Photo: STC2000

Leonel Pernía excluded from qualifying race after technical infringement

Renault Sport’s Leonel Pernía has been excluded from the Super TC 2000 qualifying race in Potrero de los Funes following the technical scrutineering. His car was reported to have an illegal floor at the front.

Former WTCC entrant has had his car ruled out after finishing fifth in the qualifying race, won by Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina’s Gabriel Ponce de León.

“I’ve been informed about my exclusion. The floor was reported illegal, but of course it’s because it has had damage during the race. Even a piece of it was ripped off after some contact. There’s no criteria by the stewards, I set pole-position earlier and my car had passed the scrutineering without any problem. After the race where I had the damage, they took another measure that was considered wrong,” said an upset Pernía to local radio Campeones.

“They have no criteria, it’s impossible to tweak the floor between qualifying session and qualifying race. We barely have enough time to get back into the car and go out on track again. The CDA (local sporting regulators) are mistaking again and again. I don’t feel like racing in these conditions”, he concluded.

Following his exclusion, he will have to start tomorrow’s race from the back of the field. Agustín Canapino (Chevrolet YPF) inherited fifth place, ahead of Mariano Werner (Team Peugeot Total Argentina), Ignacio Julián (Renault Sport), Bernardo Llaver (Chevrolet YPF), Matías Rossi (Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina) and Esteban Guerrieri (Citroen Total Racing).