Round 7
A repeat performance from the previous leg, Horrigan drove away from the field from the very start of round seven and never looked back, snatching the championship lead from Cojuangco. And as the midfielders were busy jostling for position, Cojuangco used the best of his abilities to work his way around the other drivers and climbed up three spots. Mickey Kim then picked up a puncture after he tangled with Stefan Wolf, which forced the Korean driver into retirement. The race though was eventually red-flagged on lap six after Eric Choi went off track and flipped his Smart Netphone Fiesta on its roof. The finishing positions for third, fourth, and fifth were Ross Jackes, followed by Ding Dizon in the Coke Zero Fiesta, and Basti Escalante of the Smart Bro team. But because the racers only completed five of the eight lap race, the stewards decided to award only half points to the drivers.
Round 8
In round eight, Horrigan in the Castrol Titanium Edge race car was on a race of his own yet again and further extended his lead in the championship. Finishing 3.874 seconds behind him, Stefan Wolf made the most out of the mid-race melee and took second, while the charging Cojuangco only managed as high as third. This gave Horrigan a commanding points lead and only needed to finish as high as sixth for him to take home the title. But things weren't as simple as it seems with the final round's reversed grid.
Round 9
With Horrigan starting from ninth and Cojuangco just two spots in front of him, the former congressman had to drive on the limit to pull a substantial gap. Conjuangco pushed his Fiesta lap after lap just to keep his championship hopes alive. But with only a few laps to go, he threw away all his hard work when he outbraked himself in turn one and crashed into the tire barriers. Though Conjuangco was able to rejoin the race, the title was all for Horrigan to take.
Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, Ding Dizon and Basti Escalante pressured race leader Mickey Kim at the dying stages of the race to claim first and second respectively, leaving Kim to settle for third.
After six gruelling rounds, Bobby Horrigan emerged as the overall champion of the 2011 TRS Cup powered by the Ford Focus with a total of 103.5 points. He also takes home the grand prize of a Formula Ford test drive in Zhuhai, China. Cojuangco finished the championship in second with 96 points and Stefan Wolf of Hafele in third with 69 points.
“It’s been a great season, and it’s been nail-biting. We came into the last weekend and Charlie Cojuanco was ahead by one point. And after the first race I was ahead by half a point, so it was very, very tight all the way to the last race. Thank God that everything went well and I dedicate this championship to my dad who passed away a few months ago who loves cars and races cars. TRS always does a good job. JP Tuason and Mike Tuason, I put my hat off to them. They always put a great, great event together,” remarked Horrigan.
“It was a big success and we’re planning to make it bigger and more exciting this season, Our plan for 2012 is to forge ahead in making motorsports as the next sports Filipinos will be know for globally,” said TRS president JP Tuason.
TRS Cup powered by the Ford Fiesta, is a grassroots circuit car program which is supported by Castrol and Bridgestone. Major sponsors are Standard Insurance, Coke Zero, Hafele, Ford Alabang, Smart Bro, and Smart Netphone with the official time keeper U-boat. Official Partners include Oakley, Rota, Hastravel, Speedlab, Starbright Bodykits, Emotion, AAP and media partners, C! Magazine, Manila Bulletin, Channel V, Stoplight TV, Turbozone, Kotse.com, and 99.5RT. Event partners are Manila Beer, Vector, Toptul, and Lifeline Ambulance.
