Mariano Werner joins Facundo Ardusso at Fiat for 2014

Toyota Team Argentina’s Mariano Werner will jump ship to join PSG16 Team’s Fiat squad for the 2014 Super TC 2000 Championship, effectively replacing José María López, after the latter’s departure for Citroën in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

24-year-old Werner has driven for Toyota since making his full-time debut in the Championship back in 2008. The young star effectively took over as team leader in 2010 when Norberto Fontana left to join PSG16, though the experienced former Formula One driver surprised all when he dominated the season in the Ford Focus, which had been relatively uncompetitive until then.

In 2011, Werner was joined at Toyota by Matías Rossi from Renault, who quickly established himself as the Toyota No.1 driver, winning the drivers’ title in his first year with the team and again this year.

Werner now joins the PSG16 Team himself, who now run the works Fiat programme as of this season. There he will be reunited with his 2010 Toyota team-mate Facundo Ardusso, who led the 2013 standings during the early stages of the season.

“I am very happy to join the team Fiat Petronas,” said Werner. “It was faster than I expected. I get to join a great team that had the 2013 season to develop the Fiat Linea, which began and ended up winning, and will surely be a title protagonist in 2014. Personally I always seek to win races, fighting for the Championship and I think that Fiat Petronas is the best option.”

Ardusso added: “I am very happy to continue at Fiat. I feel very comfortable in the team and in 2014 we will capitalise on the experience that we achieved this year. I have very high expectations for next season.”

The team plans to run four cars for 2014, after running just two cars for the full year in 2013. 19-year-old Ignacio Julián will be in the third Fiat Linea, after making his debut with Scuderia FE this season, and negotiations are ongoing for a fourth driver.