Toyota Team Cebu Gears for 3rd Season of Toyota Vios Cup This March 21,2016

By: Charlie Diaz

Photo by Julius Carpio

(L-R) Joseph Rojo – reserved driver,Vios Cup Drivers Bobby Pangilinan, Jette Calderon, Lord Seno, Sean Velasco and Oscar Suarez.

Toyota Team Cebu is gearing for another high-octane challenge in this year’s Season 3 of the Toyota Vios Cup following their successful debut in last year’s Season 2.

The team will open its campaign in Subic Bay, Zambales on March 21 and 22, according to team captain Lord Seno during the team’s victory party held last January at the Toyota North Reclamation Showroom located at the Mandaue North Reclamation Area.

Aside from Seno, who is one of Cebu’s veteran race drivers, the team is made up of prominent karters and autocross drivers in Bobby Pangilinan, Oscar Suarez, Sean Velasco and Jette Calderon. And, this year will see the inclusion of Joseph Rojo to the team.

Despite being neophytes in last year’s Season 2, the team made their presence felt with Seno placing third overall in the Promotional Class after amassing a total of 122 points in the four-leg series, while teammate Suarez finished fifth overall in the same class with his 92 points.

Also making the team proud was the young Calderon who managed to settle for the 12^th place among 26 other experienced racers in the Sporting class.

“We learned a lot already. We learned the driving techniques and will carry on what we have,” Seno said.

Jose Manuel Cuenco, the team principal, said the team’s aim for this year’s season is to maintain their performance and improve in other categories.

The team is looking at a better finish in the upcoming season with more categories expected to be added to the race.

Seno said that race organizers can add more classes to the series depending on the level of the skills of the racers seeing action. More classes would mean that the race track will not be crowded, thus the team has a chance to finish their race at a higher ranking.

A not so crowded race track also means less chances of collision. “Our resources here in Cebu are very limited but we managed to overcome the challenges.” said Cuenco, who expressed his heartfelt gratitude to their partners MR Autoworks and Group B Autoworks for providing them with the best mechanical crew for the races.

This was echoed by team manager John Velasco who said “Toyota has the best mechanics. And only Toyota can survive carnage.” So the team is pretty much ready for a high-octane challenge.

The team, however, may not have a chance to show the Cebuanos what they can do as unlike last year, organizers may not hold one of the series’ legs here in Cebu City.

According to Seno, organizers may hold a leg in other Visayas areas such as Bacolod or Tacloban.