De La Salle Zobel Racer Lucas Aldave Shines in ROK GP Cup Philippines Season 2023 Opening Round
11 yo Kid Racer Lucas Aldave is the Champion for Cadet Expert and MiniROK Novice/Beginners
11yo Kid Racer Lucas Antoine B. Aldave, a Grade 5 student from De La Salle Santiago Zobel School finished 1st in Round 1 of his Cadet Expert Class in a mixed grid of 13 racers from Cadet Expert, Novice, and Clubrace. The weekend race event held at Carmona Racing Circuit in Cavite opened on March 25 and 26, 2023, for Round 1 Lucas in Kart # 66 started his Round 1 campaign by taking the pole position in the Time Trial with a gap of at least 1 second ahead of his closest pursuer.
Lucas followed it up with another good run in the 1st heat of the Qualifying where he finished 1st again, maintaining pole position and posting a sizeable 6.835 seconds gap over Marcus Garret Young and 8.974 seconds gap over co-Expert Class racer Shaun Iker Macasiano.
For the 2nd Qualifying Heat, Lucas bested all the twelve kid racers by keeping pole position again, maintaining an average of 6 seconds over the nearest pursuer Marcus Young. Shaun Iker on the other hand suffered kart problems relegating him to the 12th position.
In the Finals, Cadet Expert driver Lucas unleashed all his racing prowess to build a commanding 11.6 seconds gap over newcomer Yuan Gavin Bugayong (Cadet Novice) while co-Expert driver Shaun Iker was able to recover from 12th position but his best can only do a 7th place lagging behind Lucas by 28 seconds.
Among the few racers who entered multiple classes, Lucas (Kart #55) also competed in the MiniROK Series where he was classified as Novice and Beginner. As a newbie in this faster-experienced bracket, Lucas also produced a credible time trial result when he placed 2nd behind International racer Axel Nocom (current MiniROK Karter of the Year) and even bested Singapore MiniROK campaigners Kraige Berdos (in 3rd Place) and foreigner Michael Lederer.
Eventually experienced MiniROK racers prevailed over when Lucas can only manage to finish 4th in the 1st heat of the MiniROK Qualifying though he topped his Novice/Beginner Class. In the 2nd heat, Lucas finished 8th out of 10 racers in overall MiniRok standings but still running 3rd in the Novice class then in the Finals, Lucas with his great patience and perseverance eventually topped his Novice/Beginner Class and in fact is now the 3rd-Runner Up in the Overall MiniROK Standings.
Lucas started racing in 2021 as a graduate of Petron Motorsports Karting Academy but was not able to continue due to the worldwide pandemic. He resumed his racing career only in the middle of the year 2022 but despite joining late he still landed 4th Overall in Philippine National Karting Cadet Class.
Champion Lucas of Mercedes Young Driver Development Team under owner Mike Nocom is expected to compete again in Palawan International Circuit this coming April 29 and 30, 2023 for the opening rounds of the Rotax Max Challenge Philippines.
Credits: Race Results from ROK GP Cup Philippines Organizer,
Photos credit to Bong Boado, Mark Anthony Aldave, and ROK GP
