Rodriguez, Santos in fast, furious battle

MANILA, Philippines — One of the fiercest battles for the premier Yokohama GT 200 national title in recent years comes to a close today and tomorrow when the concluding races of the 2019 Petron Philippine Motorsports Championships (Phimos) fire off at Clark International Speedway in Pampanga.

Defending champion Edwin Rodriguez, finally back on top of the standings after ruling Race 9 at the Batangas Racing Circuit last month, holds a precarious four-point lead over chief rival and Race 10 winner Paulo Santos heading into the season cap of the six-leg series.

Erstwhile leader Andre Tan fared no better than third place in the previous leg but stayed in the title hunt, 17 points behind Rodriguez and his Honda FD.

Justin Neri continued his amazing climb in the Yokohama GT 150 leaderboard, topping the last two races – his fifth and sixth of the last eight contests – in a Honda EG to move within 14 points of Lewy Manio. Russ Agapito lay 39 points behind in third.

Drew Manio extended his victory spree in the GT 100 class to sixth and all but clinched the championship going into the weekend’s races with an unbeatable 49-point lead over Carlo Angelo Mojica.

Veteran and runaway leader Fil Gulfin formalizes his title victory in the Classic Aspirated Cup in the races that also feature competitions in the Philminiracers Classic Mini Racing, Sparco Bracket Circuit Racing and Sparco Track Attack Challenge.