Photo: Super TC 2000 Media

José María López triumphs in the rain at Oberá

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José María López took his second win of the 2012 Super TC 2000 season in extremely wet conditions at the Autódromo Ciudad de Oberá, holding off Peugeot’s Néstor Girolami for victory.

The race was started behind the safety car due to heavy rain, which persisted throughout the race. López started from pole position in the PSG16 Team Ford Focus alongside Leonel Pernía’s Renault Fluence, whilst problems for López’s team-mate Jorge Trebbiani forced him to miss the start, where he would have begun in fifth position.

When the safety car pulled in at the end of lap one, it was Agustín Canapino who made swift progress in the treacherous conditions, moving up to second in the Chevrolet Cruze from third on the grid as Pernía fell back, before the safety car was quickly brought out again with a number of cars spinning off the track.

At the next restart on lap seven, Pernía began to push forward from fifth, passing Renault Lo Jack team-mate Mariano Altuna for fourth just one lap after the safety car came in.

Agustín Canapino was unable to maintain station in second, which allowed López to pull away. Néstor Girolami was able to slip ahead of the Chevrolet-driver in his Peugeot 408, with Pernía following through into third position on lap eight. Canapino would lose further ground as the race went on and would eventually cross the line in eighth place.

The two Hondas enjoyed a good race with Ricardo Risatti and Gabriel Ponce de León both working their way up the order up to fifth and sixth positions, but a late spin for Risatti with just over one minute to go dropped him down to 15th, whilst Ponce de León lost a spot to Championship leader Mariano Werner and finished in sixth.

López had to fight off a late charge from Girolami, with the Peugeot driver closing up to within a second of the 2008-2009 champion; but López was able to hold on to take his second consecutive win of the season, in only his third race with the PSG16 Team. Girolami and Pernía completed the podium for Peugeot and Renault, with Altuna’s Renault in fourth and Mariano Werner’s Toyota in fifth position.

The next round of the Championship is at Rafaela on the 12th August in two weeks time.