Floirendo fans bid for Yokohama crown

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion Vincent Floirendo humbled Jody Coseteng to score a sweep and stay on course for back-to-back crown in the fifth leg of the Yokohama Philippine GT Championship Series at the Batangas Racing Circuit in Rosario, Batangas recently.

The victory enabled the Davao native to gain a share of the lead with Coseteng for the GT300 crown at 217 points even as he regained the top spot in the hunt for the coveted GT Driver of the Year award.

Floirendo swept both the 10-lap Sprint race and the 17-lap GT Main Finals to overhaul an 11-point deficit and re-claimed the No.1 spot with a four-point lead against Coseteng, setting up a battle royale in the championship leg set Oct. 9 at the Clark International Speedway.

Jojo Silverio begged off from the race due to personal reasons while rookie Stefano Marcelo failed to have his car fixed in time, leaving Floirendo and Coseteng to slug it out for top honors.

Floirendo, however, turned the race into a lopsided affair, pulling away from Coseteng after each lap en route to ruling both races for a perfect 60-point haul.

Running with a fast laptime of 1:46.358, he wrapped up the Sprint race in 17 minutes and 47.573 seconds or 12.093 seconds ahead of Coseteng.

Coseteng tried to bounce back in the Final race but Floirendo pulled away again with a faster laptime of 1:46.019 to complete 17 laps of action in 30:05.853 or 23.146 seconds ahead of Coseteng.

Bobby Unson checked in third in both races with Arnel Carlos and Taysan Batangas Mayor Dondon Portugal finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines and sponsored by Official Tires Yokohama, Official Oil Torco Racing Oil and Racing Beat@Wave 89.1.

Arnel Carlos also pulled a sweep to capture the GT200 crown over his son Dwight Kevin and Korean Micky Kim of TRS Castrol Racing Team.