In Philippine Motorsports, two names are at the front position of its accelerated growth and development today: the indefatigable husband and wife team of JP Tuason and Jeanette Ipapo Tuason, the driving force behind the Tuason Racing School who are on a mission to take Philippine racing to the top.
“From being perceived as an elitist sport, we want to make racing accessible to people,” says Jeanette, vice president for Marketing and Business Development of TRS and JP’s real life racing partner. “We aim to provide world class training so that the Filipino racer can be at par with other race car drivers all over the world.”
Empowered by this mission, TRS, which they founded in 1999, offers core Race Training classes in Basic Circuit Racing, Basic Karting, Formula Car Testing, and High Performance Driving. Among their well known graduates include Mike Toledo, Cito Beltran, Gabby de la Merced, Michelle Bumgarner, Rhian Ramos, and Sam YG.
“We have trained everywhere in the world and collaborated with other racing schools so that our graduates will have access to all opportunities,” Jeanette says. “Our vision is to eventually have our drivers compete on equal footing skill-wise with first world countries. “
From this and along with the increasing popularity of their racing classes, expansion to Racing Team Management, Events Management including Teambuilding sessions for corporate clients, a California Superbike School for riders and motorcycling enthusiasts in partnership with CSS founder Keith Code of the United States, and a classroom and hands-on Educational Program that focuses on Road Safety and Defensive Driving Training became inevitable.
Perhaps the most popular local racing event that they organize is the Vios Cup, along with other exciting races like the Ford Focus Cup, the Marlboro Red Rush, the Ford Fiesta Cup, Smart Addict-Ford Lynx, among others. Now on its fourth season, the Vios Cup has been attracting celebrities and novice drivers alike, and has become a much anticipated event in the country.
As their way of giving back, Road Safety has been one of their key advocacies, to “create better drivers on the road and on the track.” To date, over 20,000 drivers have attended JP’s driver safety seminars in the last eight years. They do road safety seminars in schools, for corporate fleets and even PUV drivers says Jeanette.
JP Tuason was already enjoying a celebrated and multi-awarded career in motorsports before shifting gears as an entrepreneur. At age 13 he had garnered numerous title finishes in karting before moving up to ralley cross, touring cars, and the prestigious Formula 3 circuit both here and across Asia. He also received further training from top racing schools as Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, and he is the only certified Filipino BMW M driver Trainer.
Jeanette, a mother of five and concurrently a motoring journalist apart from her role at TRS, is equally responsible for Tuason Racing School’s diversification into new areas, with her entrepreneurial spirit and keen understanding of the ins and outs of the racing industry.
The next exciting stage in TRS’ diversification is the introduction of the Formula V1 race car, outfitted with a 1.5 liter engine with 110 horsepower, with a top speed of 200 kph, a single seater, kit race car assembled in the Philippines in partnership with West Race Cars Japan. The same cars are popularly raced in Japan with similar race series being introduced in China and Taiwan.
Indeed, the success of the Tuason Racing School is very much the result of the passion and dedication of JP and Jeanette and the complimentary support that they provide each other. And as TRS continues to grow, so goes Philippine motorsports as it steadily takes the lead in the region and beyond.
For more information on Tuason Racing School, visit www.tuasonracing.com.
