2015 Vios Cup Leg 1 report: The official race results

The second season of waku-doki has begun. Once again breaking the country's motorsports record for the largest grid, the 2015 Vios Cup season-opener had 41 cars on the starting grid of Clark International Speedway last Saturday (March 21). It's even bigger than last season's record of 37 cars!

If you think 40 cars is a lot, Toyota Motor Philippines aims for a much bigger grid in the coming legs. The Japanese carmaker hopes to assemble 50 Vios Cup cars on the track within the season.

Because only 35 cars are allowed to compete at a time, the racers had to be divided into two categories: the sporting class and the promotional class. The former was made up of the top half of the regular racers, while the latter included the celebrities and the other regulars who didn't make the cut for the sporting class. Each category had two race heats, each having 12 laps.

The event kicked off with the first heat of the promotional class. Last year's celebrity champ Sam YG was in pole position, but he quickly lost his advantage when he and fellow celebrity racer Jinno Rufino crashed at the first turn. This gave Phoemela Baranda the opportunity to be the leader of the pack and to eventually snag first place. Miguel Diaz was close behind her in second place.

The second heat of the promotional class saw Sam YG redeeming himself and overtaking Baranda, thus earning for himself the titles of Best Male Celebrity Driver and Overall Celebrity Driver. The consistently fast Diaz was first to cross the finish line, earning the title of Class B champion, which meant the regular racer who led the field in the promotional class. Baranda, on the other hand, fell to fifth place in the second heat, but took home the title of Best Female Celebrity Driver.

Toyota San Fernando's Pauland Dumlao, who also raced in the 2014 Vios Cup, was pole-sitter for the first heat of the sporting division. He and first-time Vios Cup racer Estefano Rivera of Toyota Alabang raced head-to-head. Dumlao crossed the finish line first, but was relegated to second place due to a penalty. Rivera was then declared the first-placer. Dumlao wound up in second place, followed by Andres Calma in third. These top drivers proceeded to each carry an extra weight of 30kg, 20kg and 10kg, respectively, for the second heat.

The extra weight seemed to drag Rivera down, as he was not able to score another podium finish. Meanwhile, Dumlao had a comfortable lead for several laps, letting everyone else eat his dust until 17-year-old Daniel Miranda started reducing the gap between himself and Dumlao.

The teenage driver ultimately recorded the fastest lap time, and by the ninth lap, the track spectacle put the crowd on the edge of their seats.

With only three laps remaining, Dumlao and Miranda were scuffling for first place. When the checkered flag was waved, Dumlao, who drove a car 20kg heavier than his pursuing rival, made it to the finish line first. Despite crossing the finish line second, Miranda was demoted to third place after having initiated contact with Dumlao's car. Allan Uy, the third driver to cross the finish line, was thus promoted to second place.

Check out the official race results at the bottom.

Photos by Mikko David

 

2015 Vios Cup Leg 1 (Promotional Class)
Heat 1 (Started at 12:30:17)
Pos	Car no.	Name	Laps	Total time
1	12	Phoemela Baranda	12	42:36.212
2	96	Miguel Diaz	12	42:36.944
3	24	JV Ejercito	12	42:48.646
4	44	Alfie Concepcion	12	42.49:456
5	33	Tonton Ramos	12	42:49.898
6	21	Jeje Villena	12	42:51.015
7	68	Bombi Palilio	12	43:06.333
8	19	Juan Nolasco	12	43:16.097
9	69	Roy Bunag	12	43:19.972
10	7	Joyce Pring	12	43:20.409
11	14	Derek Ramsay	12	43:27.409
12	22	Tomohiro Iwamoto	12	43:29.225
13	2	Jasmine Curtis-Smith	12	43:36.441
14	3	Michinobu Sugata	12	43:48.189
15	4	Kylie Padilla	12	44:12.865
16	6	Sam YG	10	44:31.594
17	35	Sherwin Hing	9	43:21.446
18	10	Jinno Rufino	7	44:29.164
DNF	8	Rhian Ramos	1
Not classified
DQ	67	Arthur de Jong	12	42:45.7
Heat 2 (Started at 17:05:44)
Pos	Car no.	Name	Laps	Total time
1	96	Miguel Diaz	12	42:36.212
2	33	Tonton Ramos	12	42:36.944
3	6	Sam YG	12	42:48.646
4	67	Arthur de Jong	12	42.49:456
5	12	Phoemela Baranda	12	42:49.898
6	10	Jinno Rufino	12	42:51.015
7	68	Bombi Palilio	12	43:06.333
8	35	Sherwin Hing	12	43:16.097
9	8	Rhian Ramos	12	43:19.972
10	7	Joyce Pring	12	43:20.409
11	69	Roy Bunag	12	43:27.409
12	2	Jasmine Curtis-Smith	12	43:29.225
13	3	Michinobu Sugata	12	43:36.441
14	4	Kylie Padilla	12	43:48.189
15	22	Tomohiro Iwamoto	12	44:12.865
16	44	Alfie Concepcion	10	44:31.594
Not classified
DNF	21	Jeje Villena	5	7:32.972
DNF	19	Juan Nolasco	4	10:18.089
DNF	24	JV Ejercito	1
DNS	14	Derek Ramsay

 

2015 Vios Cup Leg 1 (Sporting Class)
Heat 1 (Started at 13:49:54)
Pos	Car no.	Name	Laps	Total time
1	23	Estefano Rivera	12	29:51.444
2	28	Pauland Dumlao	12	29:51.850
3	97	Andres Calma	12	29:57.649
4	26	Allan Uy	12	30:09.725
5	25	Dominic Ochoa	12	30:16.118
6	77	Basti Escalante	12	30:17.360
7	20	Daniel Miranda	12	30:17.416
8	17	Luis Gono	12	30:18.188
9	87	Raymond Ronquillo	12	30:18.200
10	78	Victor Buensuceso	12	30:18.716
11	41	Steve Bicknell	12	30:19.725
12	88	Robert Lilles	12	30:21.393
13	55	Bryan Co	12	30:22.055
14	15	Bobby Domingo	12	30:22.619
15	99	Charlie Cojuangco	12	30:24.339
16	85	Paolo Rodriguez	12	30:28.220
17	11	Carlos Loinaz	12	30:28.627
18	31	Miko Maristela	12	30:29.147
DNF	94	Alexis Salvador	4	8:01.591
DNF	27	Ramon Tanjuatco	3	5:06.264
Heat 2 (Started at 16:08:06)
Pos	Car no.	Name	Laps	Total time
1	28	Pauland Dumlao	12	29:10.283
2	26	Allan Uy	12	29:18.862
3	20	Daniel Miranda	12	29:18.999
4	77	Basti Escalante	12	29:19.222
5	97	Andres Calma	12	21:21.519
6	17	Luis Gono	12	29:21.923
7	25	Dominic Ochoa	12	29:27.401
8	87	Raymond Ronquillo	12	29:27.593
9	78	Victor Buensuceso	12	29:28.479
10	41	Steve Bicknell	12	29:34.030
11	55	Bryan Co	12	29:34.040
12	15	Bobby Domingo	12	29:51.510
13	99	Charlie Cojuangco	12	29:51.520
14	88	Robert Lilles	12	29:51.666
15	27	Ramon Tanjuatco	12	29:51.777
16	85	Paolo Rodriguez	12	29:52.197
17	31	Miko Maristela	12	29:52.793
18	23	Estefano Rivera	9	19:30.784
DNF	11	Carlos Loinaz
Not classified
DNS	94	Alexis Salvador