Facundo Ardusso shines in qualifying thriller at San Juan

Renault Sport driver Facundo Ardusso set the pole position for Round 10 of the Super TC 2000, as the series returned to the threatening “El Zonda” circuit in San Juan.

The title challenger qualified ahead of Toyota Team Argentina’s Matías Rossi and Renault Sport’s Leonel Pernía.

The session started with Group B on track, the half of the field that includes the privateers and some factory drivers which are not at the front of the grid. Among them, Rafael Morgenstern placed his Toyota Corolla at the top with a lap time of 1:11.953.

Next up was Group A, which included the drivers from the top of the standings, with Carlos Merlo leading the Toyotas of Matías Milla and Esteban Guerrieri.

Lucas Benamo, Lucas Colombo Russell, Facundo Conta, Bruno Etman, Matias Muñoz Marchesi, Luciano Farroni and Javier Manta were eliminated ahead of Q2.

Emiliano Spataro led during the initial stages of Q2, until he was overtaken by Matías Rossi, with a time of 1:11.668, ahead of Werner, Canapino and La Pampa winner, Bernardo Llaver, in fifth.

When the second wave of the Q2 contenders came out, Guerrieri was one to watch considering Toyota’s strong pace. When trying to secure his place in Q3, the WTCC rookie ran wide at Turn 1 and lost out on his first attempt.

Ardusso jumped into second place on his first attempt, securing his place on the run for pole position behind Rossi.

The sun started to hide behind the mountains in San Juan, with the cooler track temperatures handing out the opportunity for quicker times. Guerrieri followed up with a stunning lap of 1:11.380, dropping Llaver from the Top 10.

Agustín Canapino was a surprise casualty, after a last-minute improvement for Peugeot’s Damián Fineschi dropped the Chevrolet driver out.

Rossi was first out in Q3, with his first lap time a 1:11.880, briefly followed by Merlo, until Guerrieri jumped to second place behind his team-mate.

Ardusso then moved to the top of the time sheets, setting the benchmark with a time of 1:11.524, ahead of his team-mate Pernía, with Guerrieri, Merlo and Rossi behind.

Rossi improved on his second attempt, but narrowly missed Ardusso’s lap time, just seven-thousands of a second behind Renault’s title challenger.

Merlo stopped on the track due to an oil leak in his Fiat Linea, and no one else could catch Ardusso, who set the pole ahead of Rossi’s Toyota, and Renault Sport’s Pernía. Guerrieri and Spataro finished fourth and fifth respectively. Merlo, Ledesma, Werner, Fineschi and Milla rounded out the Top 10.

The championship-based grid penalty system will move Guerrieri and Merlo to pole position for each of tomorrow morning’s heat races respectively.