Second place at the Leopard Circuit came down to tire management for Axel Nocom, whose front-row duel with a factory-backed rival defined the final round of racing in Viterbo, Italy. The 14-year-old Filipino finished Round 3 of the Champions of the Future Academy behind WSK World Champion Niccolò Perico, a Mercedes Formula 1 Junior driver, after the two pulled clear of the entire field during Sunday’s Final.
Nocom lined up alongside Perico on the front row, and the pair wasted no time separating themselves from the pack, building a lead of more than six seconds. The Leopard Circuit, according to Time Attack Manila, punishes drivers who fail to manage tire wear across the race distance. Nocom’s aggressive early pace eventually cost him grip, and Perico slowly pulled ahead. The Filipino took the checkered flag 1.753 seconds behind the Italian, though he held a comfortable margin of 6.083 seconds over the third-place finisher.
Sunday’s strong showing followed a mechanical setback that had defined his Saturday. An engine fault on his #54 kart surfaced as the lights went out for Saturday’s Final, robbing him of pace and dropping him to a ninth-place result, 8.933 seconds adrift of race winner Perico. The team worked through the night to repair the problem, and the fix restored his competitiveness completely.
That turnaround was immediate on Sunday. Nocom qualified second, trailing Perico by only 0.162 seconds. In Heat 1, he tracked the Italian throughout to lock down second place. Heat 2 tested him further after a sluggish start dropped him to fourth; he clawed back to third but could not overhaul Poland’s Julia Angelard.
His path to Sunday’s promising position had run through adversity a day earlier. Saturday’s qualifying unraveled when a rival spun directly ahead of Nocom on his final flying lap, leaving him ninth on the grid. He rebuilt his weekend through the Heats, advancing to seventh in the first and surging from seventh to fifth in the second, results that lifted him to sixth for the Saturday Final.
The groundwork had been laid well before the racing began. Nocom arrived in Viterbo 10 days ahead of the event to study a circuit he had never driven, and the preparation showed during Friday’s practice, where he ranked fourth quickest among 31 drivers on one of the season’s toughest grids.
The runner-up result carries weight in the title fight. Nocom now sits second in the OK-N Junior championship standings at the midpoint of the 2026 season, 32 points behind leader Zoltan Coigny. His next outing comes at Round 4 in Spain, set for the Aspar Circuit on September 4/6, 2026.
Nocom’s program is backed by Mercedes Driver Development, Deseño MNL, Recaro Philippines, Ceramic Pro Philippines, DRIFT XAUST, DRIFT MOTOR Speedway, Ekartraceway, Kart Republic, Oasis Tech HK, Dri Plus Ph, Simagic, Apex Racing Philippines, Monza Barcade, Pregame Motorsport Merchandise, and DG Budget Hotel.
