Team Toyota Cebu’s Lord Seno (fourth from left) and Sean Kieran Velasco (third from left) celebrate during the awarding ceremony of the opening leg of the Vios Cup 4 at the Clark International Speedway.
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Team Toyota Cebu takes top two spots in Sporting Class of Vios Cup
Team Toyota Cebu (TTC) stalwarts Lord Seno and Sean Velasco bucked a sluggish start and authored a thrilling finish to end up one-two in the Sporting Class of the opening leg of the Vios Cup Season 4 on Saturday at the Clark International Speedway.
A momentary lapse by their rivals was all the opening that Seno and Velasco needed to break through, take the lead and eventually capture the checkered flag in the popular racing circuit’s opening salvo. Seno, TTC’s captain, took first place while Velasco came in a close second.
An ecstatic Seno said that they weren’t wholly surprised with the result, judging from their performances last year.
“We knew we were there already. We just got to work on adapting with weather changes, especially the hot weather,” said the multi-titled racer.
Seno added that the team’s victory is a good way to start the year, especially as it looking forward to winning more titles this season.
“To date, Toyota Team Cebu as a team had nine wins and nine podium finishes all throughout the two years of racing. We just started our third year with a 1-2 punch. We will train harder to carry this momentum,” Seno said.
Philippine Touring Car champion Paul Henderson Perez came in third place and was followed by Oliver Matias from Toyota San Fernando Team Pampanga. Mark Sy, another Philippine Touring Champion from San Pablo, rounded out the top five finishers.
The Cebuanos actually had a less-than-ideal start as they found it difficult to adjust their vehicle’s setup to the searing hot race conditions and started at mid-grid during the qualifying runs.
But that did not deter Seno and Velasco, who moved up to eighth and ninth, respectively in Race 1 and moved further up to sixth and seventh in Race 2.
Then in the fourth lap, a racing incident brought the duo to third and fourth and within striking distance of Perez and Sy.
With Perez’s hands full trying to hold off Sy, Seno and Velasco saw an opening and dove to the corner to overtake Perez and Sy and grab the lead with just eight corners to go.
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