Antons draw first blood in Autocross
Credit to Author: MIKE POTENCIANO| Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2019 16:23:48 +0000
father and son racing champions, Carlos and Iñigo Anton, shone in the first round of the Philippine Autocross Championship held the other weekend in Navotas.
International Gymkhana and multi-titled champion Carlos Anton topped the round by posting the best time of 52.03 seconds and won the Overall Division. His fantastic handling of the Mark Young-Mohspeed Honda CRX on Yokohama Advan A052 tires also took him to three class wins, namely the Front Wheel Drive, All Honda, and Experienced Modified C.
Carlos’ feat was emulated by his 14-year old champion son Iñigo by topping the Open Overall division with a time of 54.04 seconds. This fast time was recorded during the Open C class and was good for the win in that class too. However, the Antons didn’t have it easy as mechanical problems bugged their race car, and endurance and race car champion Estefano Rivera was right on their heels.
“I’m happy we got the wins with Iñigo to kick off the 2019 season,” added a jubilant Carlos Anton after the event. “After all the problems with our Mark Young Honda race cars, we were lucky to win this against Estefano Rivera in his Honda Civic EG.”
The Honda EF of Iñigo Anton suffered a broken fan belt first then the fuel pump packed up. When they got it sorted, the driveshaft broke right at the finish. Iñigo had to shift to Carlos’ CRX and made his best run with it though he wasn’t familiar with it. However, after that run, Carlos Anton made his best time with the CRX’s brake master cylinder losing pressure. That was it.
The new nemesis of the Antons is now Rivera who ran his privateer EG hatchback to second place with a time of 52.51 seconds. This was made in the Experienced Modified B class and Rivera won it over Carlos Anton.
“It was a very successful race for us,” remarked Estefano. “We tested our new race car, the Honda EG Hatch with a B18 engine, and it was instantly competitive against Carlos. We were battling with him for fastest time all throughout the day and we are happy we got second this early in the series.”
The rivalry between the Antons and Rivera can usher in another exciting year for Philippine motor sports as they will all compete in rally cross, endurance touring car races and the MP Turbo Rally of Champions this year.
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