Last week, we dared our readers to beat Michele Bumgarner in a driving contest using the all-new Mazda 3 Skyactiv. Aspiring participants who were up to the challenge had to join a virtual racing contest on PlayStation.
The qualifying leg happened over the weekend at Mazda Alabang, Mazda Greenhills and Mazda Pasig. And the results have been tallied. Below is the list of the top 30 qualifiers and their official times. Note that several participants who posted faster times than some of the people on the list were deemed ineligible because they either did not have a passport or were discovered to have raced in a motorsports event. (Read the requirements here: Can you beat Michele Bumgarner in an all-new Mazda 3 Skyactiv?)
The marshals painstakingly went through the forms filled out by participants who posted the fastest times. They verified whether a participant holds a passport valid until February 2015. This is to make sure that in case the driver beats Michele Bumgarner this coming June 21st, he or she can claim the prize, which is a trip to Sonoma, California, on August 21-25 to watch a Road To Indy race. During this filtering process, several participants were disqualified.
The names of the qualifiers were then sent to Automobile Association Philippines, as well as to the organizers of various local races (including Circuit Showdown) to check if these participants had been issued racing licenses or had participated in an organized motorsports event in the past. More names were then dropped from the list.
Finally, the official 30 participants underwent a workshop today at the Mazda Training Center in Makati. Check out the photos below after the video.
Now, if you missed the qualifying leg or failed to qualify, you are still invited to join the fun on June 21 at SM Mall of Asia (Block 12 parking area), starting at 8am. In the meantime, enjoy our video of the qualifying round.
| Category A qualified drivers | |||
| Rank | Name | Best lap | Mazda dealership |
| 1 | FERDINAND GULLE JR. | 01:48.868 | PASIG |
| 2 | PAOLO ALCANCE | 01:48.953 | ALABANG |
| 3 | JAN MILLARD LACUNA | 01:50.180 | GREENHILLS |
| 4 | LUIS MORENO | 01:51.715 | GREENHILLS |
| 5 | ALDRE ROSS SOLIVET | 01:52.517 | ALABANG |
| 6 | JASON CHUANG | 01:53.114 | GREENHILLS |
| 7 | RAMON RICARDO HERMOSO | 01:54.333 | ALABANG |
| 8 | GUSTAVO FERNANDES | 01:54.455 | PASIG |
| 9 | JESUS SAAVEDRA JR. | 01:55.050 | GREENHILLS |
| 10 | ARSHED MATTEW ROSALES | 01:55.168 | GREENHILLS |
| 11 | JAYPE LANIOG | 01:55.213 | GREENHILLS |
| 12 | ARAN JOEL SILVESTRE | 01:55.283 | ALABANG |
| 13 | RACHEL SARMIENTO | 01:55.407 | ALABANG |
| 14 | FRANCIS THOMAS ZAMORA IV | 01:55.610 | PASIG |
| 15 | RAYMUND VICTOR AGUILAR | 01:55.639 | ALABANG |
| 16 | MARTIN VILLAFLOR | 01:55.761 | ALABANG |
| 17 | DAVID GONZALEZ |
01:55.902 | PASIG |
| 18 | ELLJAY MUTUC | 01:55.913 | ALABANG |
| 19 | DARYLL DAVID | 01:55.923 | GREENHILLS |
| 20 | GENESIS MARFIL | 01:56.036 | ALABANG |
| 21 | BRIAN CHING | 01:56.248 | GREENHILLS |
| 22 | RICHARD NATIVIDAD | 01:56.387 | ALABANG |
| 23 | MARK FLORES | 01:56.917 | PASIG |
| 24 | IRWIN KEVIN CARPIO | 01:57.402 | GREENHILLS |
| 25 | FRANCISCO CARPIO | 01:57.712 | PASIG |
| 26 | TIM MELENDREZ | 01:57.914 | GREENHILLS |
| 27 | NATHAN DOMINIC RIVERA | 01:59.917 | ALABANG |
| 28 | KIT STEPHEN AGAD | 01:59.976 | PASIG |
| 29 | VON TRISTAN SANTIAGO | 02:00.700 | ALABANG |
| 30 | DIEGO SEBASTIAN CARDENAS | 02:01.202 | GREENHILLS |
If you're viewing this on a mobile device and can't see the video, please click here.
