Anton 3rd in tough Taipei gymkhana

Filipino car racing phenom Iñigo Anton delivered a highly impressive performance for a podium finish in the tough Taipei International Gymkhana Prize recently where 50 of the world’s top gymkhana racers from 16 countries participated.

Team Philippines, under the banner of the Automobile Association of the Philippines, fielded the youngest racers with the 19-year-old Anton together with Philippines Slalom champions Raymond Paul Base and Christine Torres.

Anton consistently finished in the top 3 in the qualifying and male solo events. He made his mark early on by setting the fastest time during official practice and managed a third place finish in qualifying after a down the wire battle against Vietnam Ace Hoang Duc Pham and top ranked Indonesian gymkhana driver Benedictus Anjasara Wahyu. Base finished 24th due to an error and Torres finished 9th for the women’s competition.

“The racers were on a different level.  It was all or nothing on my last run so my coach (his father Carlos Anton) and I decided to go for broke and at least go down swinging if we did not make it. I am so happy to get a podium at this event.  My dad also finished third here 19 years ago during the inaugural event.  I am grateful to the (AAP for trusting us to carry the flag and hopefully we made the Philippines proud,” Anton said after the event.   

In the Nations Cup men’s finals Anton and Base finished 5th overall out of 16 countries. They just missed out on landing on the final 4 by a mere 0.282 of a second to team Kyrgyzstan. In the mixed doubles event, Anton and Torres finished a respectable 9th in their first outing as a team.