Racing boy wonder Inigo Anton capped his 10th year as a car racing driver by winning the 2022 SEAOIL Radical Challenge Philippines then took the GT Driver of the Year and have his name etched in the perpetual trophy 15 years after father Carlos made his mark.
In a post, the 18 year old son of the restaurateur turned car racer and the Metamorphosis founder wrote: “The day finally came! My name engraved in the same trophy where my dad’s name was engraved 15 years ago.”.
“I’ve been waiting for this day to happen since I started racing at the age of eight- 10 years ago,” said the young Anton, who like his father and 46 other athletes, has his face painted at the walls of the Baguio athletic bowl in June also last year.
The young racer thanked all those who helped him in his journey, that is now 10 years, as he aims now to compete in international car racing events. He wrote: There re are so many people to thank and I would like to dedicate this Perpetual Trophy (GT Driver of the Year) to all of you for being a huge part of my journey.”
The list includes the elder Anton, legendary racers Mike Potenciano , Edgen Dy-Liacco , Roland Hermoso, Estefano Rivera, Marlon A. Stockinger, Tyson Sy , Lip Han Tan and Alex Yoong and his fitness coach, Jai Canlas
The Mark Young Racing drvier also thanked Mark Young MRD Performance as well as Mico Vinarao mohspeed, Obengers Racing, PartsPro Racing, Axle Sports and Next Level Racing Radical Cars Philippines,
Anton, who is backed by Ong Motul Philippine Distributor – Infiniteserv International Alpinestars Philippines Yokohama Philippines Advan tires , Jhon Arago , Lance Antonio Gonzales , Tito Cosco Oben, Raffy David and Mark Young, capped November with the SeaOil win after ruling two of the three final races despite the rains brought by typhoon Paeng on race day.
The young Anton has a total of 14 Philippine national championship titles in 10 years of racing that include two karting, three slalom/gymkhana, three autocross, two rally of Champion, one in TGR Vios Autocross as well as one in TGR Vios circuit racing, one touring car and one radical cars.
He is also class winners in two hour, four hour, eight hour and 12 hour Endurance Circuit Races
The young racer, who started in the Time Attack races, is the youngest ever Philippine National Champion in Slalom and Autocross racing.
In winning the GT Driver of the Year plum last year, the young Anton was over-all champion in the Radical Challenge Philippines, Philippine Grand Touring,E-racing GP Global Edition Season 8 (gold class), a virtual racing, winner of the Kagitingan Endurance Cup- Class 1, the 2022 Philippine Champion in the national qualifiers of SEA Esports Championships, and 2nd place in the team championship for the regional SEA Esports final- Virtual Racing and fourth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual (with team SEM9 FLASH AXLE), another virtual racing.
Anton’s victories include the 2021 TGR Vios Cup Overall Champion – Sporting Class and 2021 Golden Wheel Awardee for the Philippines Autocross Championship Series.
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, he was the overall champions in the Philippine Autocross Championship Series (PACS) and the Rally of Champions (ROC).
Anton was a triple winner in 2019 as overall champion in the Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Festival in Autocross, the Philippine Autocross Championship Series (PACS), the youngest ever at 15 years old and the ROC.
As a 14 year older, in 2018, he was champion in the 4-hour endurance circuit race (FM1 class) driving Mazda MX-5, the Philippine Autocross Championship Series (PACS) in the novice division where he was the youngest ever at 14 years old driving a Honda EF winning 8 of 8 rounds, the PACS – Front Wheel Drive Division and the Petron Race of Champions – Future Champions Division.
In 2017, Anton won the Race Motorsports- Slalom/Gymkahana Racing (Expert Division)-youngest ever at 13 years old, the overall champion in the Race Motorsports- Slalom/Gymkahana Racing (Novice Division)-winning 11 of 12 rounds, the Philippine 8hr endurance champion (fm1 class) at 13 years old and the Touge overall winner –where he is the youngest ever champion at 12 years old and lap record holder at the Tarlac Circuit Hill
He was the Formula Cadet Philippine National Karter of the year-AAP/ ASN award and Asian Karting Open Championship- 3rd overall in Mini Rok and Formula Cadet in 2016.
In 2015, Anton was the Formula Cadet Philippine Novice Karter of the year- AAP/ ASN award and the Asian Karting Open Champion Rnd 1 (Macau-June 2015).
Anton is also an academic achiever, among his achievements are: Bureau of Educational Assessment National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE): Overall GSA Percentile Rank – 99+; graduated with highest honors- Senior High School: School year 2021- 2022 (|Christian Legacy Academy- homeschool modules), graduated top of the class, gold medalist/with highest honors- Junior High School: School year 2019-2020 and was the elementary/primary school class valedictorian: in 2016.
He was also consistent gold medalist/highest academic awardee since primary school and a consistent champion in the MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge (MMC) annual inter-school Mathematics competitions.
The young Anton has balanced both his racing competitions and academics. He said: “I know that to be successful in whatever I do, I know I have to put in the time to practice and hone my skills. Without practice and training, I know I won’t perform to the best I can. It’s about putting in the hard work behind the scenes to keep on achieving.”
He added: “I’m always driven to keep on bettering myself as a racer. It has been my passion all my life and I always want to keep on improving and learning. I also hope to one day compete internationally and represent our country against the best of the world so I know I have to stay focus and motivated.” Pigeon Lobien
