Racing to the top — together

Who holds the steering wheel in this couple’s lives?

In Philippine motorsports, two names are at the forefront of its accelerated growth and development today: the indefatigable husband-and-wife team of JP Tuason and Jeanette Ipapo Tuason, the driving force behind the Tuason Racing School.  They are on a mission to take Philippine racing to the top.

JP Tuason was already enjoying a celebrated and multi-awarded career in motorsports before shifting gears as an entrepreneur. At age 13 he had garnered numerous title finishes in karting before moving up to rallycross, touring cars and the prestigious Formula 3 circuit both here and across Asia. He also received further training from top racing schools as Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, and he is the only certified Filipino BMW M driver trainer.

Jeanette, a mother of five and a motoring journalist, is equally responsible for Tuason Racing School’s diversification into new areas, with her entrepreneurial spirit and keen understanding of the ins and outs of the racing industry.

“From being perceived as an elitist sport, we want to make racing accessible to people,” says Jeanette, vice president for marketing and business development of TRS and JP’s real life “racing partner.” “We aim to provide world-class training so that the Filipino racer can be at par with other race car drivers all over the world.”

Empowered by this mission, TRS, which was  founded in 1999, offers core Race Training classes in Basic Circuit Racing, Basic Karting, Formula Car Testing and High Performance Driving. Among its well-known graduates are  lawyer Mike Toledo, Cito Beltran, Gaby dela Merced, Michele Bumgarner, Rhian Ramos and Sam YG.

“We have trained everywhere in the world and collaborated with other racing schools so that our graduates will have access to all opportunities,” Jeanette says. “Our vision is to eventually have our drivers compete on equal footing skill-wise with first-world countries.”

From this and along with the increasing popularity of their racing classes, expansion to racing team management, events management and team building sessions for corporate clients became inevitable. This included a California Superbike School for riders and motorcycling enthusiasts in partnership with CSS founder Keith Code of the US, and a classroom and hands-on educational program that focuses on road safety and defensive driving training.

Perhaps, their most popular local racing event is the Vios Cup, along with other exciting races like the Ford Focus Cup, the Marlboro Red Rush, the Ford Fiesta Cup and Smart Addict-Ford Lynx. Now on its fourth season, the Vios Cup has been attracting celebrities and novice drivers alike, and has become a much-anticipated event in the country.

As their way of giving back, road safety has been one of their key advocacies, to “create better drivers on the road and on the track.” To date, over 20,000 drivers have attended JP’s driver safety seminars in the last eight years. They do road safety seminars in schools, for corporate fleets and even PUV drivers, says Jeanette.

The next exciting stage in TRS’ diversification is the introduction of the Formula V1 race car, outfitted with a 1.5-liter engine with 110 horsepower, with a top speed of 200 kph, a single seater, kit race car assembled in the Philippines in partnership with West Race Cars Japan. The same cars are popularly raced in Japan with similar race series being introduced in China and Taiwan.

Indeed, the success of the Tuason Racing School is very much the result of the passion and dedication of JP and Jeanette and the support they provide each other. And as TRS continues to grow, so goes Philippine motorsports as it steadily takes the lead in the region and beyond.

Now, let’s just say JP has the wheel, but Jeanette is his GPS.

(For more information on Tuason Racing School, visit www.tuasonracing.com.)

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A night of beautiful music with Ingrid

The First Pacific Leadership Academy, the premier corporate university of the country, recently transformed the Meralco Theater into a magnificent stage of mesmerizing play of lights in hues of yellow, blue, red and green, adding depth and mystery to the heritage that it is.

As a culminating celebration of the academy’s fifth anniversary, a brilliant performance of renowned pianist Ingrid Sala Santamaria was held.

For one rare night, Santamaria breathed new life and energy into the most beautiful and romantic pieces with Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 2. Santamaria is both a musical genius and a wonderful storyteller, as she allowed the captivating energy of her musicality share the amazing tales through the piano keys.

Under the baton of Prof. Arturo Molina, with the Manila Symphony Orchestra, all 1,034 guests went home inspired by the magnificent and breathtaking performance.

FPLA general manager and executive director Roy Agustin Evalle shares, “When we invited Ingrid Sala Santamaria, we wanted to inspire the audience to experience the facets of the diversity of a person. Her unparalleled talent and passion for her craft is something that we want everyone to take in, have the experience move them to want to be better for the organizations they lead.”

Ricky Vargas, president of the board of trustees, says, “The academy stays true to the mandate of our illustrious chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, that we develop excellent leadership, innovation and need-specific HROD programs that encourage leaders and future leaders to look beyond the organizations they lead.”

(For the complete schedule of events, contact Philip Inigo N. Canizares at [email protected], 0908-8854187 and 696-3051 loc. 893. For FPLA’s upcoming programs and activities, visit www.fpacademy.net.)

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