ESPORTS | Three Filipino sim racers to compete in Thailand
The national finals brought together the top 10 competitors in the Junior Class and the top 10 in the Sporting Class. The finalists competed in Gran Turismo across four races featuring different Toyota vehicles and tracks.
Three Filipino sim racers — Enzo Ison, Russel Reyes and Michael Velasquez — will represent the Philippines at the 2026 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) Asia Esports GT Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 14-15.
The three qualified after the National Finals of the 2026 TGR Philippines Esports GT Championship, held Sept. 27 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. They emerged from a field of more than 400 participants who joined the qualifying rounds.
The national finals brought together the top 10 competitors in the Junior Class and the top 10 in the Sporting Class. The finalists competed in Gran Turismo across four races featuring different Toyota vehicles and tracks.
Ison won the Junior Class with 130.5 points, followed by Chester Jordan Ilog with 85 points and Luth Ifamy with 76.5 points.
Reyes topped the Sporting Class with 130.5 points, while Velasquez finished second with 93.5 points. Luis Antonio Moreno placed third with 84 points.
Ison and Reyes each received P100,000 and secured places in the regional finals as class champions. Velasquez qualified as the third Philippine representative after earning the highest runner-up points across the two classes and received P75,000.
Ison, 16, said his preparations for the national finals had paid off and that he planned to train harder for the regional competition.
“I feel really great and thankful for winning in the Junior Class and having the chance to represent the country for the third time. The preparations that we made for this have certainly paid off once again. This year, we will train harder than ever to get the best results for the Asia Finals,” he said.
Ison previously represented the Philippines in the regional finals in 2024 and 2025. He won the Junior Class in 2022 and 2023 and also competes in the Tamaraw Class of the TGR Philippine Cup under the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Philippines Team.
Reyes, 25, said taking a year away from the competition gave him time to reassess his approach to racing.
“I feel really great about winning the Sporting Class this year. I felt like I had improved from how I was when I previously joined. Being gone for a year gave me a chance to reset and rethink how I race. I think this played a huge role in securing the win,” he said.
Reyes previously represented the Philippines in 2022, 2023 and 2024. He was the overall champion of the Philippine National Finals in 2023 and finished third overall in 2024.
Velasquez, who will make his first appearance in the regional finals, said he looked forward to competing alongside Ison and Reyes.
“It’s an honor to represent Team Philippines after finishing P2 in Sporting Class and the third most overall points in the TGR Philippines GT Esports Championship 2026. I’m really ecstatic to work together alongside Russel and Enzo and I look forward to us learning from each other and growing as a team,” he said.
The national finals featured four races using the Toyota GR Corolla at Brazil’s Autódromo de Interlagos, the GR Yaris at the fictional Sardegna Windmills dirt track, the GR Supra at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and the GR010 Hybrid at Germany’s Nürburgring. Changing weather conditions affected the final two races.
Sherwin Chua-Lim, Toyota Motor Philippines senior vice president for marketing, said the competition reflected growing interest in sim racing in the country.
“It was inspiring to see our finalists push themselves lap after lap at the National Finals. The enthusiasm around sim racing in the country keeps growing, and it shows how many Filipinos share the thrill and joy of motorsports,” Chua-Lim said.
He wished the three representatives success in Bangkok, where they will compete against sim racers from other countries across the region.
Full disclosure: All news articles published on the TechSabado website are written by human journalists, unless otherwise specified. Final text editing is also performed by human editors, with artificial intelligence (AI) used only to assist with additional grammar and style guide corrections..
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