Pery dominates kick-off stage of Phl touring car championship

MANILA, Philippines - Former champion Joey Pery of Forex put on a strong start as he won three of the four races to seize the early lead in the kick-off of the Philippine Touring Car Championship Series at the Batangas Racing Circuit in Batangas recently.

Pery, out to duplicate his Circuit Driver of the Year feat in 2010, upstaged his more experienced rivals in an action-packed battle, including defending champion William Tan of 2Go-Promethium Racing and six-time Hillclimb winner Carlos Anton, who foiled Pery’s sweep bid in the rain-drenched Race 3.

Still, it was a solid start for Pery, who pooled a total of 72 points, 14 ahead of Anton, who snatched the pole position using Ethanworks Civic FD racecar that clocked 1:53.825, a second off Pery and two seconds ahead of third placer Arnel Carlos of DKC Racing Team.

Anton actually dominated the first half of Races 1 and 2 but the veteran campaigner sustained mechanical problems, enabling Pery and his Honda Integra DC5 of Motul, to grab the lead all the way to victory.

Anton took the runner-up honors in Saturday’s Rounds 1 and 2, while the father-son DKC Racing Team tandem of Arnel and Dwight Kevin Carlos checked in third and fourth, respectively, in the event organized by the Automobile Association Philippines and promoted by the Philippine Race Car Driver’s Inc. and co-presented by Kumho Tires, Tiarra Marketing, Forex, Promethium, Velocity Motors and powered by Speedlab and Aeromed Ambulance Transport.  

Meanwhile, Alan Arguelles of Circuit Showdown and Bjorn Ongtiaobok of Tuason Racing School topped four races in Divisions 2 and 3. Ongtiaobok snatched two races against Ed Anguluan of Shift Racing, who was disqualified for failure to meet 100-horsepower reading in the dynamometer using Speedlab’s Dynapak Dyno machine.

A first-timer in PTCC races, Edwin Rodriguez maintained a consistent lap times and secured second place finishes using his modified Mazda 2. Also posting a first PTCC podium finish was lone female driver Yvanna Carangan of Tuason Racing School.

In Sunday’s rain-drenched races, Anton controlled the tempo in Round 3 against second placer William Tan of Promethium Racing Team who had five-position change against Pery, who finished third.

Round 4 turned into a head to head battle between Anton and Pery but a bumping incident involving the two forced Anton to pit-in, giving the lead to Pery. 

Stefan Ramirez, the SRA Racing Team lead driver and son of the late Kookie Ramirez, came out of nowhere to grab the lead from Pery. But he could only come closest at 0.783 of a second behind Pery, who wrapped up the 15-lap Round 4 in 30 minutes and 24.963 seconds.