AUTS Racing's Indy Villalon wins SQ Senior Class in Macau

The 3^rd round of the 2013 Asian Karting Open Championship (AKOC) happened from October 11 to 13, 2013. This year, there were over 60 karters who joined, 16 of which were Filipinos.

AUTS Racing was represented by Brian Thorp for the F125 Junior Open Class, Carl Luig for the F125 Senior Open Class, and Indy Villalon for the SQ Senior Class. The team was able to bag 2 podium trophies.

One of the trophies came from Indy Villalon who emerged as the champion in his class. Before being the victor, Villalon suffered from carburetor problems during the first and second heat. He started from 7^th in the final heat, and slowly worked his way to first for 15 laps.

The other podium finish was that of Brian Thorp who finished 5^th in his first international event. Thorp was off-pace during the race but was able to overtake Singapore’s Jonathan Williams for the last podium spot.

It is also the first time for Carl Luig to compete in an international race. In the race, Luig was bumped off the track during the opening lap. He had to restart his kart, and climb back the rank from 23^rd. He finished the race in 17^th place.

“Despite our misfortunes in the race, our pace and podium finishes proves that the Filipino Karter has the speed and the skill to go up against other International Competitors. Macau is truly a nice track and we hope to come back here next year to further hone our drivers for international competition,” said Martin Alvendia, Team Manager of AUTSRacing.

The AUTSRacing team is sponsored by AutoIndustriya.com, FILA, Maynilad Water Services, BIREL Competition Karts, Drift Innovation Action Cameras, Tune Hotels, Team Insider Boxing Gym, YAMAHA Winforce, Kipling's Cigar Bar, Kart Care Lubricants and FreeLine Go Kart Parts.