José Manuel Urcera seals perfect weekend with feature race win for Citroën

Citroën Total Racing started the 2017 Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship season perfectly, with José Manuel Urcera scoring pole position, the sprint race victory and with a win on Sunday in the feature race, after a tough battle with French rival Renault’s Leonel Pernía.

Under a dark sky and with packed grandstands at the Autódromo de Buenos Aires Oscar y Juan Gálvez near Buenos Aires, Urcera started from pole position courtesy of his sprint race win on Saturday, and held the lead at the start despite contact with Pernía into Turn 1.

Matías Rossi kept a watching brief in third in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Corolla, while Pernía made another attempt to wrestle the lead from Urcera on lap two, having a quicker exit onto the main straight. Pernía took the lead down the inside of Urcera’s C4 Lounge, but ran wide at Turn 3, handing the lead back to the Citroën driver, and also fell behind Rossi’s Toyota to third position.

Behind the top three, Renault Sport held positions four and five as well, with Facundo Ardusso running ahead of Emiliano Spataro, with Mariano Werner the best-placed of the Peugeots in sixth.

At half-distance, Spataro took fourth place away from his team-mate, while behind the top six, reigning champion Agustín Canapino was having a tough race in his Chevrolet YPF Cruze, keeping pace just behind Werner’s Peugeot 408, but would later retire from the race on lap 29 with damage.

At the back of the top ten, WTCC-bound Esteban Guerrieri was having a hard time on his Citroën debut. On lap 23, he hit the rear of Damian Fineschi’s privateer Ford Focus, for which he would be handed a drive-through penalty, dropping him to the back of the field.

In the final laps, Urcera’s Citroën was sporting damage at the front, with his splitter starting to rub on his tyre as a result of earlier contact, with Rossi and Pernía closing in on the wounded C4.

A late safety car with six laps to go gave the field a short rest, when Facundo Chapur’s Peugeot spun off at Ascari. When the race resumed, Pernía took the fight to Rossi, taking second place from the Toyota with two laps to go, while Urcera was able to hold on to take the victory.

Following the race, the incidents between Urcera and Pernía were investigated, with both drivers receiving reprimands from the stewards for their on-track conduct.

Urcera’s win means he leads Buenos Aires with the lead of the championship on 31 points, with Pernía on 25, four ahead of Rossi.

The second round of the championship takes place on April 23rd at Potrero de los Funes in San Luis.