Photo: APAT Press

Hanna Abdallah and Leonel Pernia dominate at Rio Gallegos

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Hanna Abdallah won the first race on Saturday in the Class 2 category of the National Touring Cars at Rio Gallegos from pole position in his 1.6 Renault Clio. The second and third race saw Renault driver Luciano Bosio and Volkswagen driver Andrés D’Amico claiming the honours.

Sunday’s main event was another example of Abdallah’s domination. In the start, it looked like Adrián Percaz’ Peugeot was going to be able to overtake the Renault in the outside line of Turn 1, but the threat finished just there. Percaz and Bosio began a fight for second position and got away from D’Amico, but when the pace car showed up they switched places and later on the Peugeot driver would fall to sixth.

Championship leader Lucas Mohamed (Volkswagen) finished seventh, so with two rounds to go, the title push is headed by him on 221 points, followed by other four candidates: Abdallah on 216, Percaz on 208, Bosio on 188 and Lucas Bagnera on 173.

Guillermo D’Aguanno put his Alfa Romeo 147 on pole in the 2-litre category ahead of Leonel Pernía (Renault Mégane) and Matías Rossi (Citroën C4), 0.145s and 0.189s behind him respectively.

The 20-lap race was headed by Pernía with his Mégane RS chased by D’Aguanno and local entrant Sebastián Gómez who had overtaken Rossi in his Kia Cerato.

Gómez was among the fastest in the time chart and did not take long to climb to second, where he would stay until the end. Engine problems stopped the Alfa Romeo, so Iván Saturni (Ford Focus) found himself third, completing the list of participants making it to the podium. Matías Machuca was doing well trying to take third, but a clash with Saturni caused his front bumper to break, after which he fell down in the field.

From tenth on the grid, Facundo Chapur took his Peugeot 308 to fifth and started to attack Rossi. Under pressure, the Citroën went wide, which gave Chapur enough room to earn his position and clashing with Jonatan Castellano’s Chevrolet Vectra. As a consequence, Rossi was delayed to eighth, while Chapur reduced the gap to 29 points out of the 72 still available in the series. Meanwhile, Leonel Pernía became the second driver to repeat wins so far this season.

Rossi still leads the championship on 239 points and Facundo Chapur is the only one who can beat him after this race on 210 points.