Team Cebu City’s Seno rules Vios Cup

TOYOTA Team Cebu’s Lord Seno ruled Race 3 of the Toyota Vios Racing Championship Sporting Class at the Clark Speedway in Pampanga. Seno, who qualified seventh, consistently went up the order, finishing fifth in race 1 and third in race 2, before winning race 3.

The unexpected result came after Seno was meted a 10-second penalty for a jump start. The penalty would have relegated him to third in Race 3 but the penalty was reversed after a detailed review of the camera footage.

“I had such a good start in race 3. The marshalls thought I did a jump start. But after the race, there was a careful review of the start in all of the cameras in that area and I was cleared of that penalty,” Seno said.

Closest rival and karting champion John Dizon, who represents Team Obengers Toyota Balintawak, finished second, while Gel Napat of Toyota Biskeg got third place.

In the Promotional Category, Cebuano hotshot Julian Neri finished second in Race 2 and was positioned to get his first win in a Vios in Race 3 when a jumpstart penalty relegated him to sixth. Neri, who is fresh from winning the championship of the 2018 First Step Racing Series, battled hard from 12th to finish 8th in race 1, second in race 2 before his penalty in race 3 cost him the win.

The promotional class was dominated by Toyota Balintawak Obengers with Julian Tang finishing third and Quattro Adriano taking the top spot.

“Julian is quick straight out of the box. It will only be just a matter of time before he gets the formula right. The team will make sure he will be on the right track,” Toyota Team Cebu team manager John Velasco said.

The two-driver Toyota Team Cebu vowed to practice more to perform better in the next legs.

“The car is new and we just had it for four days, so we have to learn more about the characteristics of the car. But it’s encouraging because it handles better than the old car already,” Seno said.

The 2nd leg of the Vios Racing Circuit Championship is on Aug. 30-31, 2019 at the Clark International Speedway in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Toyota Team Cebu is backed by Toyota Mandaue South and is sponsored by Gothong Express Cargo, Malabon Mirror Factory, Commonwealth Insurance Cebu, Conex, ACS, Suarez and Sons, Vian-son Auto Repair, JLR Concrete + Aggregates and Solid Construction Inc. /

CONTRIBUTED FOTO MORE PRACTICE. Team Cebu City Vios’ Julian Neri and Lord Seno are hopeful that more time practicing with their new car will lead to better finishes in future races. The two got their new car only four days before the race.