José María López takes dominant win in San Luis finale

Equipo Petronas Fiat driver José María López put on a lights-to-flag display at the Super TC 2000 season finale at the Potrero de los Funes circuit, winning the final race of the season, and remarkably his first win of the year, ahead of the Renault of Fabian Yannantuoni and Franco Vivian’s Chevrolet.

Outgoing champion López had won the Super 8 heat earlier in the day to secure pole position ahead of Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino. López had the taken the lead ahead of Canapino in the one lap shootout, but neither saw the chequered flag after Canapino ran into the back of López’s Fiat, breaking the Linea’s rear-right suspension, with López forced to stop on circuit.

Canapino was able to continue, but the heat was awarded to López, with Canapino to blame for the collision, which gave the 30-year-old pole position for the race.

At the start of the 18 lap main event, López again held the lead ahead of Canapino, pulling away more successfully than he had in the Super 8 heat. It soon became clear that Canapino’s Chevrolet was struggling with an engine problem as he fell behind the Renault of Fabian Yannantuoni and his Chevrolet team-mate Franco Vivian before pulling into the pits to retire at the end of lap one.

On lap two, already crowned champion Matías Rossi’s race ended prematurely when he ran over debris his Toyota Corolla while running in fourth position. Rossi was forced into the pits to retire with damage caused to his car after the debris caused his front-left tyre to puncture.

López was unchallenged up front at this point in the race, while Yannantuoni found himself defending hard against the Chevrolet Cruze of Franco Vivian before being able to put a slight gap between them at half distance.

The third Fiat Linea of Gerardo Salaverria was forced to out of the race on lap five, shortly after an incident with Franco Riva’s Eynsha Racing Peugeot 307. Riva was knocked out of the race by Salaverria, with the Fiat driver soon heading into the pits to retire with front-end damage.

The safety car was called on lap 13, wiping out López’s three second lead when the Escuderia Fe Volkswagen Vento of Facundo Chapur stopped out on circuit.

When the race resumed, López began to rebuild his lead ahead of Yannantuoni, with Vivian having to fend off Werner’s Toyota Corolla during the final four lap sprint.

López crossed the line to take the victory with a winning margin of 1.6 seconds, securing his first win in a difficult season for the three-time champion, and his fifth podium of the year. The victory sees him leap ahead of both Toyota’s Mariano Werner and Peugeot’s Néstor Girolami to finish fifth in the drivers’ standings.

Werner’s fourth place also helped secure Toyota Team Argentina the manufacturers’ title ahead of the Renault Lo Jack Team.

The race is set to be López’s last in the Super TC 2000, with speculation circulating this weekend that he will not return to the Championship in 2014, and his only national programme will be in Argentina’s other major motorsport, the Turismo Carretera stock car series.

Ricardo Risatti finished fifth for Honda, advancing five places from his qualifying position, finishing ahead of Facundo Ardusso’s Fiat.

The three Renault Fluences of Guillermo Ortelli, Leonel Pernía and Emilano Spataro followed just over five seconds behind, with the Peugeot of Néstor Girolami rounding out the top ten.