CEBU, Philippines — It was an eventful weekend for Toyota Team Cebu as three of their drivers landed in key podium spots to garner enough points to win the team championship in Leg 3 of the biggest motorsports event in the country, the Toyota Vios Cup Racing Series Season 5.
Clive Fermin won Race 6 of the Promotional Class and followed it up with a 4th and 2nd place finish in Race 7 and 8, giving the team a comfortable margin over nearest rivals Toyota JBT Isabela and Toyota Balintawak Obengers.
Team Captain Lord Seno consistently finished in the podium in the Sporting Class finishing 4th in Race 6, 4th in Race 7 and 5th in Race 8.
Robert “Bobby” Pangilinan also finished in 2nd place in Race 6 and was leading in Race 8 when he was bumped from behind and fell to 5th. Pangilinan recovered to 5th place but engine failure retired his car with one lap to go.
“Going into the last leg, we were confident we would get the team championship. It wasn’t easy as Sean (Velasco), our 3rd driver, was struggling to find pace in the Super Sporting Class. But our trio was ahead of the standings by a comfortable margin, having won the best team award in leg one and runner up to Toyota Team Cebu 2nd trio (Calderon, Suarez, Currie) in Leg 2. We just had to help each other. Clive and I just had to score the crucial points to win it, ” Seno said.
Clive Fermin now stands on top of the sheet and is poised to win the Overall Promotional Class Championship pending official tabulation and official results by the organizer. Lord Seno, on the other hand, becomes 1st runner up to Team Obengers Champion John Dizon.
Team Manager John Velasco said, “I am very proud of this team. This is a team made out of friendship and camaraderie. We did not do this overnight. It took us four big years to go this far and we worked extra hard for this. The team went to the last leg hungry for this win”.
Cebu ace driver Jette Calderon had a good start qualifying in 5th. “I had the pace to bring the car to the front. But during the races, I found it difficult to get free of the battling cars in the mid-pack. I got bumped and it dropped me to 12th, Calderon said.
“We would like to thank everybody who supported us from the supporters to the sponsors, Toyota Cebu, the team. Without them, there would be nothing to drive us to win!" Seno eded. (FREEMAN)