Second victory in a row for Agustín Canapino at the Santa Fe night race

Agustín Canapino gave Chevrolet their first victory ever in the streets of Santa Fe, and won his second race in a row in the 2016 Super TC 2000 Championship season. In a relatively quiet race with plenty of safety cars, he was followed by his championship contenders Facundo Ardusso and Emiliano Spataro, both driving for Renault Sport.

Canapino and Ardusso shared the first row on the grid, and the Chevrolet driver held onto the lead at the start, but two accidents forced out the safety car out. First, Esteban Guerrieri’s Toyota Corolla clashed with Matías Muñoz Marchesi’s Chevrolet Cruze on the way into the chicane, leaving both of them out of the race, and then Ignacio Julián crashed his Renault Fluence at the exit of the first corner, with Luciano Farroni also having contact with the wall, damaging his privateer Peugeot 408.

After a strong 12th place in qualifying, privateer Franco Riva had to retire on the first lap due to mechanical issues in the only Ford Focus in the field.

The safety car came was out for four laps, which meant more than 12 minutes vanished of the maximum 50 minutes race distance, while the rescue crew tried to carry away the wrecked cars all around the track.

After the green flag, Canapino held Ardusso and Spataro behind him, whilst Peugeot’s Mariano Werner tried to stay close to the Renaults in fourth. The field stayed quiet with minor changes during the first laps.

Ardusso tried to stay close enough to put pressure on Canapino, who wanted to extend the gap in the championship standings.

Matías Milla was the first driver to attempt an overtake at Turn 1, passing Christian Ledesma’s Renault Fluence GT and moving up to 12th.

Werner had to divide his time between chasing Spataro for third, and holding Fontana’s Chevrolet behind him. Milla, meanwhile, repeated his move at Turn 1, this time he overtook Peugeot’s Damián Fineschi.

When Norberto Fontana’s Chevrolet had a slow exit from the chicane, Leonel Pernía was able to overtake him for fifth, after a slight rubbing between both cars.

Manuel Mallo crashed into the wall on lap 16 while he was in last position, with the safety car out for second time.

At the restart, Ardusso tried to fool Canapino entering Turn 1 by the outside, but the Chevrolet driver was able to close the door with Spataro, Werner, Pernía and Fontana remaining behind.

One lap later, Pernía had to retire for the first time this season after an engine failure ignited a fire, which also forced him to skip the chicane. That promoted Fontana back to fifth, and brought out the safety car one last time.

The maximum 50 minutes forced the race to be finished under safety car. Canapino won his second race in a row of the season, and his second consecutive at this track after winning the event last year with Peugeot.

Renault Sport put Ardusso and Spataro on the podium, with Werner finishing fourth, followed by Fontana. Matías Rossi arrived in sixth with the best-placed of the Toyotas. Behind him, Carlos Javier Merlo was the best of the Fiats in seventh, while Germán Sirvent (Renault Sport), Damián Fineschi (Team Peugeot Total Argentina) and Christian Ledesma (Renault Sport) rounded out the top ten.