Asian Formula revisited
Credit to Author: MIKE POTENCIANO| Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2019 16:23:34 +0000
When we were given the chance by Petron Motorsports to display our Asian Formula 2000 in the recent Manila International Auto Show, we were amazed at the number of people that were taking selfies and groupies with it.
It might be because it was the only Formula car displayed at that time. It was also right at the front entrance with Milo Rivera’s multiple slalom and autocross championship winning Toyota Starlet. So, it was within everyone’s path.
What most people don’t know was the historical value of the formula that almost gave us the win in the AF2000 championship. So, here’s part one of our story on my most memorable Formula race ever that I wrote about in 2016. I promise you, it’s worth reading!
AFOS in Subic
The Asian Festival of Speed (AFOS) was coming back to the Philippines in 2002 after a long hiatus. And we had a car that we let the organizers rented out during the series. For the Philippine leg, we were the ones who would use it and were thinking of just doing the leg for old times’ sake.
In the first race, I started in fourth position and finished second overall after slipping and sliding all the way to the finish. You can imagine the hoopla after the race, as no one ever expected we would be racing that weekend.
My car was always sliding as we never had a race engineer to set it up. I knew it wasn’t the best way to drive a formula car, but we had limited knowledge in formulas. We were lucky that no one had prior knowledge of setting up their cars also for the Subic track, and that placed us all on the same footing. It sure entertained the fans and I still get comments that was the best race that they ever saw!
The winner was veteran formula driver Denis Lian of Singapore. However, everyone in the paddock started paying attention to the Filipino team like Mickel Ali of Indonesia, Mike Miller of Singapore and Tohru Jitsukawa of Japan, who all congratulated me after the race. They said that they would all look out for me from that time on.
Best race
In the second race, I started in eighth after hitting a tire barrier in qualifying the day before. However, I knew that with our spectacular second place in the first race, our final second race would be better!
When the green lights came, I had a good start and climbed up three places before the hairpin. I saw the leader, Mike Miller, spinning out in front at the hairpin and I managed to overtake him before he recovered.
We diced for a couple of laps and were doing a very good battle. At the chicane (a left-right, right-left combination) before the long, back straight, the tire barriers started opening up from the cars hitting them. That allowed us to go flat out after entering the first set of tires.
On our third lap, the chicane suddenly became tight and I never thought it would be like this. Mike and I entered it too fast and my car flew over the last tire barrier!
When my formula car landed, it made such a big impact that I thought something broke after the impact. Luckily, the car went straight, braked well and turned into the hairpin in the end. I knew I was lucky to escape such an impact and regained my composure.
However, I didn’t see Miller behind me and thought he must have had a problem. When I passed the chicane again, I saw Miller’s car on the side of the road and knew he had broken something when he went through the same tire barrier. I was really on the groove and was up to second overall and catching up with the leader.
But I saw the red flag come out.
I knew the red flag was for Miller’s stricken car and we all parked our cars in the grid of the main straight. When I came out, the whole crowd roared and I never experienced that before! People were shouting my name and making high fives. This was definitely the best time ever!
Red flag
After a long wait, we heard that the leader had to be taken to the hospital. The marshals told me that when my car hit the tires, one flew right in front of his face and they thought it knocked him out. This led to his car going to the side of the track and crashing the barriers. From experiencing a big high, I was now concerned for Miller.
When the officials’ decision came out to stop the race, I welcomed it wholeheartedly. I got third because of the count back of one lap from the official result. No one was in the mood to celebrate in the end as no one really knew the condition of Miller.
Finally, the organizers told us that Miller was in a coma after the crash and passed away after a week. I was stricken by grief and felt guilty over the race accident. I even thought that it could have been me that could have crashed if something broke in my car. I never saw Miller’s family to even extend my condolences as we were kept in the dark on his condition. I even asked myself if I could continue driving in such a dangerous sport or just hang up my racing gloves.
Thereafter, I campaigned intensively for reforms for track safety and marshal coordination in Subic. I also appealed to the AFOS organizers to make sure that the life of Mike Miller did not end in vain. I decided to go on and compete in the AF2000 and be the voice for safety. Next week, I will share more inside stories of this series and how it has changed my life forever.
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