Jomari Yllana leads biggest PH motorsport event

Actor and Parañaque City Councilor Jomari Yllana will be spearheading the biggest motorsport event to be mounted in the Philippines in years.

Presented by Okada Manila, Motorsport Carnivale 2023 is a five-day sporting event topped off by a Philippine Rallycross Series. It is expected to gather over 50 racers en route to Tarlac and back.

(From left) Okada Manila Vice President of Sales and Marketing Cielo Reboredo, Jomar Yllana, Automobile Association Philippines Head of Motorsports Rikki Dy-Liacco and Okada Manila Director for Branding Corporate and Marketing Victor Galzote

It flags off today, August 2, at the Boardwalk behind the luxury hotel resort. Spectators can watch it live from the view deck of the garden for free.

Yllana, a long-time racing enthusiast, hopes to bring back the glory days of motorsports in the country, in reference to the time when the Philippine Grand Prix was being held in Manila from 1973 to 1976. That series of events came to be known for its prestige and grandeur.

During a press conference Yllana looked back on the reason how it all started saying, “A few months ago, early this year, I asked my dear friend Rikki Dy-Liacco, who is the current Automobile Association Philippines Head of Motorsports, to talk over a cup of coffee. I said, 'You know what, it's time to give back to the sport that has been good to us. This is the sport where our careers thrived.'

“Rikki has more trophies than me, I have a few, but I said it's time to give back. So let's wake up the sleeping giant, wake up motorsports in the Philippines — that's the vision. The mission is to make it prosper and the driving force is the passion,” Yllana said.

No stranger to the sport, it will be remembered that Yllana has won and placed in several local races and is the first Filipino podium finisher at the Yeongam International Circuit in South Korea in 2014. He is also the principal driver of pro racing team, Yllana Racing.

With Okada Manila Motorsport Carnivale 2023, Yllana said he wants to encourage Filipinos to embrace rich history of Philippine motorsports by rallying all racing enthusiasts and fanatics into one community.

“We want to encourage audiences, families, to come and watch this event as a fun family festival that they can look forward to every year,” he shared.

One of the highlights of the event is “CART,” a Car Meet in memory of Eduardo “Mang Ed” del Rosario, the founding father of Cavite Auto Racing Team,

estimated to gather collectors of rare racing cars and motorsports gadgets; and Autocross Race, featuring at least 150 cars on Sunday, complete with matching champagne popping.

Awarding ceremonies will be held at Okada Manila on August 6. Special awards will be given to celebrity racers Matteo Guidicelli, Michele Bumgarner and Richard Gomez.