Honda team's challenging spirit secures awards in Auto Rally

MANILA, Philippines - The Honda team bagged first place in the special stage run of Auto Rally held at the Pocholo Ramirez Subic International Raceway.

Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. recently joined Sunshine Television’s Auto Rally Corporate Challenge, an “on-time, all-the-time” motorsports activity that involves effective time management, driving and navigation skills to win the competition.

The Honda team composed of Turbo Time’s Mike Potenciano and Lindy Pellicer, C! Magazine’s Jason dela Cruz and JC Pulido, yugatech.com’s Abe Olandres and pinoytechblog.com’s Calvin Lo, Honda patrons Mark Rosca, Jeff de Leon, Nico Fernandez and Rodan Fernandez collectively finished the special stage closest to the given time of 1 minute and 20 seconds.

All novices in the auto rally discipline, members of the Honda team took the challenge to learn the techniques of the competition. “I was invited to join the 2010 Sampaguita TV Auto Rally Corporate Challenge. I said sure even though I had no idea how an auto rally works. It turned out to be one of the most mentally challenging but fun activities I have ever participated in,” said Calvin Lo. Understanding and developing the skills needed for this type of motorsports became more fun and easy under the kind guidance of 10-time National Rally Champion and Honda Cars Laguna General Manager Vip Isada.

Meanwhile, apart from the team award, the tandem award for the special stage was awarded to Honda patrons Mark Rosca and Jeff de Leon who rode the 2.0-liter CR-V. “We broke down the raceway into segments and set a target time per section. We particularly focused on the last stretch of special stage which was on a hairpin. We knew the CR-V pretty well and were very happy how agile it performed in the raceway,” said Mark Rosca. Also, the tandem of Nico Fernandez and Rodan Fernandez who rode the 1.8-liter Civic won one of the stages of the competition. “We were very fortunate to have Mr. Isada as our team advisor. We basically followed his advice. We paid more attention in completing the courses and focused on the time thereafter,” said Rodan Fernandez.

Taking inspiration from its founder Soichiro Honda, the Honda team bore the challenging spirit that led them into winning Auto Rally awards on its first undertaking. Honda’s famed challenging spirit and involvement in a wide range of motorsports has enabled the company to develop advanced products and technologies.