Daniel Miranda bags two podiums at 2018 Asia Formula Renault

Back-to-back podium results for one of the Philippine’s most promising drivers.

Eurasia Motorsport driver Daniel Miranda has just ended the 2018 Asia Formula Renault series with a bang. After 5 legs and 10 races (2 races per leg/track), Eurasia Motorsport’s debut season ended on a high note at Sepang International Circuit (SIC), bagging podium finishes for the last two races of the season.

If his name sounds familiar, then chances are you know Daniel Miranda as the champion of last year’s Toyota Vios Cup. Having recently moved up from touring cars to open wheel racing, this was his first year in the cockpit, sharing the grid with teammate Eshan Pieris. Born in Cebu and having spent many years in go karts, single seaters were the next step for the young driver.

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Having already spent time racing on the track in the previous month, Miranda took the experience he learned from his previous sessions to clock in impressive times during free practice, granting him 3rd by the end of the practice sessions. Qualifying saw Miranda place a strong fourth, with his teammate Pieris sharing the second row of the grid with him. Race 1 saw Miranda take second place by the first corner, but this was short lived as he lost his position, slipping back to third. He finished the race in third, holding on to his position throughout the majority of the laps.

It wasn't an easy journey for me moving from the Vios Cup into single seaters. But every race and every time I was on track, I got quicker and quicker. I'm really happy I ended 2018 with a double podium which made my team and family really happy as well. I would like to thank God for keeping me safe this whole season. Thank you to my family, my sponsor Cebuana Lhuillier, my team and mechanics at Eurasia, and everyone involved for making this possible.

Daniel Miranda

Race two saw Miranda constantly being chased by teammate Pieris for most of the opening laps. A mistake would put Pieris behind, no longer becoming a threat to Miranda as it seemed that his clean driving would carry the team into another podium finish. Unfortunately, on the last lap, a bad overtake by another driver would cause Miranda to spin out, slipping and finishing into fifth. The race stewards, however, reviewed the incident, penalized the erring driver and reversed their finishing order, giving Miranda another podium finish with third place.

I can truly say that on the final race of the season, Daniel has matured a lot as a driver. He put on a good performance in Sepang and I'm happy that he's still improving. I'm very proud of his accomplishments this year. We started the year thinking that a top eight finish would be fine, but Daniel surprised us with podiums in Shanghai and Sepang, which are some of the most difficult tracks in the calendar. Hopefully we can do another season in single seaters. With the things he learned in AFR, I'm sure he will be a better driver next year.

Roland Hermoso
Driver Coach & Manager