Post-race drama, double victories highlight Round 3 of the 2018 Petron FlatOut Race Series

Time Attack

The agenda for the day started off with a series of Time Attack runs. In Bracket R, Dondon Portugal prevailed as he stopped the clock with his best lap time of 1:42.573. His blistering performance not only earned him the fastest in the said bracket, it also placed him in the record book as the new fastest racer around BRC.

(On a side note, the previous BRC Fastest Lap record was 1:42.650 which Eduardo Suiza did last September 2017 on his Staging Lanes/W-Autosports Honda Civic EG. Portugal smashed this by a slim 0.077 secs with his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7. This is according to the updated BRC fastest lap statistics by Time Attack Manila)

In Bracket A, Rafael la O' clocked in 1^st with a lap time of 1:46.652. Clocking in 2^nd was Portugal, followed by Suiza in 3^rd. Bracket B, on the other hand, saw a fastest lap time of 1:56.207 set by Emerson Ocampo who swiped the win from Christopher Co by a scant 0.089 secs. On 3^rd was Jero Consing.

Down in Bracket C, Sonny De Torres and Julian Diego took home 1^st and 2^nd places, respectively. Luke Mendoza, meanwhile, recorded the 3^rd fastest lap. In Bracket D, Dominique Bon stood atop the podium in 1^st, followed by Robert Tan in 2^nd, and Armand Marcaida in 3^rd.

Avin Villaseñor continued his Bracket E dominance with another fastest lap win, his third Time Attack victory so far. Meanwhile, Bracket F and Bracket G highlighted 15-year-old Kody Ng and lady driver Gabie Desales as respective winners.

Grid Race

The racing action continued with the Grid Race events. Dondon Portugal went all out, establishing an off-the-start commanding lead in Petron Grid A. He would defend that lead up until the end, eventually crossing the line 24.518 secs ahead of Rafael la O' in 2^nd. Eduardo Suiza came close in 3^rd.

Paolo Santos may have crossed the line 2^nd in KYB Grid B, but he found himself winning the race against Emerson Ocampo who would be penalized post-race. That’s because the latter broke out of his bracket time despite finishing 1^st. As a result, Ocampo fell down to 3^rd behind Jonmark Ong in 2^nd.

This incident happened again in Recaro Grid C where Julian Diego and Sonny De Torres would have taken 1^st and 2^nd places, respectively if not for their bracket time breakout. This gave Paul Santos an easy win.

As if that’s not enough, another timesheet chaos ensued, this time in Staunch Performance Grid D. The battle ran tight down to the midfield, but John Benedict Carbonel and Errol Panganiban were seen taking command and finishing 1^st and 2^nd, respectively. However in post-race, both men were slapped with penalties as a result of their bracket time breakout. In the end, the official Grid D results stated that Andre Tan won the race, followed by Erwin Manaog in 2^nd, and Carlos Marzo in 3^rd.

Lastly, Mars Ocampo took the win in SmartFuels 2 Race Grid E, followed by Jeff Pobadora in 2^nd, and Jun Cabrera in 3^rd.

Come June 9, the 2018 FlatOut Race Series will return at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga for Round 4.

The 2018 Petron FORS is made possible by the following sponsors and media partners. Photos by FlatOut Race Series.