Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup PHL winners named
THE TOYOTA Gazoo Racing (TGR) GT Cup Philippines recently concluded with a live event at the SM Mall of Asia. Held for the first time live in a public venue, the TGR GT Cup Philippines Finals drew large crowds as top sim racers in the country put on a show for a chance to bring home cash prizes, exclusive TGR merchandise, Autocross Challenge seats, and the honor of representing the Philippines at the Asia Finals.
The quarterfinal round ensued with the top 40 fastest e-racers from the qualifiers battling it out on Trial Mountain in the Toyota GR Yaris RZ “High Performance” ’20. The participants were seeded into four batches of 10 players each, and each batch went head-to-head for three race heats. The first race held a qualifying time trial to set the grid, while the second race put winners of the first race at the back of the grid in an exciting reverse grid. The third race once again had the racers put in their fastest lap for a chance to start higher on the grid.
Luis Moreno, who was the TGR GT Cup champion in 2021, has been sim racing for more than 10 years. He and defending champion Russel Reyes solidified their places as top contenders, winning all three races of their respective batches. Past Junior Class champion Enzo Ison also dominated his batch. Former Promotional Class champion Stanley Golez went on to win two out of the three races for his batch, the other being won by newcomer Adrian Unisa.
The semifinal round pitted the top 20 against each other on the Suzuka Circuit in the Toyota GR Supra RZ ’20. Similar to the quarterfinals, the semifinals had three race heats for two batches of 10 players each. Qualifying time trials were done for the first and third races, while the second race reversed the grid, putting the top placers of race one at the back. Weather conditions, which were chosen at random, were thrown into the races to further test the skill of the drivers. The first race was met with a drizzle, the second race with dry weather, and the third race with full-on rain.
Race One of the first batch of the Semifinals saw Luis Moreno crossing the finish line with an eight-second lead from the rest of the pack, with Jether Miole in second after a close fight with Enzo Ison, who finished third. Mr. Ison then went on to win the second race, with Messrs. Moreno and Miole close behind. The third race was dominated by Mr. Moreno with Messrs. Ison and Miole rounding up the second and third spots.
Russel Reyes drove strong and steady to maintain his lead after starting from pole position in the first race of the second batch, which he won. Matthew Ang and Stanley Golez followed right behind in second and third. The second race saw similar results to that of Batch One, with Mr. Ang taking the win, and Messrs. Reyes and Golez in second and third, respectively. The same three e-racers dominated the rainy third race, with Russel Reyes in first place, Matthew Ang in second, and Stanley Golez in third.
In the finals, three different tracks with three different cars were introduced for the three race heats. E-racers sped through the Deep Forest in the Toyota GR Yaris RZ “High Performance” ’20 for the first race, the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in the Toyota GR 86 RZ ’21 for the second race, and finally, the Fuji International Speedway in the Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept ’18.
With 10 of the best players remaining, tension was high with the races seeing more wheel-to-wheel action as the top e-racers pushed their limits on the virtual racetracks. Players who were put in different batches in the earlier races faced each other for the first time in the finals.
Luis Moreno emerged as TGR GT Cup PH 2024 champion with 75 points, Enzo Ison in second (48 points), and Russel Reyes in third (45 points). The trio will represent Team Philippines at the Asia Finals in Malaysia on Oct. 13. Special awards were also given to Mr. Ison for Driver of the Day and Matthew Ang for Fastest Lap.
Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup Philippines is presented by Petron and GT Radial, in cooperation with Seiko. This event is also supported by Toyota Financial Services Philippines, myToyota Wallet, Denso, AVT, 3M, ROTA, Tuason Racing, OMP, and Kinto One.