A grade 4 student from Brgy. Sevilla garnered two first place trophies in the recent kart racing series sponsored by Petron, which was awarded to her at the Carmona Race Track in Cavite last June 6.

In her first official race, Jannah Isabella Celestine Krabbe-Cañete won Overall First Place in the 2020 Petron Motorsports Karting Academy (Cadet) and Overall First Place in the 2020 Petron Blaze 100 Super Karting Series (Cadet).

The round one of the racing series started last Mar. 8, 2020 in which the Petron Motorsports Karting Academy opened the Cadet category for 7 to 11 year-olds like Jannah. However, round two was postponed due to the pandemic and resumed only on Nov. 22 with IAME Philippines. On Dec. 19 and 20, rounds three and four with ROK GP Philippines started while round five with IAME resumed on Jan. 31, 2021. Finally, round six with ROK GP happened this June 6.

Currently, she is an aspiring racer under the Mercedes Driver Development Team. She is being trained by a former international racer Richard Peek, head coach.

According to her proud father Erwin, Jannah started to show interest for racing at a young age. When she was three years old, she told her father she wanted to race after seeing a red Ferrari sports car exhibited at a mall. He did not think much of it but at five, she was still extremely interested in racing as she watched related videos on YouTube. Eventually, they let her ride a kart for the first time and it was then when they saw her eagerness as she said, “Daddy, I want to race.”

“I said to her, at your age (5), hindi pa puwede, so sabi nya she can wait. Ang request namin sa kanya ay good results on school grades, tapos hindi magpapabili ng expensive gadgets, and respectful at honest sa amin. When she reached seven years old, pinayagan na siyang makaupo sa kart. Nag-practice siya nang nag-practice for a year hanggang sa nag-eight siya. Tapos noong March last year, pagkakataon niyang mag-race at sinali namin siya,” Erwin added.

Adding that her dream was to drive an F1 vehicle like the famous F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren, he gives this advice: “You can do so as long you reach your goal, step by step. At first, start with the karting race.”

“As a parent, gusto naming ma-experience ng anak namin ‘yung hindi namin na-experience kasi mahirap, ang mga bata ngayon kapag pinagbawalan mo baka mamaya magrebelde. At her age, marami kaming nakita na same age niya, kakaiba na kumilos, kakaiba nang mag-respond sa mga parents. So as much as possible, at least we still remind her na kailangan mong rumespeto at kailangan mong maging honest.”

“Huwag niyong pigilan ang pangara ng mga anak niyo, support lang hangga’t kaya. Turuan sila nang tama at alagaan lang sila,” the senior Cañete advised coming from his experience as a supportive father.

Congratulations, Jannah! Continue making our city proud and continue being a role model to our younger kakabsat. Just like the determination you showed, we also hope that every resident of the city would be determined to do well in their respective fields so we can all rise up as one #SanFernandoTayo.

Photo credit: Jannah Isabella Celestine Krabbe-Cañete