Photo: STC200

Esteban Guerrieri takes feature race win at Termas de Río Hondo

Citroën Total Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri won the Super TC2000 feature race at Termas de Río Hondo, a race featuring a mandatory pit stop to switch between two tyre compounds. He was followed on the podium by Chevrolet YPF’s Bernardo Llaver and Agustín Canapino.

The starting grid had Canapino of Chevrolet YPF starting on hard tyres, followed by Esteban Guerrieri, driving a Citroën C4 Lounge on softs. Llaver of Chevrolet YPF started on softs in third and Mariano Werner of Team Peugeot Total Argentina on hards in fourth.

Guerrieri took advantage of his softs to move up to the lead ahead of Canapino at the start and the reigning champion, who started on hard tyres, was easily overtaken by his team-mate Llaver, who also started on softs.

Many drivers who decided to start on softs moved up easily through the field, as they were around three seconds faster per lap than the drivers on hard tyres. Fabián Yannantuoni, who started on 18th, climbed up to fifth position on lap three.

Facundo Ardusso of Renault Sport was forced to retire on lap 17 after suffering hydraulics problem. Lucas Colombo Russell retired from fifth on lap 21 in his privateer Peugeot 408 from Escudería FE.

Canapino was ordered over team-radio to slow down on lap 18 to ensure he could make it to the end of the race on his softs. Race-leader Guerrieri managed to open a gap of six seconds over Llaver after the pit stops, with Yannantuoni more than 23 seconds behind in third.

Alessandro Salerno, who made his debut in the previous round at Rosario for Escudería FE, retired from seventh positions due to a puncture while on soft tyres.

Guerrieri, Llaver, Spataro, Yannantuoni and Etman were the only drivers to wait until the last three laps to pit of the top five drivers.

Guerrieri came out in the lead, followed by Llaver and Canapino after their pit stops. Guerrieri gave Citroën Total Racing their third win of the season, followed on the podium by Llaver and Canapino.

José Manuel Urcera of Citroën Total Racing finished fourth, followed by Spataro, Werner and Yannantuoni. Matías Rossi of Toyota Team Argentina, Martín Moggia of Citroën Total Racing and Luciano Farroni of Escudería Fela by RAM Racing rounded off the top ten.