Coseteng, also backed by Red Horse, has a decent start in Round 7 but the extra 70 kilogram handicap proved uncomfortable that he came into a neck-and-neck battle with Ramirez in the first three laps.
Luckily, Ramirez committed a costly mistake of hitting the tires at the bus stop on the next lap and had to pass through the penalty drive thru. As Ramirez slipped to fourth, Coseteng built a wide margin over the rest of the pack on the sixth lap and his seventh straight triumph in the SVI Super Saloon Series was clearly inevitable.
Coseteng was on the verge of an eighth straight win with a wide margin over Ramirez with merely three laps to go when race marshals found him to have hit the tires at the bus stop – forcing him to negotiate the penalty drive thru. Ramirez then claimed the win.
When he came back on track, he slipped to third place – giving Ramirez the distinction as the first driver to beat Coseteng this season.
"I’m still happy with the runner-up finish. I won’t question the call of the marshals but what’s important is, the series is becoming more exciting as the other guys are fast catching up," said Coseteng after the race.
"I should give credits to the other drivers for their hardwork. That provided a new challenge for Caltex Havoline and Autoplus. We realized that we should not be contented with our car set-up and how we’re doing now. We could still do better and hopefully we could break into the 1:28 laptime barrier," he added.
Despite the loss, Coseteng still enjoys a wide margin over his rivals and remained confident he will still capture his fourth straight SVI Super Saloon crown.
Overall, the weekend still proved fruitful for Caltex Havoline-Autoplus behind the strong finishes of team captain Oscar Aguilar, Peewee Mendiola and six-time motocross Rider of the Year Glenn Aguilar who proved equally talented in circuit racing.
Oscar Aguilar, Glenn’s father, bagged a 2-2 finish in the class C division of the SVI Challenge Cup and even took the overall third place honors in Round 8.
Mendiola also wound up second twice in the Novice division of the SVI Challenge Cup while Glenn, on his first major circuit race, ended third twice in the Novice class and claimed the overall third place in Round 7 of the SVI Challenge Cup.
"Despite Coseteng’s loss, we’re still very satisfied with the team’s strong finish this weekend. It has brought about a new chapter in the quest for the crown, and both Caltex Havoline and Autoplus, together with Red Horse will come up with adjustments to live up to the challenge," said Paul Familara, Caltex Philippines product category manager for lubricants sales and marketing.