Luis Gono declared as 2014 Toyota Vios Cup season champion
Teenage racer Luis Gono was crown the 2014 Toyota Vios Cup champion, of the 24 other drivers in a dramatic end to the season. The final street circuit leg saw several changes due to the special nature of the venue. Organizers implemented a double points system for the Manila venue as well as a qualifying shootout and a pair of elimination sprint races to determine the top 20 for the main races and second set for the mixed grid.
Driving for Toyota North EdsaAutoplus, Gono entered the third and final leg of the Vios Cup at the Mckinley West Street Circuit with a 26 point deficit behind then-series leader Jason Choachuy of Toyota Balintawak.
The qualifying of the dramatic third leg saw the elimination of series leader Choachuy as well as championship contender Allan Uy of Toyota Quezon Avenue. The two were involved in an on-track tussle that resulted in both finishing out of the contention for the main, pointscoring races, leaving Gono (who qualified strongly for the races) with a wide open shot at taking the championship; the youngster only needed to finish in 2nd and 3rd place to assure himself of the title.
Race 5 went off without a hitch, but after the tumultuous events that happened in Race 6 such as numerous crashes, red flags, penalties and other incidents that resulted in only half points being awarded, Luis Gono was able to haul in a valuable 39 points to give himself the championship and a brand new 2014 Toyota Vios 1.5G 5MT as the prize.
Pauland Dumlao drove in top form in Race 5 and 6, thereby garnering the maximum 60 points for a total of 79, assuring him of the runner-up spot in the championship and a prize purse of P400,000.
Jason Choachuy’s 75 points was still good for third overall, garnering him a total prize purse of P200,000.
In fourth place overall is Toyota Alabang’s Inaki Araneta who crashed spectacularly in Race 6. Araneta finished the season with 61 points. Dominic Ochoa finished a solid 53 points in 5th, followed by Toyota Quezon Avenue teammate Allan Uy with 47.
Toyota Batangas driver Carlos Loinaz sits with 43 points followed by Carlos Castaneda with 38. The other points finishers include Basti Escalante with 19, Andres Calma with 15, Bryan Co and Ferdi Raquelsantos each with 11 points, Charlie Cojuangco with 10, Ramon Tanjuatco with 8, Tonton Ramos with 6, Steve Bicknell with 2 points and Robert Lilles with 1 point.
“I owe the tremendous success of the Vios Cup to all the Filipinos, our dearest sponsors, our dedicated racers, our supporting team owners, our dealers, our media friends, our Filipino celebrities, and last but not the least, our fearless organizer, JP Tuason,” said Toyota president Michinobu Sugata, during the awarding ceremonies held at 71 Gramercy,
“I have been involved in many motorsports events in Japan, Thailand, and Singapore, but I have never seen such a wonderful, cheerful and closely knit motorsports event such as the Toyota Vios Cup in the Philippines. I cannot even find the exact word to explain the magic in Filipino racing – which I have learned to very much enjoy and respect.”
“I assure you that you need not worry, as we have decided that the dream will continue to live on! My team has already started preparations for the 2015 Vios Cup Season with a thrust to make it much bigger and better than it ever was!”