Korean driver eyes breakthru in Phl GT 2nd leg

MANILA, Philippines - South Korean Peter Kim of Team S-Oil Racing goes up against the country’s best circuit drivers in the second leg of the 2013 Philipppine Grand Touring Car Championship tomorrow at the Batangas Racing Circuit.

Kim hopes the vital adjustments done on his Hyundai Genesis will help boost  his bids for a first victory in the GT300 class . He is supported by S-Oil, Korea’s No 1 Super Oil, Eurostandard and Bridgestone under the management of Tuason Racing.

The South Korean created quite a stir when he emerged the biggest title threat for multi-titled champion Jody Coseteng, with the  no-show of defending champion Vincent Floirendo and Jojo Silverio,

“It’s a good start, but we’re still having problems with the Hyundai Genesis and being basically new in local racing, nobody yet knows the right set-up for the car. Every time we adjust the set-up, it’s either we go under-steering or over-steering,” Kim related.

 The Hyundai Genesis has a BT engine, which is actually a strong V6 engine that supposed to get going after the first five or seven laps. But S-Oil engine lubricant did wonders on the engine that despite 17 laps of racing, the water and oil temperatures were only 93/117 below that helped power Kim’s runner-up finishes.

“We’ve done tests to find the right set-up on the Hyundai Genesis. With the adjustments we made, we believe that our S-Oil race car now has stronger chances of beating all other opponents in the GT300,” he added.

Kim’s coach and Tuason Racing School president JP Tuason was surprised how he emerged a big revelation as Coseteng’s closest title rival as he credits S-Oil’s breakthrough racing formula and his training under the Tuason Racing School Race Career Management Program (TRS-RCMP) for his impressive GT300 debut.

 â€œNo one expected it but Kim proves his big potentials as we expect him to deliver a bigger show, hopefully by staging an upset victory over Coseteng this time,” said Tuason.

In the kickoff leg, the morning Sprint race saw Kim keeping close pace just 0.3 of a second behind Coseteng before winding up with the first runner-up honors finishing the 10-lap race just 0.184 of a second behind the champion.