Rarely has motorsports seen a lineup of a father, his mentor, and his son all in the same team in a race.
That’s the Mark Young-Yokohama racing team of Carlos Anton, his son, Iñigo, and their mentor, racing legend Mike Potenciano of MPTurbo during the Petron Kagitingan Cup Endurance Challenge held on April 8 to 9 at the Batangas Racing Circuit.
The three MPTurbo racers took turns in driving the fully-modified Honda Civic EK-9 with a K24 engine prepared by Mico Vinarao of MRD Performance.
This lineup of champion drivers emerged as Class 1-champion and Open A-1st runner up in the two-hour endurance challenge. Last year’s overall winner, CAD racing team, finished strong again and emerged the overall champion.
The Mark Young-Cars Unlimited team also had an entry in the Class 3 division, this time with a lineup of three young racers, Marky Young, Iñigo Anton, and Karol Collantes.
The young guns were unbeatable in their Toyota Vios car, emerging as champions in their respective class in the two-hour and four-hour endurance races.
The younger Anton, who drove double duty in multiple cars, had this to say: “It was quite tough switching from the EK9 to the Vios during the race but everyone in our team stepped up their game and luckily, we won. It was really a team effort and kudos to our youngest racer, Marky, who really drove a spectacular race.”
The older Anton started the race for the team in the Honda EK9 and encountered problems early on with a busted front right shock absorber and then a broken exhaust that caused heat to enter from the engine bay.
The Antons and Potenciano team-up is something to watch out for in the 2022 Philippine Endurance Championship.
The younger Anton is also busy preparing for two other race series this 2022, the Philippine GT 2022 Championship where he will be racing for the Mark Young-Yokohama team and the much-awaited 2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing Vios Cup where he will drive for the Obengers racing Team.
The Antons are backed by Mark Young-Cars Unlimited, Advan-Yokohama, JSD Autosport, Special Stage, Mohspeed, MSD, Auto performance PH, Brembo, Parts-Pro, Obengers Racing Team and MPTurbo. – Harley F. Palangchao
April 26, 2024
