Heading well into August of 2026, while others see it as a month to prepare for classes, motorsport heads like me have had plenty of treats in store. Aside from Formula One’s final Dutch Grand Prix for this era, we also saw the 11th and 12th rounds of this year’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) Championship at the Nürburgring GP-Strecke racetrack. However, there’s another series that happened around the same time for us in the Philippines: the third round of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup made its debut down south at the legendary Batangas Racing Circuit located in Rosario, Batangas.
Batangas Racing Circuit (or BRC for short) is widely considered hallowed ground for Philippine motorsports. Alongside Subic International Raceway, BRC is one of the first two Filipino racetracks from the 90s, and the sole survivor from that era after Subic shut down in 2010. The track has hosted races like the 8-Hour Makabayan Endurance Race, Asian F3, Formula Toyota, and the Toyota Corolla Cup. It is the very tarmac where some of the Philippines’ biggest names proved their mettle, like Jojo Silverio, who bested English Formula 3 veteran Mark Goddard in 2002, and the late Enzo Pastor, who won the final race of the Asian V8 Championship before his passing. The track is also where today’s Filipino talents like Bianca Bustamante honed her skills before making her way to compete overseas in the Eurocup 3 championship for Palou Motorsport.
When you look at the track, the Batangas Racing Circuit has a layout visually similar to a fortune cookie, folding on itself around one major hairpin turn. Sharing similarities to tracks like Mugello in Italy, with a long, uninterrupted home straight; Sepang in Malaysia in terms of topographical layout; and Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, where both tracks having a “stop-and-go” rhythm, while also having unique features of its own, from the minor banking in turn 7 to the rocky bumps of turns 8, 9, 11, and 12 thanks to the elevation changes from the uneven terrain the track was built on.
Despite the initial plans for the series to race as early as the inaugural season in 2014, plans fell through mainly due to the sheer size of the grid. Now, Toyota has made good on that 12-year-old “what-if” scenario, with the competition making its official debut earlier this weekend during August 14-15. But much like we established back in the opening round at Cavite, not only do we have a new circuit on the calendar, but also a new grid of drivers and teams set to tackle it, one of which is Resultado Racing, headed by Theo Zaragoza, who, when asked about his current mindset after going through three rounds of Toyota’s racing series on their first outing emphasized the importance of teamwork saying that it’s a team sport, and it boils down to how we work as a team, from the coaches and engineers, and that in his eyes, it’s a sport about tactics, and that they shouldn’t try to push when it’s not needed, emphasizing the priority to maintain the lead the team currently has throughout the season with minimal risks, similar to the mentality 4-time F1 World Champion Alain Prost carried throughout his career.
On the other hand, when it comes to the one in the driver’s seat, Resultado Racing’s driver in the #91 Sporting Class Vios, Bern Zaragoza, was asked about his experiences going three rounds into the competition during his first year, especially after showing dominant performances during the opening round at Riverpark; his answers show an air of humility, saying that it’s a blessing to be able to race in the GR Cup, and being grateful for the team under him, and when asked about his expectations going into round three, expressed satisfaction with the results from the previous races, thanking the team and his father, and hoping to carry that momentum throughout the year.
However, as any motorsports driver, or anyone who knows how they think, for a driver of Bern’s level of talent, just competing can only satisfy him for so long, sooner or later, he will find a competitive hunger growing inside of him, as shown by respected names like Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen, which Bern himself admitted to, saying “Yes, of course, 100%, it’s always been there, and you have to be motivated, and you have to find the motivation kasi otherwise, you know, you can’t just win by yourself.”
On the more experienced side of the paddock, however, competitors like Toyota General Santos’ Alain Gabriel Alzona in the #19 Super Sporting Class Vios and Tamaraw Class, when asked about constantly switching between the Vios and Tamaraw, said that the biggest differences between the two classes are the weight discrepancy and powertrain layout, requiring a high level of adaptability. When asked about his performances between the two classes in Batangas, his answer shows the struggles that some of the other drivers on the grid might also have, saying “Actually, I’m not doing great in the Tamaraw at this racetrack, so I’m still struggling and finding a lot of pace, but I’m doing good in the Vios, so I think we’ll take that,” highlighting the challenges of switching between two completely different classes, and with Alzona being the only driver on the grid pulling double duty between the two classes, the “Filipino Fernando Alonso” comparisons almost make themselves.
Autocar’s Take
Although the 2026 Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup introduced us to a new grid and a new class, the competition still takes time to pay respect to the country’s motorsport history. Even when the modern racing scene gets flooded with street circuits, be it Jeddah and Las Vegas in Formula One internationally, or Villar City and Riverpark here in the Philippines for the TGR Cup, each racing series, no matter where it is, will always find ways to pay respect to each nation’s most decorated racetracks, be it Formula One continuing to race at Silverstone and Monza, or Toyota’s one-make race making time for Clark and BRC. Alongside it comes a new wave of drivers set to take these hallowed rings of tarmac to see if they have what it takes to be on the track.
