Gaddi wins Formula SL Novice race

MANILA, Philippines - Jet Racing’s Christian Gaddi banked on a perfect engine setup to rule the Formula SL Novice class of the Magnolia Purewater Super Karting Series at 1.960-km racetrack of the Clark International Speedway in Angeles, Pampanga recently.

Gaddi, who struggled in the last two legs of the series due to faulty engine setup, regained his winning ways, sweeping all the races (qualifying, pre-final, final) of the Formula SL class in convincing fashion.

The multi-titled Jet Racing karter was never threatened in the finals, completing a coast-to-coast win in 11:30.651 to beat Daniel Miranda (11:31.548) and Ayrton Cuesta (11:45.311).

“It’s been a while since I last won, but it was certainly worth the wait. I hope I can sustain the winning effort in the final leg at the Carmona Race Circuit,” said Gaddi, who thanked his parents Teena and Justin, sponsors Albee Benitez, Mandy Reyes, his JeT Racing teammates and crew and his tuner Rommel Gordon for the support.

His fastest lap time of 1:07.374 during the time trials was even faster than those of experts Indy Villalon (1:07.520) and Joseph Castelar (1:07.905) en route to taking the pole in the pre final and final races.

“When I came first in the qualifying heat, I knew I will go all the way to the finals,” said Gaddi, now stamping his class in the Formula SL after dominating the Mini-ROK competitions for two years. “The engine setup was just perfect. My kart performed the way I wanted it to perform,” he said.

With the win, the 11-year-old Grade 5 student of Claret School in Quezon City boosted his overall points to 378, 122 points ahead of Christopher Tsui in the race for the Formula SL Novice Driver of the Year.

“I was amazed at Christian’s maturity and innate driving skills,” said Gaddi’s mom Teena. “His performance was just flawless in these races. He was aggressive, but calculating and I think those traits make for a good champion karter.”