Not a single driver from Toyota Team Cebu (TTC) went home empty handed when the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) Philippine Cup celebrated its 10th season over the weekend. Across the 3 categories and 6 drivers, the team from the queen city of the south collected a total of 11 podium finishes and 1 race victory kicking off the year with bang.
Super Sporting Class
Making his Super Sporting Class debut, the reigning Sporting Class champion began the proceedings with a podium finish. Russel Cabrera in the #95 Vios OMR cup car started from P3 on the grid and attempted to improve on his position in Race 1. However, he sided with caution to stay in 3rd until the chequered flag dropped. His teammate Ian Rosales, on the other hand, lost several positions in the opening lap chaos but eventually caught up to finish 7th.
Russel immediately went for the gap in Race 2 and moved up from P4 to P1 in just a handful of corners. From then on, he never looked back to secure a win for TTC with a 1.329 secs margin. Sadly, Ian once again lacked in pace and couldn’t fight for position, later settling for 6th across the line.
Run in tricky wet weather conditions, Russel was once again in the lead fight during the 1.5 hour Endurance. He dropped to 2nd early on as he struggled with poor visibility. It was just unfortunate that he ran out of laps as he was closing in on the leader to secure 2nd place. Things finally came together for Ian in the #69 car and followed his teammate to the finish line in 3rd.
Sporting Class
It was a similar story for Jarond Mesina in Race 1, finishing where he started to take a well-deserved 2nd place in class. As for Carlo Suarez in the #22 TTC entry, he had a lot of work to do after qualifying dead last but salvaged 6th to collect valuable points for the team.
Race 2 should have been another podium for Jarond Mesina who worked hard to finish 2nd after losing several places at the start. However, he was later handed a hefty 15 secs penalty for overtaking under yellow flag and dropped to 4th place. But his misfortune was Carlo’s gain who was promoted from 5th to 3rd place after post-race penalties were handed out.
The Endurance was a team effort with Jarond and Carlo running in tandem. Both survived the tricky weather and ran flawlessly over the course of 1.5 hours to secure 2nd and 3rd places, respectively for TTC.
Promotional Class
New recruits Rex Abrenilla and Johndale Dy made strong impressions on their debut. After qualifying P4, Rex managed to fight his way up to 2nd by the end of lap 2 and land on the podium in Race 1. Johndale then trailed his teammate to the chequered flag to secure 3rd place.
Race 2 saw another brilliant performance from Rex in the #85 TTC entry. Despite carrying a 20 kg success ballast, he moved up 2 spots at the start and found himself chasing after the leader. But he came under attack in the closing stages and dropped a place to finish 3rd. Johndale wasn’t as lucky. His #71 car suffered a lot of damage after a big hit and was forced to retire on lap 8.
Rex wrapped up his dream debut with another podium. Although he lost P2 after spinning out while battling for the lead, he was able to rejoin and maintain 3rd all the way to the chequered flag. Meanwhile, Johndale was simply on survival mode after his earlier shunt and was pleased to take 5th.
Lord Seno, Team Manager: “The season opener of the TGR Philippine Cup was both exciting and nerve wracking. But the boys did well! We still stick to the same adage, correct constant practice makes perfect. Cliche as it may sound, that truly describes Toyota Team Cebu’s performance. Although it wasn’t a perfect weekend, we are on the right path to another strong season.”
Toyota Team Cebu is sponsored by Toyota Mandaue South, Standard Insurance, MMF Glass, 3M Protrade Industrial Corporation, Power Stroke Motor Products Corp., X1R, Viansons Auto Repair, Nature Spring Water, DEH Packaging, Marina Seafood, Marina Lechon, Solane LPG, Ubec Mags, AC Delco Batteries, Staging Lines Performance Shop, Suarez and Sons, Viboplace, Daily Driven Transport, Suarez Sterling, RDAK Transport, Salt+Fin Shirts, EZ Pavers, and MR Autoshop.
[Photos by James Morales Jr]
