Photo: STC2000

Leonel Pernía claims lights-to-flag victory at Oberá

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Renault Sport driver Leonel Pernía won the Super TC 2000 feature race at Oberá, followed on the podium by Chevrolet YPF’s Bernardo Llaver and Facundo Ardusso of Renault Sport.

Qualifying race had placed Pernía, Llaver and Team Peugeot Total Argentina’s Facundo Chapur on the front of the grid following the exclusion of Fabián Yannantuoni, whose front splitter was found to be illegal during scrutineering.

A triple collision happened during the start at the back of the field between Yannantuoni and privateers Antonino García of Escudería FE and Franco Riva of Riva Racing, with Riva’s Ford Focus III sustaining visible front-end damaged.

Pernía and Llaver managed to escape from Chapur at the front, with Chapur having to defended from early overtaking attempts of Ardusso to get third place.

A spin by Javier Manta, in the JM Motorsport-prepared privateer Chevrolet Cruze, forced the safety car out on lap eight.

Just after the restart, Rossi confirmed via radio to have hydraulic problems which likely came from his collision with Conta on the first lap. WTCC entrant Esteban Guerrieri of Citroën Total Racing clashed with Emiliano Spataro of Renault Sport while fighting for 12th position.

Meanwhile, Rossi came into the pits to repair his hydraulic problem, losing all his chances of scoring points for the championship. Guerrieri came in with problems with his gearbox not long after.

Yannantuoni collided with Chevrolet YPF’s Manuel Mallo on lap 18, sending both cars off the track. At the same time, Carlos Javier Merlo retired his factory Fiat Linea following fuel-pressure problems, forcing the safety car on track again.

The race restarted on lap 22, two laps later Ardusso out braked Chapur and overtook him for third, becoming the championship leader for a short while until Werner also made his way past Chapur to equalise the points.

Pernía went on to win for the first time in nearly two years, followed on the podium by Llaver and Ardusso. Werner, Chapur and Canapino finished in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Fineschi finished seventh, while Muñoz Marchesi, Julián and Spataro rounded off the top ten.

Super TC 2000 will hold its next round on September 2-3rd at the Santa Fe Street Circuit double-header, featuring a night race on the Saturday.