The world of motorsports is a trying one. Not only is it prohibitive price-wise, a racing series requires any team aspiring for a championship title to consistently succeed. Any team hoping to make a name for themselves will have to pony up the cash for several races to score enough points to garner the championship.

Ford Group Philippines and Tuason Racing School (TRS) understand this barrier and are taking steps to give the public easier access to a racing experience.

Their program, the 2009 Ford Focus Race of Champions (ROC) recently held its second leg of a three-part race series that allows licensed, enthusiast drivers who are either Ford consumers, Ford dealership representatives or friends from the media to participate in Autocross, Slalom and Wheel-to-wheel racing disciplines in separate events. Each leg combines instructional sessions and hands-on drive exercises before actual race heats that give even amateur participants a chance to enjoy the full racing experience.

Participants are awarded points for their times in hopes of qualifying as one of the top seven teams to race wheel-to-wheel in the final round at Subic International Raceway.

The vehicle of choice is a full fledged race car in the form of TRS’s Ford Focus TDCi. It’s been stripped down, lightly modified and fitted with safety measures up to Philippine National Touring Car Championship specifications to give participants a real racing experience.

The 2nd leg was held last Sept. 12 at the parking lot of the Greenhills Shopping Arcade. In contrast to the last leg’s gymkhana format, where vehicles faced a course that included 180 degree and 360 degree turns, this leg followed an autocross format. Cones were set-up to create a route that included sharp turns and gates positioned at tight angles. To add to the difficulty, the rains had made the surface slick.

After a whole morning of exercises, the hour came for the timed heats where challengers got the chance to prove their mettle against one another. Racers were given a practice run before two timed heats where their best official times were ranked to determine the day’s fastest drivers.

For the category of Ford consumers, third place winner Bobby Horrigan ended with a best of time 39.01. Carlos Pedrosa was awarded second place with his fastest time of 39.26 seconds. Audel Sison was declared the champion of the category with a best time of 38.95 seconds.

The next category was composed of representatives of different Ford dealerships. Landing in third place was Ford Edsa's Carlo Malapitan with a time of 43.2. Paul Baradas, also of Ford Edsa, was second with a time of 42.08. Ford Alabang’s Sonny Galban was the fastest with a time of 41.36.

The fastest times of the day were seen in the media category where Jeff Reyes received a special award for the day’s top time of 38.65. Team AutoIndustriya composed of Iñigo S. Roces and Vince Pornelos garnered third place with a combined time of 1:19.82. TopGear’s Beeboy Bargas and Ferman Lao were in second with a combined time of 1:18.85. Yet the Philippine Star’s combined time of 1:18.61 put in by Reyes and Manny de los Reyes proved too fast to beat.

After all the points were tallied up, the top seven media teams were as follows: Philippine Star’s Jeff Reyes and Manny de los Reyes earned 11 points, tied by the Autoindustriya team. Manila Bulletin with Anjo Perez and Aris Ilagan was hot on their heels with 10 points. TopGear and Auto Review composed of Beeboy Bargas and Ferman Lao and Kit Joaquin and Ronald de los Reyes respectively were tied with nine points. Uno Magazine’s Eric Soriano and Mikko David garnered eight points while Wave 89.9’s Mike and Gerric are the last team with five points. The Race of Champions will come to an exciting end on Nov. 7 at the Subic International Raceway.