Matías Rossi tops qualifying session at Rosario

Toyota Team Argentina driver Matías Rossi was fastest in qualifying for the second round of the Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship at the Autódromo Juan Manuel Fangio, and will face reigning champion José María López’s Fiat in the Super 8 grid deciding heats tomorrow.

Rossi was safely through the first qualifying segment setting the eighth fastest time in his Toyota Corolla, then went faster still in Q2, setting the fastest time of all with a time of 59.865. In Q3, Rossi was the only driver to produce a time under the 1m barrier, and snatched pole position with a time of 59.736.

The 2011 champion’s closest rival was José María López in the Equipo Petronas Fiat Linea, whilst López’s team-mate and the current points leader Facundo Ardusso was third fastest.

Néstor Girolami was the top placed of the Peugeot Lo Jack Team drivers in fourth, whilst Rossi’s Toyota team-mate was fifth fastest, just two-thousandths of a second ahead of Renault Lo Jack Team’s top runner Fabian Yannantuoni.

Franco Vivian was the top Chevrolet driver in seventh, with the Toyota or Bernardo Llaver eighth, all within half a second of Rossi’s time.

Just missing out on the Q3 cut off was Honda’s Ricardo Risatti, who will start in 11th place on the grid tomorrow, with team-mate Christian Ledesma in 13th.

The Super 8 heats which will determine the final grid order for the top eight cars takes place at 9:50am local time tomorrow, with the race at 13:00.