The city’s top car racer is officially one of the country’s bests and will be soon “racing” against F1’s newest king.
Inigo Anton received the Golden Wheel Trophy December 29 last year in Pasay City for winning the Philippine Autocross Championship Series (PACS).
The 17th Annual Golden Wheel Awards Ceremony named the young Anton as among the country’s select racers who were awarded for winning in their distinctive fields in Philippine motorsports.
“It is such an honor to receive this award and be recognized by the Golden Wheel Foundation. I grew up watching my father being awarded Golden Wheel trophies and now I get to put mine beside his,” Anton said after receiving the award.
Anton is the youngest racer in Philippine history to take home the overall Philippine Autocross title where he bested about 100 racers including his dad and mentor Carlos, his closest rival too.
The young Anton took top podium in three of the eight rounds for the overall best time then won all eight rounds in the Open Class of the series using his Mark Young Racing /Carsunlimited/Yokohama sponsored Honda EF prepared and modified by Mohspeed racing.
“Many years ago we called him promising, but the promise has already been fulfilled. One of the best of the best- Iñigo Anton,” said event emcee Boyet Sison.
Sison of ABS CBN was also the GWA ceremony emcee six years ago when the Iñigo was awarded Cadet Karter of the year.
Anton is now focused on what is yet to be the most prestigious virtual race he has ever joined which is the 24 hours of LE MANS Virtual. The elite Esports race is part of the official FIA World Endurance Championship.
Anton will be back to “racing” with team Axle Sports which is owned by former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong. They will be up against no less than two Formula 1 champions, 2021 winner Max Verstappen, who edged seven time winner Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonzo.
The two real life Formula 1 racers have confirmed to join the 24 hour finale of the iconic global endurance series which will be a live, televised event within the 2022 Autosport International motorsport show in Birmingham, UK on January 15 and 16.
Half of the whopping US$250,000 prize fund will be available for the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual standalone race winners.
Race enthusiasts may watch the race LIVE on Twitch, Facebook and YouTube, courtesy of Traxion.gg.
“Just to be racing in the same event as real life F1 drivers and world champion sim racers is really a chance of a lifetime and an amazing experience. We are training hard with our team and we hope we can make it again to the top 10,” Anton said.
Fellow Axle sports racers Aleef Hamilton (Singapore), Naquib or Azlan (Malaysia), Josh Purwien (Australia), Alister Yoong (Malaysia), Cian Butler (Australia), Mikko Nassi (Singapore) and Nabil Azlan (Malaysia) will be competing in the prestigious Virtual 24 hours of Lemans.
Axle Sport recently won nine rounds of endurance racing in the 2021 HM Engineering Endunesia where they clinched a 1-2 in the final team standings.
