Tight finish seen in Phl touring car finals

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Touring Car Championship Series holds its championship leg this weekend with the battle for top honors in various divisions tipped to go down-to-the-wire at the Batangas Racing Circuit.

Willian Tan of 2GO-Promithium Racing Team and Leo San Juan of TRS-Nissan Commonwealth kept their hold of the lead in their respective categories after nine rounds of the series organized by Automobile Association Philippines and promoted by Philippine Race Car Driver’s Inc. and co-presented by Tiarra Commercial (Kumho Tires).

But with 60 points still up for grabs in Race 10, 11 and 12, the title race remains wide open in the event held in partnership with Seaoil Extreme 97, 2GO Travel, Speedlab, Forex, Promethium, Velocity Motors, Honda Cars Kaloocan and Aeromed Ambulance Transport.

Tan, who placed second and had two fourth places in the third leg, hiked his total to 122 points to retain the Division 1 (for 200hp cars) lead and stay on course for the coveted AAP Driver of the Year Award.

Defending champion Joey Pery of Forex and Uly Maningding of Explorer Motorsports are in second and third with 98 and 90 points, respectively.

In the event of a sweep by either Pery or Maningding in all three races, Tan needs to turn in a runner-up finish and two third places to assure himself of the overall Division 1 crown.

Taysan Mayor Dondon Portugal is in fourth overall with 76 points followed by Enzo Pastor of Circuit Showdown who moved to fifth with 74 points.

With them in the tough grid are the DKC Racing father-son duo of Arnel and Dwight Kevin Carlos, Joselu Romero-Salas, Dennis Uy of SEAOIL-Velocity Racing and Ramil Madriaga of IRM Racing.

The fight for the Division 2 diadem (for 150hp cars) is likewise expected to be tight with San Juan pooling 139 points for a nine-point advantage over Jeff Borja of DSR-Seaoil Racing

Team, who swept all three races in the last leg to seize second place with 130.

Douglas Maningding of Explorer Motorsports and Jon Mark Ong of Ethanworx Racing are also in strong contention for the Division 2 crown with 118 and 104 points, respectively, along with Allen Macaraig of Maptan Racing and Bayani Vargas of MP Turbo.

For the Division 3 title (for 100hp cars), it will be an equally exciting duel between frontrunning Alan Arguelles of Circuit Showdown

who pooled 105 points and Novice driver Paul Anguluan of Shift Racing who debuted with a sweep of the three Division 3 races last month.

For details, call AAP Motorsports at 655-5889 loc 823.