Photo: Super TC 2000 Media

Néstor Girolami wins the first qualifying heat in Rafaela

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Néstor Girolami has won the first qualifying heat of the day in Rafaela for the first round of the Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship, and in doing so has secured a front-row start for the main race this afternoon, while it was a disastrous heat for the Equipo YPF Chevrolet team.

After championship penalties were applied to yesterday’s qualifying results, and with the grid split in two for the two heats, Matías Muñoz Marchesi started from pole position for the first heat in the Chevrolet Cruze, but it was Fiat’s Mariano Werner who was the one to watch on the opening lap as he charged past the two Peugeots ahead of him to second when the green flag waved, and then drove around the outside of Muñoz Marchesi’s Chevrolet for the lead before the end of the first lap.

Both Toyota’s Matías Rossi and Fiat’s Christian Ledesma came together at the end of the first lap, dropping them to the back of the field.

Peugeot’s Néstor Girolami took second place from Munoz Marchesi on lap two, while trying to pass both the Chevrolet driver and Werner’s Fiat at the same time. He had to wait two more laps before he was able to take the lead from Werner, passing down the inside where Werner had passed Muñoz Marchesi for the lead on Lap 1.

At the end of lap five, there was chaos behind the leader, as Facundo Ardusso’s Fiat edged into Matías Milla’s Chevrolet, which in turn slammed into the side of team-mate Muñoz Marchesi’s Cruze, with both cars immediately out with suspension damage.

The race finished under the safety car, with Girolami securing the win in the first heat for Peugeot ahead of the three Fiats of Mariano Werner, Facundo Ardusso and Ignacio Julían, with the only works Chevrolets in the race of Matías Muñoz Marchesi and Matías Milla the only retirements.

The second heat follows shortly with the other half of the grid, with the fastest race time determining whether heat two’s winner gets pole position, or whether it goes to Néstor Girolami, though with the final three laps of heat one behind the safety car, the odds are in favour of heat two’s winner claiming pole.