What’s significant about this kid is that he bested over 300 contenders at the Phoenix Young Drivers Program, a “talent search” of a kind which was organized by Phoenix Fuels to build up its Formula V1 team. Pulling in a massive line up of local young drivers from many motorsport disciplines like FlatOut Race Series, Toyota Vios Cup, Touge Battle, GT, karting, and more, Phoenix set its sights on Rabe, seeing the kid’s true potential to beat the competition and the odds on track.
“It is an absolute honor to be working with Phoenix as their driver for the 2019 Giti-Formula V1 Challenge because without Phoenix and Tuason Racing, I wouldn’t be where I am right now—for me this is a very amazing experience.” Shared Rabe after being handed the slot as team Phoenix’s only driver at this year’s Formula V1.
Come the opening round held last April, Rabe went all out, going head-to-head with the rest of the V1 grid which comprised of both amateur and seasoned drivers. “I was disappointed in myself at first, because before race 1 and QTT, my times in practice were pretty good—around 1:52 minutes. But when it came to the qualifiers, it went really high to 1:54 minutes. It gave me a bad spot on the grid. This resulted in me having to try and climb the ladder and get to at least 6th place, but unfortunately I spun out on the last lap and I wasn’t able to finish the race,” he said.
