Agustín Canapino tributes podium to “heroic” effort by his mechanics

After a strong podium finish in Race 1 at the Santa Fe Street Circuit, Agustín Canapino praised his mechanics from YPF Chevrolet after hectic work to repair his car just two hours after his crash in qualifying.

“I’ve never seen something like this in my life, feelings were absolutely uncomparable. I can only say ‘thank you’. After my crash in Q3, I was happy if I could start the race, and I finished on the podium,” said a delighted Canapino to TouringCarTimes.com.

The Pro Racing, the operation that runs YPF Chevrolet, mechanics worked all the way to the end, doing the alignment of the car on the starting grid.

“These guys burnt their hands, almost literally, to put my car together and take the start. I started crying in the formation lap and said on the radio ‘thanks guys, you did excellent, I promise I will do my best for you,” said Canapino.

“Today they became heroes, just like Javier Mascherano said,” joked Canapino, referring to the former national football team’s captain, who said that during a 2014 World Cup semi-final against Netherlands, prior to the penalty shoot-out.

“Since we couldn’t align the car, I didn’t have my steering wheel centered, so it was hard to switch gears. It was a lot of improvisation, I even tried not changing gears much, because the physical effort was insane.”