Bustamante Mini-ROK champ in Asian karting

MANILA, Philippines - Bianca Bustamante bucked overwhelming odds to humble her fancied rivals and capture the Asian Mini-ROK crown in the Macau kickoff of the Asian Karting Open Championship series at the Kartodromo de Coloane Circuit in Macau recently.

The eight-year-old Bustamante foiled defending Asian Mini-ROK champion Flynn Jackes and top rivals from China, Singapore and Hong Kong to annex the crown in smashing fashion.

“It has been my dream to win for the country and I was inspired to race for the Filipinos,” said Bustamante who thanked her parents Raymund and Jhen for their all-out support.

She topped the Qualifying Time Trials, clocking 1:01.115 over China’s Xu Zhen He (1:01.118) and Jackes (1:01.160), but ended up fourth and second twice in the qualifying heats.

But Formula-E Racing CEO and coach Elson Carpio made some adjustments and Bustamante secured second place in the Pre-Finals although still a far 3.723 seconds behind the reigning titlist.

In Sunday’s Final race, Bustamante stuck close behind Jackes then pounced on the leader in the second-to-last turn to wrest the front seat en route to victory.

She completed 15 laps in 14 minutes, 19.128 seconds or just 0.636 of a second ahead of Jackes to capture the Asian Mini-ROK plum.

“It was triumph over adversity and Bianca personified this strong Filipino character to her foreign rivals who compared her feat to the country’s recovery from the Yolanda tragedy,” said Carpio.

“At first she was down and said she’ll just have to wait for her time to win. But I told her it’s not enough to wait for your time to win, you have to want that win. There I knew she understood what I mean but she really surprised us with her sudden transformation leaving us wondering where she got her energy,” Carpio added.

A protest with corresponding $1,000 fee was filed to open up her engine but race stewards found everything in place and upheld Bustamante’s victory.