INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines--Juha Turalba of Ready2Race wound up as top Filipino finisher with two podium finishes in the kickoff of the 2010 Pagcor KF2-KF3 Cup Series recently at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Showing consistency and maturity in his racing skills, the 15-year-old Turalba emerged runner-up in Race 1 and second runner-up in Race 2 against foreign rivals.

A 10th grader at the International School Manila, Turalba is being supported by Tuason Racing School.

Starting out fourth on the grid, Turalba, the 2008 Asian Karting ROK champ, took the cudgels for the Philippines after ace karter Stefano Marcelo took an early exit.

In Race 1, Turalba surged past Japanese Reo Takahashi on the eighth lap and kept the post until the 16th lap.

Takahashi got back on top with four laps to go but was tested to the hilt as Turalba checked in 14 minutes and 29.518 seconds, just 0.209 of a second behind the Japanese.

?The competition was tough but it?s great to be very competitive in the beginning of the season,? said Turalba. ?I am looking forward to a strong performance this year. It will be a challenging year but I will strive to be at the top.?

Race 2 proved to be a bigger challenge for Juha as he had to start 11th following a frustrating time trials. But he worked his way up, running a fast laptime of 43.696 seconds to wind up sixth in the qualifying round.

Turalba quickly passed two karters at the start of the final race and hit his fastest laptime of 43.583 seconds to climb to third on the fourth lap to wind up close behind Marcelo and Takahashi after the 20-lap race.