Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) has officially announced that its popular one-make race, the Vios Cup, is now on its 4th season and will be green and go this April.
Similar to last year, the Toyota Vios Cup Season 4 will comprise of 3 driver classes; the Rota Promotional Class, Bridgestone Sporting Class, and the Super Sporting Class (which is now called the Total Excellium Sporting Class).
The Rota Promotional Class is where new drivers, rookie racers, and celebrity participants will battle it out for championship points. To those on the lookout for this year’s celebrity participants, the grid will include Fabio Ide, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Jericho Rosales, Aubrey Miles, Ella Cruz, Dominic Roque, and Gretchen Ho.
Meanwhile, the Bridgestone Sporting Class is where the remaining drivers from last season’s Sporting Class will compete. It will also be the playing field for the top 5 finishers from the Rota Promotional Class, as well as the sponsored drivers. On the other hand, the Total Excellium Super Sporting Class is where those who’ve completed 1 Vios Cup season, the top 5 Bridgestone Sporting Class finishers, and sponsored drivers will duke it out for the win.
Tuason Racing School’s JP Tuason highlighted the Total Excellium Super Sporting Class with new rule changes. These include allowing teams to change the cars’ exhaust manifolds and suspension bushings (provided that all bolt-on parts should come from TRD or Toyota Racing Development) for added power and better handling, respectively. Tuason also said that teams are allowed to dial down the weight of the cars to a minimum of 1,050 kg (driver included).
As for the Vios Cup rules, significant changes have been made to keep the costs down, provide an equal playing field for all drivers, and better excite the race fans.
One of these include the banning of repairing the engine for the entire season. If violated or if there’s no other choice but to repair the engine due to damage, a 10 grid position down penalty on the next race will be imposed (the same rule applies for chassis repair).
Another rule change is the reversed starting grid order in Race 2 for the top 6 finishers in Race 1. In other words, the 1st to 6th finishers in Race 1 will occupy positions 6th to 1st on the starting grid in Race 2.
Catch the on-track ion of the Toyota Vios Cup Season 4’s opening round on April 28 to 29 in Clark, Pampanga. This will be followed by Round 2 on June 10 to 11, again in Clark. Round 3’s venue is still unannounced, but the race will commence on September 15 to 16. Finally, Round 4 is on November 10 to 11, also in Clark.
