Photo: Rolando Gigli

Esteban Guerrieri takes San Juan victory in a photo finish with Facundo Chapur

By

Toyota Team Argentina’s Esteban Guerrieri won the Feature Race at “El Zonda” by just three-hundredths of a second ahead of Team Peugeot Total Argentina’s Facundo Chapur, while there was fallout at Toyota after Guerrieri and team-mate Matías Rossi threw away a 1-2 finish for the team.

In the morning, Esteban Guerrieri won Heat 1, while Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino had contact with Toyota’s Rafael Morgenstern which forced him to retire, and had to start the Feature Race from the back, while Morgenstern was excluded and sent to the back as well. During the the other heat, Matías Rossi drove up to take the win followed Toyota team-mate Matías Milla, while Renault’s Facundo Ardusso pushed hard throughout and earned two points as he finished fourth.

For the feature race, Toyota pair Guerrieri and Rossi shared the first row on the grid, followed by Team Peugeot Total Argentina’s Facundo Chapur and Matías Milla for Toyota.

Guerrieri kept the lead at the start, followed by Rossi, Chapur, Milla, Javier Merlo and Facundo Ardusso, who quickly moved up from eight to fifth.

On lap two, Ardusso gained another place after overtaking Milla’s Toyota as he focussed on closing down the gap to Canapino in the battle for title. The Chevrolet driver was moving up from the last row on the grid, and quickly reached the points positions.

Rossi started closing in on his team-mate Guerrieri, while Chapur’s Peugeot pulled a small gap in third ahead of Ardusso.

The safety car came out on lap nine following an incident at the chicane between Matías Muñoz Marchesi (YPF Chevrolet) and Bruno Etman’s privateer M&M Group Fiat Linea, who was later excluded from the race.

The safety car was out again shortly after, when in a risky move over the bridge, Fiat’s José Manuel Urcera tried to pass Canapino, but with no room to manoeuvre, the resultant contact threw both cars into the tyre wall, in a move which angered Canapino’s Chevrolet team.

“There should be a police car to take Urcera to jail”, said Sebastian Martínez Ríos, one of the YPF Chevrolet chiefs on TV.

After the restart on lap 16, Guerrieri tried to open a gap over his team-mate Rossi, while Chapur chased both Toyotas. Ardusso was a little more comfortable in fourth followed by Milla, who seemed to be no threat at that point.

The race remained unchanged until lap 24, when Carlos Javier Merlo crashed heavily backwards into the concrete wall. The accident forced the safety car out for a third time, as the rescue crew aided Merlo.

On lap 31, the race restarted, and Chapur was now battling Rossi hard for second place, with Ardusso close behind also looking for a podium place. With three laps to go, Rossi made a move to try and take the lead from Guerrieri, who had not responded to an instruction from the team to let Rossi through, but both the Toyotas collided, with Chapur stealing the opportunity to move up to second ahead of Rossi.

The excitement wasn’t over, as Guerrieri ran wide at the last corner on the final lap, with Chapur slipping his Peugeot 408 up the inside, with both cars crossing the finish line side-by-side in a finish reminiscent of the 0.000 second finish two years ago between Renault’s Leoneo Pernía and Chevrolet’s Matías Muñoz Marchesi. Guerrieri’s winning margin was only three-hundredths of a second over the Peugeot, with Rossi completing the podium.

Ardusso finished in fourth, and closed in on Canapino in the drivers’ championship standings. Werner finished in fifth, followed by the Renaults of Emiliano Spataro and Leonel Pernía. Norberto Fontana was the best-placed Chevrolet in ninth, with Peugeot’s Damián Fineschi rounding out the top 10.

Ardusso has now reduced the gap to Canapino to 18 points. The Chevrolet driver leads the standings with 182, Ardusso on 164 and Rossi in third on 137.5.

The next round of the Super TC 2000 takes place at General Roca on November 6th, in what is set to be a double-header meeting.