This was declared by JP Tuason, president of Tuason Racing Service (TRS), during a press conference here on Wednesday as he announced the 3rd leg of the 4th Season of the Vios Cup at the speedway.
He said because of the location and the track’s international standard, the organizers of the Vios Cup decided to make Clark its home in the celebrity- filled racing event where thousands of race fanatics from all over the country will be in attendance.
At least 60 race enthusiasts, including celebrities, businessmen, athletes, and politicians will compete on Sept. 16 and 17 on the weekend race, Tuason said.
He said the Toyota Vios Cup Season 4 will comprise of 3 driver classes: the Rota Promotional Class, the Bridgestone Sporting Class, and the Super Sporting Class (which is now called the Total Excellium Sporting Class).
The Rota Promotional Class is where new drivers, rookie racers and celebrity participants battle it out for championship points. To those on the lookout for this year’s celebrity participants, the grid will include Fabio Ide, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Jericho Rosales, Aubrey Miles, Ella Cruz, Dominic Roque and Gretchen Ho, among others, he said.
The Bridgestone Sporting Class is where the remaining drivers from last season’s Sporting Class will compete. It will also be the playing field for the top 5 finishers from the Rota Promotional Class as well as the sponsored drivers.
Total Excellium Super Sporting Class is where those who have completed in the 1 Vios Cup season and the top 5 Bridgestone Sporting Class finishers as the sponsored drivers will try to outclass each other for the win, Tuason said.
TRS highlighted the Total Excellium Super Sporting Class with new rule changes.
These include allowing teams to change the cars’ exhaust manifolds and suspension bushings but only with parts that must be provided by Toyota Racing Development (TRD) for added power and better handling.
Tuason also said teams are allowed to lower some of the weight of the cars to a minimum of 1,050 kilogram including the driver.
Tuason said the rule is simple: there should be no change or improvements in the engine dispensation to make the playing field equal to all drivers and to make the race fun and enjoyable.
All Vios cars that will join the racing event will use a stock 1.5 G engine with manual transmission.
Should the owner make some improvements in the engine, the race car driver will be automatically disqualifi ed and will be banned for one year, Tuason said.
Finally, Round 4 will be held on November 18 to 19, also in Clark, he said. The event was rescheduled to give way to the ASEAN Ministers’ meeting in Clark and the expected volume of people expected to come as most hotels will be fully booked by then.
Tuason also said that they expect Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the “Drift King” and inventor of the car drifting in Japan, to be among the celebrities that will come during the 3rd leg of the Vios Cup here.
