2023 SEAOIL Radical Challenge Philippines goes full-send to an exciting opening round at Clark

Qualifying

The race weekend first saw action during Saturday’s Qualifying round. With his championship title at stake, Anton delivered a blistering best lap time of 1:57.299, earning him the pole position. But it wasn’t an easy cruise, though as Garrido almost snatched the lead with just 0.419 seconds separating the two. As for the 3^rd grid slot, Quiñones safely took it with his best lap time of 2:02.168.

Race Day

Finally, it’s race day Sunday. Tensions, emotions, and excitement were filled to the brim as the green lights signaled the start of Race 1. Off the line, Garrido floored it to gain a good poison coming into turn 1, a valiant show of force by the 17-year-old Radical race newbie against the two powerhouses Choachuy and Anton who are within inches from behind.

The 12-lap first heat went on with some notable moments. One of which is the last-to-position-2 hat-trick of Choachuy who, despite not making it into Qualifying, still managed to nudge Anton down to 3^rd place upon exiting turn 1 on lap 1. This battle for position 2 between Choachuy and Anton became the highlight for a lot of eyes in Race 1, with both going wheel-to-wheel at almost every turn. Garrido saw it all from his wing mirrors, prompting him to open the gap, but Anton finally pulled through against Choachuy.

As the checkered flag waves, Garrido came out on top, followed by the hard-charging Anton in 2^nd, and Choachuy rounding off the podium in 3^rd.

“To be honest, I just didn’t want to spin and I wanted to be on par with the front runners’ pace! What helped most in my performance has got to be the support of PartsPro, especially Tito Tyson, Tito Billy, and the mechanics!”, exclaimed Garrido as he celebrates his first ever Radical Challenge win on his first ever Radical Challenge battle.

With dark clouds looming, which could let out a heavy one at any time, the afternoon’s Race 2 was given the green light. The thing about Race 2 was that it was on a reverse-grid rule, meaning whoever finished last in Race 1 will start on pole in Race 2. This had Llave, who was also a Radical Challenge neophyte himself, on the spotlight. Llave on his SR1 which dons the blue and yellow SEAOIL livery, stood with all high might against a tough armada coming into turn 1. This didn’t last long though as Choachuy, Garrido, and Anton immediately caught up to him.

For the succeeding laps, Choachuy, Garrido, and Anton would parry passing moves at each other’s cars. Things eventually reached a boiling point, first with Anton making contact with Choachuy as the pair went down the corkscrew side-by-side. Choachuy came out in front while Anton had to limp back into the pits with a puncture. Then, it was Garrido’s turn to make a move, but also making contact with Choachuy at the exact same spot as Anton.

Although Choachuy was able to rejoin without losing position, Garrido stalled his engine. This allowed Choachuy to cruise to victory at the end of 12 laps. Quiñones jumped on the opportunity to take 2^nd place on his series debut, while Garrido was able to restart his car and cross the finish in 3^rd.

“To become the champion, you must beat the champion.”, said Choachuy. He achieved that goal this weekend saying, “What helped me in my performance was the winning mindset and trust in my capabilities as a driver.”

“We are delighted to see the 2023 season of the SEAOIL Radical Challenge Philippines get underway at Clark International Speedway. It was truly an exhilarating race weekend that saw the return of familiar faces to the grid, but we are also equally excited to welcome new ones and be part of their racing journey,” commented Edward Cruz, Head of B2C Segment Marketing for SEAOIL Philippines, Inc. “Just like in 2022, we are once again powering each team with world-class SEAOIL Extreme-97 fuel with STP additives which is designed for high performance, and this is readily available to all Filipino motorists in our more than 750 stations nationwide.”

Marlon Stockinger, Radical Challenge Philippines Race Director, commented on the successful return weekend of the country’s fastest race car series. “The season opener gave us a fantastic set of races. I’m also glad to see new drivers coming in from the karting scene. We have a good number of young drivers progressing through grassroots motorsports in the Philippines and it was exciting to watch them showcase their skills in the Radical.”

The Radical Challenge Philippines opened its second season in the midst of their new three-year deal with SEAOIL Philippines Inc. that will run through 2025. As the championships’ title partner and official fuel supplier, the country’s leading independent fuel provider supplies maximum performance once again with their SEAOIL Extreme-97 octane as the series’ approved fuel. With the 2023 season’s opening weekend in the books, the competition now shifts its focus for Round 2 in the Batangas Racing Circuit (BRC) from the 22^nd to 24^th of September.

The 2023 SEAOIL Radical Challenge Philippines is powered by race-engineered SEAOIL Extreme-97 fuel with STP additives, sponsored by Kumu, Kooler, and Porsche Design Manila.

Photos by Randolph de Leon and Radical Cars Philippines.