MANILA, Philippines -- Top businessmen and political leaders have signed up for this year’s Tuason Racing School Ford Fiesta Cup (FFC) which is scheduled to flag off at the Clark International Speedway this October.

Organized by the country’s leading racing outfit, the Tuason Racing School, 11 racing hopefuls have signed up for the FFC which includes eight Filipinos and three foreign race enthusiasts. Out of the eight Filipino drivers, two are women drivers.

Leading the competitors for the first FFC is former Negros Occidental 4th District Representative Charlie Cojuangco and Paranaque City 2nd District Councilor, Benjo Bernabe.

Other participants in the series are: Basti Escalante, a 12-year old student; Yvana Von Carangan, a 20-year old student; Daisy Jackes, a 32-year old company director; Eric Choi, a 36-year old network consultant; Manuel Dizon, a 37-year old business executive; Paolo Bringas, a 24-year old student; Manikandan Cr, a 19-year old student from Chenai, India; Stefan Wolf, a 34-year old product manager; and Ross Jackes, a 54-year old company director.

The FFC is specifically tailored by TRS to give racing enthusiasts an opportunity to get into motorsports in a professional, safe, and cost effective manner.

Compared to previous seasons, TRS’ new program packages a full race championship series and bundled it with the full-ownership of the Ford Fiesta race car.

The package provides the driver with the option to enter their Fiesta race car in other events outside the championship, or continue racing in Ford Fiesta Cup for several seasons at a fraction of the cost.

Race team owners can also get a piece of the action by fielding their own Ford Fiesta race cars and drafting customer drivers to race as an arrive-and-drive program.

The race package is priced at only P999,000, where drivers and or teams get a brand-new race-spec Ford Fiesta 5-door 1.4L MT race car fitted with a roll cage, race exhaust, and Emotion coilover dampers. The package also includes a wrap-around body kit and larger lightweight wheels.

Standard safety equipment includes an OMP racing seat, safety belt and pedals.

The package also come with two training days, nine legs of racing and technical, mechanical, and coaching support headed from the TRS team headed by JP and Mike Tuason.

The first three legs will be held on Oct. 2 at the Clark International Speedway (CIS) in Pampanga.  Round two is scheduled to run on Nov. 13 at the Batangas Racing Circuit with the final round running on Dec. 11, also at the CIS. (Edited by ANJO PEREZ)