Photo: Renault Sport Argentina

Facundo Ardusso leads Renault 1-2 in qualifying at Rosario

By

Facundo Ardusso secured pole position for Race 1 this weekend for the first of two feature races at the fourth round of the Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship in Rosario, Sante Fe – with team-mate Leonel Pernía completing the front row for the French manufacturer.

Qualifying began with an overcast sky, with Qualifying 1 split into two groups. Chevrolet’s Manuel Mallo initially led the first session at, while Citroën driver Esteban Guerrieri stopped on track. Leonel Pernía then improved to top the session with a time of 59:392, with Mallo demoted to second, with Renault team-mate Ardusso third quickest.

Eliminated after Qualifying1 were Germán Sirvent (Renault), Luis José di Palma (Renault), José Manual Urcera (Citroën), Martín Moggia (Citroën), Juan-Angel Rosso (RAM Racing Ford), Emmanuel Cáceres (Fiat), Gustavo Micheloud (Riva Racing) and Javier Manta (JM Motorsport).

The 11th to 20th fastest from Q1 were the first group to go out in again in Q2, which was initially led by Toyota’s Matías Rossi with a time of 59.470. The Renault pair of Ardusso and Pernía then went faster as drops of rains began to fall, with team-mate Emiliano Spataro spinning off at the final turn and bringing out the red flags.

Chapur, Damián Fineschi (RAM Racing), Bernardo Llaver (Chevrolet) and Luciano Farroni (RAM Racing) managed to stay in the top ten, before the rain began to fall more heavily. Carlos Javier Merlo (Fiat) saw his Q3 dreams scuppered after he stopped on track. Ardusso went on to finish Q2 on top with a time of 59.229.

Ignacio Julián (Renault), Bruno Etman (Toyota), Matías Muñoz Marchesi (Peugeot), Facundo Conta (Chevrolet), Fabián Yannantuoni (Peugeot), Matías Milla (Toyota), Esteban Guerrieri (Citroen), Gabriel Ponce de León (Toytoa), Carlos Javier Merlo (Fiat) and Spataro ended Q2 from 11th to 20th and were eliminated.

The rain was falling even more heavily for the final part of qualifying, with the times now a few seconds slower than earlier.

As a result, Ardusso’s pole position time was back over the one-minute barrier, with a time of 1:02.520, followed by Pernía, Peugeot’s Facundo Chapur, Damien Fineschi’s Ford and Team Peugeot Total Argentina’s Mariano Werner.

Toyota’s Matías Rossi, Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino, Ford’s Luciano Farroni and the Chevrolets of Bernardo Llaver and Manuel Mallo completed the top ten.

Race 1 is scheduled for 16:05 ART.