Mendiola father-son pair vies in China off-road race

MANILA, Philippines - Veteran off-road driver Larry Mendiola teams up with his son, upcoming racer Hirryan, when Team Land Rover Philippines vies for glory in the second China Sanya Off-road Rainforest Challenge Aug. 18-24 in Hainan Island, China.

Mendiola brings along his protégé, who will serve as mechanic for the team seeking to improve on its fifth overall ranking in last year’s Sanya races. Father and son will join hands with Larry’s long-time co-driver Atoy Jamila, Rainforest Challenge (RFC) representative to the Philippines Robby Consunji and LR Philippines Motor, Inc. executive director Marc Soong, for this campaign.

“Hirryan feels more pressure than I do because it’s his first time (in the China event). But I’m excited and I feel we have a good chance of doing much better this time,” said Larry, who drove Team Land Rover RP to first place in the Electric Winch Category in the previous edition a year back.

Making the Filipinos upbeat about this quest is their new “Yellow Duck” vehicle, a Land Rover Defender 90 that’s powered by a 3.9 liter V8 petrol engine, which replaced the diesel-powered “Red Dragon” they used in 2009. Mendiola had utilized the “Yellow Duck” when the team placed eighth overall and first in the above 3,000 cc category at the RFC Malaysia in 2009.

“We’re using a vehicle that is comparable (to the opponents’) and as competitive already,” Consunji said of the Defender 90 that is designed to withstand the rigors of the toughest off-road competitions.

 “The car has been tested in Malaysia and now we know better what to do and when to do it.”

Team Land Rover Philippines expects tough competition from bets from China, Malaysia, Denmark and Russia in the event dubbed as the year’s biggest off-road extreme challenge.

“We have a great car and a great team. We look forward to representing the country again in this international event,” said Soong. “It’s an amazing sight to be in a foreign land and to see the Philippine flag flying behind the car as we always do. And in this sport, we Filipinos are very competitive and always finish on top.”