Facundo Ardusso wins for Renault in Mendoza
Facundo Ardusso has won the third round of the 2016 Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship in Mendoza in front of a crowd of 30,000, and now sits second in the drivers’ championship behind Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino.
The race saw the return of the “joker” last trialled in November last year, allowing the cars to short-cut the circuit without penalty twice throughout the 23-lap race.
Renault drivers Ardusso and Ignacio Julían started from the front row after both emerging victorious in the morning’s qualifying race heats, with Julian holding the lead at the start over Ardusso into the first corner, however Facundo Chapur in the Peugeot 408 managed to get ahead of the two Renaults at Turn 3, before contact with team-mate Damian Fineschi saw them both tumble down the order, handing the lead to the Renaults, with Ardusso now ahead of Julían in the order.
Mariano Werner snuck into the lead for Peugeot using the joker when the window opened on lap three, with Esteban Guerrieri also using his joker to move to second in the Toyota Corolla.
The two drivers would use up both of their jokers before Ardusso had even used his allocation once, which proved critical in the race.
Ardusso dropped down the order as the rest of the field used their allocations, with the Renault driver leaving it to the final laps to implement his strategy, leaping to fourth on his first use before assuming the lead with his second and final joker, claiming his fourth career victory in Super TC 2000.
A strong weekend sees the Renault Fluence GT driver now second in the standings, five points behind new championship leader Agustín Canapino on 61, with Ardusso’s Renault team-mate Emiliano Spataro third, six behind him.
The next round of the championship is at Autodromo Oscar Cabalén in Cordoba on May 29th.
