Rallying is one of the few motorsport disciplines that are so mesmerizing to watch yet so hard to get to. But to spare us from traveling long distances just to make it to the stages, the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and the Philippine Rallycross Series (PHRX) is brining the sport into the city with the Jun Espino Memorial Rallycross.
They’ve managed to secure the CCP Open Grounds in Pasay City for the special one-day event and will build a 2.0 km dirt stage right at the heart of the Philippine capital. It will be run as Round 4 of the 2024 Philippine Rallycross Series and expect around 60+ competitors to line up at the starting gate on the 6th of April 2024.
Timed runs will start at 9:00 AM and run ’til the wee hours of the night. Surely, it will be a spectacle to watch rally cars race against the clock at such a close proximity, especially when they have their lights ablaze in the dark.
“Back in 2014, PHRX founder Olson Camacho was requested by Mandy Eduque and the late Jun Espino to revive rallying. Just two years later, they were able to run their first rallycross event. From zero, there is now over 45 rally-prepared cars in the country ready to take part in both rally and rallycross. After several years of under observation by AAP Motorsports, we finally sanctioned their events in 2022 up to the present,” shared Rikki Dy-Liacco, Head of AAP Motorsports.
The Jun Espino Memorial Rallycross was conceived to celebrate the Philippine rally legend who sadly passed away in 2019. Competing as far back as the ’70s, he was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, rally co-drivers in the country as regarded by his driver Mandy Eduque. When their rally days were over, both found their ways in the AAP as officiators.
Perfectly timed to coincide with the 2024 Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) that’s taking place just across the street, staging such a historic event would surely drum up more noise for Philippine motorsports.
For more info, follow the Philippine Rallycross Series page and AAP Motorsport page on Facebook.
