Agustín Canapino takes controversial win at Cordoba
Equipo YFP Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino took the first win of the 2013 season for the team, leading a 1-2 with Chevrolet team-mate Franco Vivian in tow, but there was a controversial collision with points leader Matías Rossi on the 15th lap of the race which saw the Toyota driver drop down the order.
Canapino had won the Super 8 head-to-head heats in the morning to grab pole position for the race, whilst Toyota’s Matías Rossi had improved his starting position to second, losing out to Canapino for pole.
At the start, Canapino held on the to the lead ahead of Rossi with Vivian’s Chevrolet in third. The Peugeot Lo Jack 408 of Nestor Girolami was in fourth whilst Franco Girolami made a good start in the third Chevrolet Cruze, but went wide and into the dust down the inside of Turn 2 and fell back, promoting Equipo Petronas Fiat driver José María López to fifth.
Equipo Petrobras Honda driver Ricardo Risatti went off circuit on lap three, which was just the start of a disastrous race for the Honda team, with Damian Fineschi retiring to the pits with three laps to go and Christian Ledesma stopping on circuit on the 23rd lap whilst running in tenth.
Throughout the first half of the race the battle raged on between Canapino and Rossi for the lead, with a train of cars behind the 23-year-old Chevrolet driver.
On lap six, fourth placed Nestor Girolami slid wide and dropped three positions, falling behind Lopez, team-mate Mariano Altuna and the second Fiat of Facundo Ardusso.
On lap ten, Canapino was able to pull out a slight lead on Rossi’s Toyota as the Toyota driver was harried by Vivian in the #14 Chevrolet Cruze, but some damaged bodywork just a few laps later saw the front-right tyre rubbing on Canapino’s Chevrolet, and he backed off, falling into the clutches of Rossi’s Toyota Corolla.
On lap 15, Rossi made a brave dart down the inside of Canapino at Turn 6, the Chevrolet driver tried to force the championship leader wide, but Rossi held on across the grass to take the lead. Heading into the next corner at Turn 7, Canapino tried to regain the position, first looking to the outside before crossing to the inside of Rossi’s Toyota, and made contact with the rear of the three-time champion’s car, forcing him off into the dust and he rejoined down in ninth place behind his team-mate Mariano Werner.
From then on Canapino found himself under pressure from team-mate Franco Vivian, who in turn was facing pressure from three-time champion José María López.
Canapino held on to take his first win of the season, and the first one-two result for Chevrolet in the Super TC 2000, with Lopez completing the podium.
Mariano Altuna finished as the top placed of the Peugeot Lo Jack Team drivers in fourth ahead of Facundo Ardusso’s Fiat and Nestor Girolami’s Peugeot in sixth.
Rossi made progess on the final lap, passing both team-mate Mariano Werner and the Renault of Leonel Pernía to take seventh and minimise the damage in the points standings.
Rossi still leads the championship on 117 points, with Ardusso on 82, Werner on 69 and Lopez up to 67 points heading to the next round of the Super TC 2000 at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit on July 14th.
