It’s an understatement to say that motorsports is a male-dominated sport. But on rare occasions, a female talent does shine through such is the case of Bella Krabbe-Cañete who enjoyed the sweet taste of victory in the Indonesian Drift Series on her very first attempt.
Hailing from San Fernando in La Union, Bella first got into racing at the age of 7 with go karts. And in just a few years, she was able to achieve some success and secured the Cadet Expert Championship and Cadet Karter of the Year titles in 2021. However, after realizing that her heart was not really in karting, she made the switch to cars and took up drifting in 2023. And with barely 4-session’s worth of practice under her belt, Bella decided to enter her-ever first real drifting competition… overseas.
Accompanied by her dad Erwin and mom Joni, the 12-year-old lady driver enlisted herself in the Women’s Drift Challenge which was a female-only category in the Indonesian Drift Series. They then arrived at the J99 Maxx Drift Circuit (an hour away from the capital of Jakarta) a week ahead of the event to give Bella enough time to practice. Not only was this her first time driving with the steering wheel on the right, but also a first to drive with a naturally-aspirated engine in the form of a BMW 3 Series E36.
After spending 3 days behind the wheel, Bella was ready for action.
Bella contested in what was Rounds 5 and 6 of the Indonesian Drift Series held back-to-back. Saturday began with a driver’s briefing done in Bahasa Indonesia, forcing the young Filipina driver to digest what she can from the diagrams. Thankfully, she understood just enough to survive the rest of the weekend.
All competitors in the Amateur Class were only given an hour’s worth of practice to master the figure-of-8 track. There were 6 clipping points in total, where a point was awarded per successful clip plus 5 additional points given for transitions. Focusing simply on getting a clean run, Bella drove flawlessly and secured a surprise 1st place in Qualifying. This advanced her into the Semi Finals with 3 other female drivers. But as the top qualifier, Bella only need to do a Bye Run and automatically moved into the Finals. Mirroring her earlier performance, the 12-year-old delivered yet another stellar run with the front wheels on full opposite lock and the rears leaving a trail of smoke. To her surprise, as the day came to an end, Bella was awarded a hard-fought yet unexpected 1st place in the Women’s Drift Challenge.
Round 6 on Sunday was a near-repeat for Bella who again secured the top spot in Qualifying. She also aced the Semi Finals and looked good for another win. But then, it rained. With no prior experience drifting in the wet, Bella had butterflies in her stomach leading up to the Finals as she didn’t know what to expect. This ultimately lead her to committing an uncanny mistake as she touched a cone that deducted 4 points from her tally. Despite the penalty, Bella was lucky to still come home with a spot on the podium and secured 2nd.
Bella Krabbe-Cañete: “I learned a lot from the weekend and met wonderful people. It was not just about drifting as I also learned about myself too. Thank you to everyone who supported me, my parents, my family my coaches, and my team. Of course I couldn’t have done it without God. I know what I need to do now and what I will work on next. I will keep aiming high and continue to work hard to achieve it.”
[Photos by Bong Boado]