The excitement and tension in the air was thick as the racers’ times were tabulated. In the end, only 0.87 seconds separated the top three teams. Team Manila Bulletin, composed of Anjo Perez, Aris Ilagan, Popong Andolong and Aaron Favila, who dominated both the first two rounds of this year’s season, again emerged victorious after Ilagan’s 1 minute 7.01 second run. Their team time was 03:19.91. Team C! Magazine headed by one-time Media Challenge Driver of the Year awardee James Deakin and composed of Angelo Puyat, Chris Van Hoven and Iñigo Roces had a team time of 03:20.62 to garner 2nd place. Team Philippine STAR/SPEED Magazine composed of veterans Manny de los Reyes, Andy Leuterio, Lester Dizon and Jeff Reyes (and fervently supported by team manager and Philippine STAR Business Motoring Section Editor Dong Magsajo) clocked the team time of 03:20.78 to claim the last podium position.
Team Manila Times/DZRH, composed of Vernon Sarne, Brian Afuang, Deo Macalma and Jess Garcia, placed 4th with a time of 03.21.10, while Team Top Gear (Mike Black, Chuck Kim, Ferman Lao and Susan Leonardo) placed 5th with an aggregate of 03:23.38. Capping off the teams who were awarded points for the round are Auto Review/Autoindustriya (03:26.53) and PDI/Daily Tribune/DZEC/Daily Mirror (03:30.58) who finished 6th and 7th, respectively.
For the individual standings, Manila Bulletin’s Anjo Perez ran in top form with the best time of the day 01:05.62, adding 30 championship points under his belt. Reyes of Philippine STAR clocked the time of 01:05.84 placing him second for the round, while rookie Roces’ time of 01:06.20 placed him in third. Chuck Kim (Top Gear Magazine, 1:06.32), Deakin (C! Magazine, 01:06.64), Brian Afuang (Manila Times, 01:06.73), Ferman Lao (Top Gear Magazine, 01:06.78), Jess Garcia (DZRH, 01:06.87), Ilagan (Manila Bulletin, 01:07.01), and Andolong (Business Mirror, 01:07.28) round up the round’s top 10 finishers. Making the day even more special was a visit from the PR managers of Asian Honda Motor Co Ltd, Ms. Nanako Kumamoto and Siriporn Ounkhum from Thailand.
The final results after four rounds stand with Manila Bulletin taking this year’s championship with 87 points after taking 1st place in Rounds 1, 2 and 4 and 3rd in Round 3. Philippine STAR/SPEED Magazine takes 2nd place with 84 points after finishing 3rd, 2nd, 1st and 3rd in the four legs. C! Magazine wrapped up 3rd place overall with 81 points after finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 2nd in the four rounds.
The four manual transmission-equipped Honda Jazz 1.5 VTEC racing cars performed beautifully throughout this season’s four highly competitive rounds under the hands of the hard-driving media competitors. Petron Xtra Unleaded provided the power needed by the racers to traverse the track while still providing excellent fuel efficiency. Goodyear NCT 5 tires fitted in the cars proved worthy of being the OE tires of the Honda Jazz 1.5 VTEC by providing excellent traction and handling in the varied track conditions of the series’ rounds.
The 7th season of the Jazz VTEC Media Challenge is presented by Honda Cars Philippines (Inc.) and supported by Petron Xtra Unleaded, Goodyear Tires, Igertech for the electronic timing, Nodalo’s Trading for the safety modifications, and Aitech for the stickers.
The Jazz VTEC Media Challenge is an invitational club event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines and is organized by ADBM Resources. For more information, please call ADBM Resources at (02)920-6921.