The victories proved the initial success of the high performance cars prepared by Autoplus and fueled with Vortex Gold, and Caltex Havoline’s partnership with Globe Telecom and Allied Domeque.
But that’s just the start of the struggles and bigger challenges ahead as Caltex Havoline expects a tougher fight in the second leg set April 27-28.
"We’re very elated with the rousing debut for the Caltex-Havoline team. The wins proved the superiority of their Havoline Fully Synthetic Motor Oil in the circuit through our ace drivers and the high performance cars," said Paul Familara, Caltex Philippines Product Category manager for Lubricants Sales and Marketing.
"But we also know the coming legs will be a lot tougher, and for sure, Coseteng will be the target of other drivers. We have to keep up with the challenge, and we will prepare harder for the second leg," he added.
The multi-titled Coseteng, carrying the colors of Caltex-Globe Telecom, did the unthinkable as he defied the odds of climbing up from 12th place twice into sweeping both races of the 2002 Blaze Super Saloon Series.
Aguilar, racing for Caltex-Havoline Beefeater, finished third and second in the Class C category of the SVI Challenge Cup while another Caltex driver, Patrick Mendiola, topped both races in the Novice division.
The newly-upgraded track notwithstanding, Coseteng showed his championship experience over his rivals. After a long hiatus staying in San Francisco for 10 years, the itch to race brought him back to the Philippines in 1995 and he became one of the big names in the local motorsports scene.
He bagged the Super Saloon Series crown back-to-back from 1995 and his streak went on in the next two years when he captured the N-1 Touring Car Championship in 1997-98.
And from 1999-2001, he proved himself the best driver when he held the Philippine National Touring Car championships for three years in a row.