Rodriguez chases third Driver of the Year title

MANILA, Philippines — Edwin Rodriguez sets out for a third Driver of the Year title in four years when the circuit car racing season of the 2019 Petron Philippine Motorsports Championships (Phimos) series fires off this weekend at the Batangas Racing Circuit.

The national champ in 2016 and 2018, Rodriguez is fancied to sweep the Yokohama Grand Touring 200 kickoff races against the likes of the father-and-son tandem of Paul and Paulo Ivan Santos, Andres Calma and Milo Rivera.

The younger Santos picked up six victories in 12 races last season, the most by any driver in the three-class GT series, but either conked out of or missed four other races to settle for second overall to the consistent Rodriguez and his Honda FD machine.