San Juan takes solo lead in touring car division 2 race

MANILA, Philippines - The battle for supremacy turned tougher as none of the top guns dominated the Division 2 races recently in the second leg of the 2012 Philippine Touring Car Championship Series (PTCC) at the Clark International Speedway.

Jeff Borja of Seaoil-Darkside Racing Team, Douglas Maningding of Explorer Motorsports and Leo San Juan of Nissan Commonwealth-Tuason Racing each nailed a win in separate races.

But the brewing rivalry between Maningding and San Juan is expected to make the coming races a lot hotter and tougher.

After winning Race 3 in the kickoff leg, Borja made it back-to-back in Race 4 as he controlled the tempo all the way before wrapping up the nine-lap race in 21 minutes, 59.240 seconds or 14.786 seconds ahead of runner-up John Mark Ong of Ethanworx Racing.

But San Juan and Maningding got equal attention after figuring in a collision that dragged them to third and fourth, respectively.  The incident resulted in a damaged rear fender on the Nissan Sentra of San Juan who was given a black and orange flag as the damage posed a big danger to other drivers.

Good thing, San Juan was spared of the stiffer sanction of getting disqualified as he made sure he finished ahead of Maningding.

Borja continued his domination in Race 5 until an engine problem blew up his bid for a three-race sweep. 

Maningding took that chance to glitter as he not only upstaged San Juan but also won the race, clocking 21: 42.836,  or 14.080 seconds ahead of San Juan.

Ong and Allen Macaraig of Maptan Racing checked in third and fourth as Borja eventually ended fifth.

Race 6 witnessed a more intense duel between San Juan who controlled the tempo in the first seven laps and Maningding who stuck quite close all the way.  Maningding found the open door to wrest the top spot on the eighth lap but San Juan unveiled a clean maneuver to regain his post and seize a narrow escape in Race 6 with a time of 22:1.954,  just 0.233 second ahead of Maningding.

It was a crucial win for San Juan who preserved his hold of solo leadership with 99 points,  17 points up on  Maningding  (82).  Jeff Borja is third overall with 70 with John Mark Ong just behind with 69.

The  event is organized by Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and promoted by Philippine Race Car Driver’s Inc. (PRCDI) and co-presented by Tiarra Commercial (Kumho Tires) in partnership with Seaoil Extreme 97, 2GO Travel, Speedlab, Forex, Promethium, Velocity Motors, Honda Cars Caloocan and Aeromed Ambulance Transport.

For more information on the PTCC, interested parties may call AAP Motorsports at 655-5889 loc 823.