Floirendo claims 2nd Yokohama GT victory

ROSARIO, Batangas, Philippines – As the competition leveled up, defending champion Vincent Floirendo captured his second straight victory recently in the third leg of the 2012 Yokohama Philippine GT Championship Series at the Batangas Racing Circuit here.

 Floirendo made the decisive move on the second lap to grab the lead for good and win the GT300 Final Race anew in this event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines and sponsored by Official Tires Yokohama, Official Oil Torco Racing Oil and Racing Beat@Wave 89.1.

Equally exciting was the kickoff of the Wind Formula Philippines 2012 – which could be best described as the entry level or beginner level for karters and circuit drivers who moved up to Formula Racing. 

Japanese drivers dominated the event with Kizuko Hirota winning the 10-lap race over runner-up Yousuke Yabushita and third placer Masamichi Kawai.

Actually, Jody Coseteng appeared headed for a sweep as he ruled the Sprint Race over runner-up Stefano Marcelo of Marcelo Racing and Floirendo, and controlled the early goings of the Final Race.

But Floirendo patiently stuck close behind until he found an open door to slip past Coseteng, posting the fastest laptime of 1:44.978. From thereon, the Davao-native started to pull away gaining a 0.1 of a second margin in each of the next three laps.

He completed 17 laps of racing in 29 minutes and 38.972 seconds with Coseteng and Marcelo checking in second and third while Jojo Silverio and Bobby Unson wound up fourth and fifth respectively.

However, Coseteng, Silverio and Unson got disqualified following infractions found after the race, giving Marcelo the overall runner-up finish.

Dwight Kevin Carlos copped the GT200 title over runner-up Peter Kim and Arnel Carlos while Allen Macaraig clinched the GT100 crown over Castrol-TRS driver Micky Kim

With the win, Floirendo grabbed solo leadership with 112 points, enjoying a slim four-point edge over Coseteng who’s in second with 108.  Marcelo is third overall with 100 points while the father-son tandem of Arnel and Dwight Kevin Carlos follow with 78 and 70 points respectively. 

Silverio, who missed action in the kickoff leg, is seventh overall with 36 behind sixth placer WillieTorres.

Sharing the spotlight with Floirendo was Carlos Castaneda who pulled a double victory in winning both the PHILMINIRACERS Classic Mini Racing 2012 and the 2012 VW Kafer Cup.

Castaneda topped the Class A division of the PHILMINIRACERS Classic Mini Racing 2012 over Marvin Enriquez and Solomon Picache and later emerged champion in the Class A category of the the 2012 VW Kafer Cup over Japs Javier and Daniel Castaneda.

Ferdie Raquel-Santos won the Class B division of the PHILMINIRACERS Classic Mini Racing 2012 over Jun Mallari and Anthony Jose while Borgy Zoleta bagged the Newbie crown.

Inaki Araneta clinched the Class B title of the 2012 VW Kafer Cup over Raymond Bayer and Armand Hipolito.

For further details, interested parties may contact the Batangas Racing Circuit c/o Nelson Gayola or Rodini Rivera at (632) 729-72 41-42, 729-5365 or fax 844-7766, Mobile # 0922 8858410 or like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ <http://www.facebook.com/>  Batangas Racing Circuit.