Race Diary: We drove this Toyota Yaris in a 12-hour enduro
The Kalayaan 12 Hour endurance race story
The checkered flag is quite a sight after any race... even moreso after a 12-hour enduro.
The emotions are overwhelming. I'm relieved, totally spent, and overjoyed all at the same time. And I'm just so proud of the team, because we just achieved a podium against tough rivals. The champion in the class had far more experienced drivers in a more powerful car, a second placer that had the advantage of less pitstops because of diesel efficiency, and then there was us in a little hatchback that could, one that isn't too dissimilar to the one I drive everyday.
I was screaming inside the car when I crossed the finish line. This has to be better than s*x.
Wait... did I just say that?
Prep Work
Preparing for an endurance race as a driver isn’t for the faint of heart. Even more so if you’re also one of the guys responsible for running the team.
That’s what I learned when we joined the Kalayaan 12-hour endurance race. While many race fans around the world tuned in to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans, we too had our own “Le Mans” going on at the Clark International Speedway. But instead of hypercars and GT3s, the grid at CIS were filled with production-based race cars of different makes and sizes.
For this year’s edition, team Ribbon Arc Motorsports entered with three cars in three different classes – one was a Formula V1 prototype, and the other two were Toyota Yaris race cars from Pinky Parts PH and Atom Tech by HG Autoworks. Each car had its own team manager, with myself being tasked to manage the Atom Tech Yaris race car and its pool of drivers.
You see, getting ready for an endurance race is entirely different to preparing your car for a track day. You’re not simply thinking of going fast in a single lap and calling it a day, but you also need the car to continuously take a beating for hours and survive. Preparations take weeks, if not months. The tires, the brakes, the engine, and all the other components that keep a car running all have to be accounted for. You do that, and you’re not even halfway done. There’s the drivers and the strategy to take care of.
But when all is said and done, there’s no better feeling seeing the finish line at the end of a 12-hour endurance race. That said, here’s an account of what went down during the race weekend:
Friday practice
The Kalayaan Cup race weekend started for us during Friday practice. This is where drivers try to get to grips with the car they’re driving, and at the same time we already brought out the stopwatch to see where our pace is and to manage the strategy for the Sunday race as well.
It was far from smooth sailing at the start. After just two practice sessions, the Atom Tech Yaris wasn’t running as fast as we wanted it to – it was down on power due to a fuel issue. It turns out, the old fuel filter is already clogged with residue to the point where the right fuel pressure no longer reaches the injectors. Luckily, it’s a minor setback as a spare fuel filter assembly was on hand and the Atom Tech Yaris was back in action shortly.
However, it wasn’t the end of our day’s problems either. By the afternoon session, the Atom Tech Yaris developed a crunchy downshift going to 2nd gear. In this case, it’s the transmission synchro that has gone bad. Without a replacement gearbox, the fear of uncertainty is indeed in the air, especially since most of the Clark International Speedway’s corners are taken at 2nd gear.
Saturday practice and qualifying
Come Saturday, the good news came early. We were able to find a replacement gearbox, but it had to be brought from Manila to Clark. Considering we have the practice session and qualifying for the day, time is clearly not on our side to wait for the new transmission. So instead, we decided to carry on with the crunching transmission and hope it lasts just until the end of qualifying.
But during the second to last practice session before qualifying, one of the brake components gave out making the car unstable everytime you step on the brakes.
In this case, it’s really a big blessing that we chose the T-badge and the Yaris platform for this race, as it had plenty of spare parts available in the nearest auto supply. All we sacrificed was a single practice session to sort out the brakes, and eventually the car was ready for qualifying.
Just when we thought we already got on top of things, we suffered another issue – the tires. Prior to qualifying, we were using tires from a different brand and were doing a pretty decent pace without pushing the car too much. The qualifying tire was supposed to give us a boost in terms of pace, but the stopwatch told a different story – we were some 2 to 3 seconds slower despite extracting the maximum out of the car. Apparently, it was a bad batch of tires from the manufacturer and we were unfortunate that the set given to us had those issues.
Despite me bringing out all the tricks in the book and all the efforts to extract a fast lap time, we ended up a lowly 19th on a grid of 21 cars. We were 7th and dead last on our class. Worse, even the sister Yaris only managed 20th because of the bad tire choice. Honestly speaking, qualifying ended with team morale down as we definitely weren’t expecting all these problems to happen at once. We were starting to think maybe this isn’t our year.
Faced with a tall task for Sunday, our team mechanics started to work all night to replace the gearbox and get the car sorted for the 12-hour endurance race. The supposed qualifying tires were also replaced with a scrubbed set similar to the one we used during practice. Really, the last thing we want is to put the mechanics’ efforts all in vain by doing a bad run. If there was anything we’d want to do on race day, that is to go flat out all the way.
Sunday – The 12-hour race
It was time to race from sunrise to sunset.
I arrived at the paddock with the Yaris race car getting its engine warmed up, and somehow I felt optimistic despite the fact that we ran into a lot of issues leading up to the main race. The stress test has brought out the car’s problems, and we seem to have all those sorted out. Engine healthy, tires good, strategy set, and our feet on the ground, the team is ready to bounce back.
And so there we were. The five red lights went out when the clock struck 5:40 in the morning, and the first seconds of the 12-hour race had commenced. Both Yaris race cars had a good start and made up a few places by the opening lap but we all know the race doesn’t end there. The true test is still up ahead but encouragingly, both cars started to come alive in terms of pace – the cars that lapped faster than us during qualifying, we were now matching and even beating their times.
As the first hour passed by, one by one the other cars in the field started to have trouble. But the two Yaris race cars, as well as the Formula V1 were charging up ahead like raging bulls. By the end of the two-hour mark, the Atom Tech Yaris entered the pits for a scheduled fuel stop. More importantly, it was time for my first stint behind the wheel.
As soon as I got out of the pits, I knew it was showtime. With the car now gripping beautifully through the corners with consistency, the confidence had never been higher. On safety car restarts, we were able to make a few more places by doing timely overtakes on track. What’s even better is that the fuel efficiency of the Yaris enabled us to run the 2-hour maximum stint for drivers before doing a fuel stop.
The Atom Tech Yaris was entered in Class 2, where the horsepower limit was capped at 150 WHP. The car was only making less than a hundred, but we were lighter and more fuel efficient than the more powerful cars on our class – with the exception perhaps of the diesel-powered Accent. That meant were catching up with our class rivals that stopped more frequent than us to top up.
After 50 laps of controlled attack within two hours, I entered the pits to turn the car over to one of our youngest drivers, Enzo Ison. And boy, it just kept getting better and better. Enzo was matching the times of the leaders, and we were only a lap down due to our fuel and driver stop. But since the other cars on our class still needed to stop, our hopes were high on trying for the win.
However, a late safety car period had prevented us from taking the class victory for the 6-hour race. It turns out, our sister Yaris race car had stopped on track. It had issues with its engine which ultimately led to its retirement from the race. On our end, the Atom Tech Yaris eventually ended up finishing the 6 hour race 2nd in Class 2 – just seconds behind the Civic FD of Atoy Customs, and the diesel-powered Accent of Team MRC.
Indeed, we caused quite an upset on that first half - but there’s still 6 more hours of racing to go.
When Enzo came in for a fuel stop, the Yaris had some coolant fluid leaking underneath. With the searing heat of Clark coming in during the noon time stop, we did not take any chances and decided to push the car inside the pit garage. Luckily, it was just a coolant hose that went loose. Thanks to our speedy mechanics, the Atom Tech Yaris was back out on the track after just 5 minutes.
Those who have been to the Clark International Speedway will know how hot it can be during midday, and so we did not just worry about the car’s health during this period, but we also took into consideration the inevitable factor of driver exhaustion. That said, we elected to do shorter 45-minute stints so both car and driver can get rest stops.
But of course, that also meant we sacrificed track position. Our drivers Ringo Abadicio, Paulo Medina, Rafa Caceres and Gav Quintos all did decent pacing on those 45-minute stints, but the frequent stops had dropped us to 4th in our class and out of the podium places. By this time, the Atom Tech Yaris also had an issue with the seat railing, but it was quickly fixed with some good ol’ fashioned cable ties and duct tape.
We fell 7 laps down as we took it easy in the noontime stints. With the top 3 cars on our class still running strongly at the time, the chance of a podium finish was slipping away. Really, the goal at the time is to just finish strong, and hope for the best. Once it was cooler in the afternoon, we decided to do longer stints again with Paul Monastrial doing a 1 hour stint, and me doing the final 1 hour 30 minutes of the race.
As the hours went by, we weren’t making any more progress on the leaderboard. It’s this part of the race where the standings have stagnated. Paul did his stint, and it was time for me to bring the car home 4th – or so I thought.
With me doing a relaxed pace while counting down the laps to the end of the race, I pulled up on the final corner with 10 minutes left. Upon approach, I saw a pitboard flashing the #17 – it was a message for me from the pits that says “Class 2, P3, Elbows Out”.
It turns out while I was out on track, the 3rd placed car on our class ran into trouble, and they fell 10 laps behind. Believe me when I say a big jolt of energy suddenly flew within me as I rowed through the gears, steered on the corners and powered through the remaining laps of the endurance race.
After what felt like an eternity, I crossed the line alongside the Formula V1 prototype after doing a 43-lap stint for a picture-perfect finish that summed up what was a roller coaster of a race weekend for all of us.
The official result netted us third place in Class 2, and 5th overall after doing a total of 256 laps with a Yaris that only had 85 WHP at the end of the race.
Going up against more powerful and more capable race cars, the road to a double podium finish in the Kalayaan 12 hour Endurance Race was never handed to us on a platter. Given our issues before the main race and the odds stacked against us, we made it through with a few tricks, some clever planning, and the belief of succeeding that’s fueled by faith.
Sure, it was stressful. Sure, it was tiring. And sure, it was a story of survival. But if you ask me if we would dare to do it again? You bet I would. 10 times out of 10.
Okay, s*x is better... but only just.
