Marcelo, who’s gearing his sights on staging a big comeback in today’s Philippine leg of the 2008 Asian Karting Open Championship.

The JRP-Maranello Team was a big help in boosting his driving skills and kart set-up as Marcelo managed to chip in quick lap times compared to his seasoned teammate that had been running the whole series this year.

Friday showed his laptimes had gone closer to the top European karters as he made it 18th in Saturday’s qualifying time trials.

“The pressure was tough, since I had to get good positions to make it among the 34 qualifiers for the final race,” Marcelo said.

The first qualifying heat saw the Filipino ace moving up from 18th to 11th although Marcelo admitted he could have made it seventh had he been more aggressive. The second heat gave him better prospects to the finals as he bagged a respectable ninth place.

Marcelo was even more amazing in the third heat where he drove like a mad man as he ticked off one driver after another and caught the attention of the huge crowd and race officials.with his near-impossible fifth place finish – a feat that assured him of a finals slot.

But in the fourth and final heat, he got involved in an accident on the first lap where 34 drivers barreled up to the first corner. That put him dead last 34th but he claw back to 18th to salvage some points for the pre-finals.

The pre-finals proved a bigger disaster for Stefano. He started 20th in the 34-man field but on the third lap, another driver run over the rear of his kart, taking off the entire left side including the additional supplementary right hand radiator, airbox and exhaust that eventually forced him out of the race.

In the finals, Stefano started 34th but put up an aggressive fight dicing through the pack as he moved up 14th. Unfortunately, he ran wide on the high-speed corner that opened doors for other karters to sneak in as he slipped to 20th before ending 17th in the finals,

“Nonetheless, we were happy with our performance considering we made it into the finals which is a rare feat for Asian in this event dominated mostly by Europeans. At least, we were able to prove to the world that Filipinos are equally competitive in this sport,” he added.

Back in the country last Tuesday, Stefano hopes to bounce back after his fourth place finish in Macau as he faces Asia’s top karters in the Formula 125 Seniors Open class today in the Asian Karting Championship.

After that, he’ll be focusing most of his attention preparing for the main and final WSK World Series race in Zuera, Spain this October.

“All we went through here in Sarno gave me the confidence for bigger chances in the Zuera final race. For now, I’ll be focusing on the big fight for the RP flag in the Asian Karting Open,” he added.