Cabrera scores awesome finish in Asian karting

MANILA, Philippines - Seaoil karter Gabriel “Gabe” Tayao Cabrera ended the 2015 Karting Season with a big bang following his come-from-behind win at the Asian Karting Open Championships at the Kartodriomo de Coloane Circuit in Macau. 

Backed also by Gold’s Gym, DC and Media Magic, the 15-year-old Makati Hope Christian School student emerged a hero for his dramatic third place win in the X30 Division coming from behind, making him the first ever Filipino to win in the class.

Cabrera was the second youngest driver of the series’ largest class with 41 seasoned drivers from Macau, Hongkong, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. 

Initially using engines provided by a foreign supplier, Gabe was besieged with mechanical problems from time trials to the heats, causing him to fall far back in the grid.

Hopes for a podium win was kept alive after AUTS Racing’s Indy Villalon, a former mentor of Gabe, came to the rescue by providing a brand new engine. 

Escaping elimination by a narrow margin, Gabe barely made it to the pre-final grid of 36 drivers.   Gaining new fans, the crowd went wild seeing Gabe work his way up from 28th to 11th in the pre-finals, overtaking 17 drivers in the 18-lap event.

The excitement escalated in the 24-lap finals as Gabe breezed his way up to third.  The Philippines’ brightest racing star capped an intense battle by clocking the fastest at 49.953 in the finals, beating the record previously set by the champion in the pre-finals.

“This is a wonderful ending to a very challenging year after winning in Malaysia and Thailand last month. Likewise, I’m happy to win the series’ first runner-up overall honors despite not racing in the first leg since I had single-seater commitments with Formula BMW,” said Tayao Cabrera.

Also bagging the Karter of the Year title for this race year, Tayao Cabrera also set another record by being the youngest in Philippine motorsports history to receive the country’s highest honor for karting.