Photo: Super TC 2000 Media

Agustín Canapino tops Practice 1 for Chevrolet in Santa Fe

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Agustín Canapino set the pace at the streets of Santa Fe in his Chevrolet Cruze, finishing ahead of Renault Sports’s Facundo Ardusso and Toyota Team Argentina’s Matías Rossi.

After an hour-delay due to issues with the tarmac, the first Group A went out on track, featuring the privateer drivers plus some of the championship contenders, such as Team Peugeot Total Argentina’s Facundo Chapur.

The red flag was out after 15 minutes, after Bruno Etman spun his privateer M&M Group Fiat Linea. At that point, Chapur was leading the session with a time of 1:42.337.

After the restart, Lucas Benamo put his privateer Escuderia FE Peugeot 408 up into second, followed by Toyota Team Argentina’s Rafael Morgenstern. Then, lap times quickly started to fall, with Germán Sirvent soon going fastest in his Renault Fluence GT, jumping into the top with a new benchmark of 1:38.381.

There was another red flag when Franco Riva went wide at the new chicane in his privateer Ford Focus and ended the first half of the session.

Group B showed the strongest drivers of the field on track afterwards. Toyota’s Matías Rossi immediately took first place with a time 1:38.212, followed by Fabián Yannantuoni in the best Peugeot so far and Renault Sport’s Leonel Pernía.

The YPF Chevrolet team showed their strong pace with championship leader Agustín Canapino and Norberto Fontana climbing to the top, before Rossi replied with another fast lap in his Toyota Corolla.

Towards the end of the session, Canapino, Ardusso and Team Peugeot Total Argentina’s Mariano Werner battled for the following places behind Rossi. Former WTCC rookie Esteban Guerrieri (Toyota Team Argentina) made his way to fourth before Canapino’s spin, which forced another red flag.

In the last minutes, Canapino blasted through to set the fastest time of the session, while Ardusso managed to place his Renault Sports’s Fluence GT in second ahead of Rossi, who ended up in third. Guerrieri ended the session fourth ahead of Pernía.

The top ten was rounded out by Emiliano Spataro (Renault Sport), José-Manuel Urcera (Fiat Petronas), Werner, Damián Fineschi (Team Peugeot Total Argentina) and Fontana.