MANILA, Philippines — Edwin Rodriguez happily made do with a pair of runner-up finishes to fierce rival Paulo Ivan Santos but still clinched the Yokohama Grand Touring 200 overall title in the 2018 Petron Philippine Motorsports Championship series at Clark International Speedway recently.
The reward for a season’s hard work was all in the bag for Rodriguez after the first of the two-race closer.
With a 28-point lead over the younger of the father-and-son Santos tandem heading into the sixth and last session of the series, the irrepressible Rodriguez sewed it up by coming 10.378 seconds off the winning pace in 23 minutes, 7.858 seconds over 10 laps around the 4.2-kilometer circuit in his Honda FD machine.
Already the 2016 GT Driver of the Year (DOY), Rodriguez made Race 2 a virtual victory lap despite Santos’ resolute session sweep and season-best sixth triumph in the 12-race series.
Santos’ father Paul, in another Honda FD, settled for third place in both races and in the final overall tally with 118 points.