Gazoo Racing is changing PH motorsports for the better

Now more than 10 years old, it has set the standard for how a racing series should be run, from the cars fielded, to the safety requirements, the organization of the event, and recognition abroad.

- Iñigo S. Roces

There was a time long ago when any aspiring Filipino race car driver would have been better off skipping local competition entirely and instead heading abroad to compete and move up the competitive ladder. After all, the few races we had locally were either not recognized by international governing bodies or provided little to no training for the more stringent and organized racing series abroad.

We did have touring car racing, but with such a small field of competitors, few race tracks, or even stringent rules, even the wealthiest teams preferred to field 10-year-old cars, typically a 90's era Honda Civic at the time. Not exactly ideal or even interesting enough for a touring car race.

If you wanted to watch, you'd have to either know one of the organizers or one of the racers as news of these events hardly reached the public. At the venue itself, spectators either had to watch from the paddocks or make the long walk to one of the few high points on the track with a decent vantage point. Or, you could wait one or two weeks for a video recap of the race to pop up on Youtube, but by then you already knew who the winner was.

Nonetheless, I have the highest respect for the organizers of the many touring car and racing series of the past, as well as the competitors that soldiered on through those trying years.