#VROOMPANES, Toyota rewrites Philippine motorsport history with the Vios Cup

MANILA, Philippines - The hash tag “#boompanes” has been going around social media of late, a play on the expression, “boom panis,” which is the Filipino equivalent of “in your face.” Toyota Motor Philippines executed the motorsports equivalent of that expression (vroompanes) and showed everyone else who’s boss with the successful holding of the first two races of the 2014 Toyota Vios Cup at the Clark International Speedway last Saturday. Toyota rocked the motorsport scene to the core as 30 Vios racing cars lined up on the grid making it the largest grid in Philippine motorsports history. Jason Choachuy (# 37) of Toyota Balintawak ended up taking victory in Race 1 and Allan Uy (#66) of Toyota Quezon Avenue in Race 2 to score strategic points advantage in the eight-race series (4 legs).

Fifteen-year old karter and racing phenom Luis Gono (# 17) of Toyota North EDSA was the clear favorite to sweep the two opening races by securing a scorching qualifying lap some 0.7 seconds faster than anyone else. However, his race didn’t go as smoothly. During Race 1, Choachuy and Uy kept a similar race pace to Gono. Eventually, Choachuy piled enough pressure on Gono allowing him to overtake. Gono fought hard trying to overtake Choachuy and clipped the leading Vios’s rear bumper. In the resulting dogfight, Uy ended up in the race lead at one point. Still, Choachuy managed to cross the line without his rear bumper to take a well-fought Race 1 win. Gono crossed in second and Uy third. Adding injury to insult, Gono was handed a 10-place grid penalty in Race 2 by the FIA/AAP track stewards for his racing accident with Choachuy.

Starting in the order they finished in Race 1, Choachuy, Uy, Basti Escalante (# 77) of Toyota Otis, and Inaki Araneta (# 23) of Toyota Alabang stormed ahead of the pack. Uy managed to get better of Choachuy and overtook the Race 2 pole sitter. However, the man who was on the move was Gono who quickly stormed from 12th place. Using skill, determination, and a great start, he quickly made his way up to 6th place in just the opening set of laps. After that, a series of carefully executed overtaking maneuvers enabled him to eventually take up 3rd place. At the front, Choachuy managed to reovertake Uy going into Turn 1, but the FIA/AAP track stewards deemed the pass illegal since it was done under a yellow flag because of Ira Panganiban (# 2) of Autocar Philippines’s stricken race car. The ten-second penalty meant that Uy won the second race even though Choachuy crossed the finish line first.

Aside from the Vios Cup racers, Toyota Motor Philippines invited five celebrities: Rhian Ramos (#8), Sam YG (# 6), Fabio Ide (# 11), Phoemela Baranda (# 12), and Jinno Rufino (#10) and five media personalities: Manny delos Reyes (# 7) of The Philippine STAR, Anjo Perez (# 4) of The Manila Bulletin, Ardie Lopez (# 9) of C! Magazine, Christopher Kho (#5) of TimeAttackManila, and Ira Panganiban to join the historic grid. Baranda proved that she can race well against the boys taking home the Celebrity Division win, while Kho’s youth and speed enabled him to scoop top honors in the Media Division.

Apart from the Toyota Vios Cup one-make race, Toyota Motor Philippines invited the “Drift King” himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya, to hold a drifting demonstration behind the wheel of a bone-stock 86 sports car. Tsuchiya also held a meet-and-greet session just before the awarding ceremony while rock band Itchyworms closed the day’s festivities with a concert.

Toyota Motor Philippines hopes to replicate the success of the first round of the Toyota Vios Cup with the remaining two rounds. The tentative schedule of the 2014 Toyota Vios Cup is as follows: Round 2 (Races 3 and 4), July 26; Round 3 (Races 5 and 6), October 18, both at the Clark International Speedway.

“In starting the Vios Cup, it is our sincerest wish to provide a platform for Filipinos to excel in this sport. This is because I truly believe there are a lot of people who have a natural love for speed as well as the necessary talent to compete on a global level. However due to the lack of support and expensive costs to sustain a team, it becomes a hurdle for success. In launching the Vios Cup we are addressing these issues with a cost-efficient program that focuses on driver development and basic motorsports knowledge to mold racing skills of Filipinos. Through the Vios, the bestselling model in the country, customers can experience the thrill of racing through this very fun and safe vehicle. Moreover, I guarantee that this event will be backed by the necessary promotions to help this sport gain more popularity in the country. Though this dream may seem grand, today has been marked as the start of our journey to relive the excitement of racing in the Country! Today we aim high and begin to ascend in the world of motorsports,” said Michinobu Sugata, president of Toyota Motor Philippines.

Based off the run-of-the-mill Vios 1.5G M/T, the Vios Cup car is converted into an OMR (One-Make Racer) with several TRD modifications including TRD clutch cover, clutch disc, limited slip differential, sport brake pads, muffler set, upper front mount, suspension kit, and roll cage. The Vios Cup cars are fitted with Bridgestone high-performance tires, Rota lightweight racing alloy wheels, Denso Iridium sparkplugs, protected by Motul oils and lubricants, and fitted with OMP safety equipment.