Matías Rossi wins the first race at General Roca

Matías Rossi won the first race at General Roca, while Renault’s Facundo Ardusso retires from the lead, and writes off his championship chances. A podium finish for Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino means he can secure his first Argentinian Super TC 2000 championship title on Sunday.

The double-header at General Roca this weekend features a pair of races, and for Saturday’s race, Renault’s Facundo Ardusso had claimed pole position ahead of team-mate Leonel Perniá, with the Toyota Corolla of Matías Rossi lining up third on the grid.

Behind them was Escudería FE Peugeot driver Luciano Farroni in an impressive fourth, while championship leader Agustín Canapino, starting sixth in his Chevrolet Cruze.

At the start, Ardusso held onto the lead, with Pernía covering his team-mate by staying in second ahead of Rossi and Farroni, while Canapino was quickly up to fifth ahead of Javier Merlo’s factory Fiat.

Rossi was able to pass Pernía’s Renault Fluence GT on the second lap and went on the chase for Ardusso, just as the safety car was out after contact between the Toyota of Matías Milla and Peugeot’s Fabian Yannantuoni, which also caught up the Chevrolet of Matias Muñoz Marchesi.

There was some initial confusion as it wasn’t clear if Rossi’s pass on Pernía had taken place before the safety car had been deployed.

At the restart, Ardusso tried to pull away from Rossi, while Pernía, Farroni and Canapino followed, meanwhile Peugeot’s Mariano Werner and Renault’s Emiliano Spataro moved ahead of Merlo’s Fiat for sixth and seventh positions.

Canapino passed Farroni for fourth on lap seven, with the youngster putting up a light defence against the championship leader, who now had to try and catch back up to the leading trio.

Werner would also pass the privateer Peugeot 408 of Farroni and began to close onto the tail of Canapino’s new second-generation Cruze.

On lap ten, the battle for lead began to hot up, as Rossi started to harry Ardusso’s Renault, twice trying the switchback to get ahead, putting pressure on this championship contender.

Ardusso began to lock up under pressure, and eventually went wide at the end of the back straight, and retired with steering problems, handing Rossi the lead which he would hold on to the finish.

Farroni wasn’t rewarded for his strong pace, with the independent Peugeot driver retiring from the race shortly afterwards.

Rossi went on to win the race almost six seconds clear of Pernía’s Renault with Canapino completing the podium, with the Argentinian just needing to extend his points gap by three points over Ardusso tomorrow to secure his first Super TC 2000 title.

“Just one turn before Rossi overtook me, something broke on my car,” said a dejected Ardusso after his retirement. “It was my steering I think. It’s a shame, I was controlling him well. My chances are over now.”

Rossi, third in the standings and 38.5 points behind Canapino, isn’t giving up on the title yet and is looking for another strong result on Sunday.

“I’m not looking back at what happened in San Juan, I must keep confident and see how it goes tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll battle hard to win and take the title fight to Córdoba.”

Canapino praised his new Chevrolet Cruze after the race, which is still yet to take its first win since it was introduced two race meetings ago mid-season.

“I’m happy but not too excited, since I’m (on the podium) because of the problem my rival Ardusso had,” said Canapino. “Our potential is amazing, considering this car is in its first races.”

The second race of the weekend is scheduled at 12:20 ART on Sunday, preceded by a second qualifying session at 9:05.