Group 3 has some of the best drivers:  Doc Peewee Mendiola, AAP-driver rated Class B and 2005 PNTCC Group 3 runner-up and Class C Champion.  Matteo Gudecelli, rated Class C and 2004 Karter of the Year and International karter.  JP Carino, rated Class B and 2003 Formula Toyota Novice champion.  Uly Maninding, Class C and multi-champion in autocross and slalom.  Jeff Borja, Class C and 2-time champion of the TRS Ford Lynx Cup.  Francisco Blanco, Class C and TRS FLC Novice Champion.  Pia Boren, 2005 TRS FLC-Expert Champion.  Plus other experienced racers like Menchie Francisco and Lory Uy.

What made Nico Montinola’s win especially interesting is that he is only rated a Novice driver and this was his 1st time to race in a National pro-series.  His only previous experience in wheel-to-wheel racing was 3 races last year in the TRS Ford Lynx Cup, a one-make series for novice racers.  However, Nico is the 2005 Run-What-You-Brung Champion in both BRC and the Subic International Raceway (SIR), a feat that has never been done by the same driver.  Nico was also the RFI Track Attack winner last January at BRC and broke the course record for closed wheel cars.  You could say he’s the King of the Banzai Lap.

So it may have not been a surprise to everyone when he qualified last Saturday on Pole position with a 2:01.0 lap time, with Doc Peewee in 2nd at 2:01.9 and JP Carino 3rd.  What was a surprise was that in Race 1, after having lost 2 positions in the start to Doc Peewee and JP and going off-track at the Casino corner, Nico was able to retake the lead and establish his dominance of BRC during the whole 12 laps of the race. Chasing down the leaders on Lap 3, Nico smashed the official Production Class Lap Record of 2005 Group 3 Champion Renan Morales with a scorching 2:00.033 fastest lap time.   He managed to cleanly overtake JP, who was in using all his defensive driving tactics to keep Nico behind him.  Then, coming in on the highly defensive Doc Peewee, Nico slipped on the inside while both cars were cornering mid-way at about 120kph in Brian’s corner.  He broke away by the time both cars reached the Casino right-hand hairpin.  It was gutsy move by the rookie against the top-seeded driver.  Nico was never challenged anymore after that.

In Race 2, Nico again had a slow start, charged to his inexperience.  Peewee was able to slip on his inside and JP also slipped ahead at Turn 1.  Then, at the Yamaha Hairpin, Nico went wide while Matteo Gudecelli slipped to his inside coming out of the corner.  Nico tried to come back inside but Matteo kept his line and bumped Nico’s left rear wheel.  That brought Nico’s car around in a 180-degree spin while the rest of the pack was closing in fast.  With a little skill and lots of luck, Nico got the car stopped facing backwards while all the cars slipped by.  He turned the car around quickly and was determined to chase the leaders all the way from last place!

After passing about 6 cars, Nico got as high as 4th place when he came up on the rear of eventual Race winner Francisco Blanco.  But just as Nico was attempting to set-up for the main straight in the last corner, he made a mistake to avoid clipping Franscisco and found himself on the gravel.  He quickly re-started and entered the track and held on to a 4th place finish. 

So, after the 1st leg of the 2006 series, these are the overall points standings for Group 3:

 
The AKULA RACING TEAM is a team of highly motivated individuals whose objective is to win the Group 3 overall championship trophy as well as the Novice Class Award.

Nico Montinola, owner, driver
Dax Santiano, race engineer and chief mechanic
Ambo Ramos, team manager
Aki Yamashiro, team muse