As a fitting following to the exciting 2022 season, the Philippine Rallycross Series (PHRX) inaugurated its 2023 series with an action pack opener at the Driftwoods Action Park in Indang, Cavite. PHRX opens 2023 season with a technical course layout at Driftwoods that is challenging yet exhilarating.
A venue best-known in the previous season for serving some high jumps, the 2023 season-opener at Driftwoods Action Park did not disappoint with some air time that rally fans have surely enjoyed.
The dirt racing action was enjoyed by seasoned series participants as well as a number of new faces, joining the series for the first time. One of which is Karl Celeste, a Filipino based in New Zealand who is actively representing the Philippine flag in many local rally races in the Land of the Long White Cloud.
The Group 1 races, which was participated by cars with 1300cc displacement and below, was dominated by JP Polintan in his trusty Toyota Vios rally car with the total time of 4:16.800. Caloy Calica secured the podium spot using a borrowed rally car, as his was still under works, with a total time of 4:27.090. PHRX first timer JP Dizon completes the Group 1 podium with his daily-driven Toyota Wigo with the time of 4:42.700.
Group 2, in which cars of 1600cc displacement and below are allowed, exhibited tight time battles as Paul Santos narrowly winning the top spot using his Honda Civic EK rally car with the total time of 4:06.700. Just five-hundredths of a second quicker than Karl Celeste using the Debest Rally Team’s E11 Corolla who settled as the class’ first runner-up. JP Polintan completed the Group 2 podium using his new Honda Civic EG hatchback rally car with the total time of 4:10.010.
Group 3 was secured by Celeste from Santos with the total time of 4:00.440, while Santos clocked in a total time of 4:04.700. 2019 Group 2 Champion Steve Acayan returned from his rally-driving hiatus with a podium spot in third with his total time of 4:09.460.
Santos has clinched another win, this time, in Group 4 with a total time of 4:01.090. Polintan settled in second place using his Civic EG with the time of 4:03.100, while Acayan completed the class podium with a total time of 4:06.980.
As for the Open Class, Philippine rally veteran Mike Reyes secured his season’s first win with the total time of 4:09.690 using his Subaru Impreza STi GC8 rally car. Champion racer Paulo Santos captured the second spot on the podium with the time of 4:10.270 in his rally-prepped Toyota Rav4. Seasoned PHRX participant Arlan Reyes captured his first podium of the season using his Mitsubishi Lancer rally car with the time of 4:22.270.
The UV Class was dominated by DJ De Guzman using his Toyota Rav4 rally car with the time of 4:15.830. Aven Tongco followed in second place with the time of 4:44.820 using a fairly brand-new Isuzu D-Max LSV. Completing the UV Class podium is rally veteran Raul Asuncion in a Toyota Rav4 with the total time of 4:49.140.
The AWD Class was dominated by the younger Santos with the time of 4:12.680, followed by Reyes in second with the time of 4:16.650. Driftwoods Action Park’s Kalvin Sumagui took the third podium spot using a daily-driven Subaru Forester with the time of 5:20.220.
Celeste bagged another win in the RWD class, this time. Using Debest’s 3S-GE-swapped BMW E36, Celeste bested the rear-wheel-drive class with the time of 4:10.240. Veteran rally driver Jun Magno finished in second place using the same car with the time of 4:11.960. Louie Camacho got his first RWD podium finish using the Debest E36 with the time of 4:12.520.
Sole Pickup Class participant Aven Tongco easily snagged 25 points in the championship with the total time of 4:25.730.
For the Rounds 2 and 3 of the 2023 PHRX, the series is set to head further south towards Batangas on March 26, 2023 at Pueblo de Oro Townscapes in Malvar for the second leg of the season. As per PHRX, everyone is invited to join and watch the dirt racing action.
On other news regarding dirt racing, the people behind PHRX gave an update for the upcoming 2023 Philippine Rally. The full rally event is set to happen on May 6 and 7 at the New Clark City in Tarlac. The PHRX organizers are expected to release further details regarding the 2023 Philippine Rally in the coming weeks.
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