Photo: STC2000

Facundo Ardusso moves closer to title with pole position in Córdoba

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Renault Sport’s Facundo Ardusso claimed pole position for the last Super TC 2000 round of the season in Córdoba. He beat Chevrolet YPF’s Agustín Canapino and team-mate Leonel Pernía. Only Mariano Werner, who will start seventh, can beat Ardusso for the title tomorrow.

Qualifying featured two groups for Q1, both divided in the top and bottom half of the championship standings. The last one, Group B, started the session under extreme temperatures with 45°C in the air and 52°C on track, making for nearly 80° in the cockpits.

Facundo Conta led Chevrolet YPF’s 1-2 after half of the field had qualified with 1:32.057, followed by his team-mate Manuel Mallo and Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina’s Gabriel Ponce de León.

When the second group came out, Citroën Total Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri moved up to second and Facundo Chapur of Team Peugeot Total Argentina claimed fourth.

The four title contenders, Ardusso of Renault Sport, Canapino of Chevrolet YPF, Werner of Team Peugeot Total Argentina and Matías Rossi of Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina moved easily into Q2.

Canapino tried hard in Q3 to keep his title hopes alive as he needed to claim pole position. The Chevrolet driver was leading the way initially with 1:32.282, followed by Pernía and Guerrieri.

But Ardusso set a strong lap time and claimed pole position with 1:31.970, followed by Canapino and Pernía.

Guerrieri finished fourth, followed by Rossi and Fineschi on the third row for the feature race grid. Werner, Muñoz Marchesi, Conta and Mallo rounded off the top ten.

Pole position awarded one point, moving Ardusso to 192 points, with Werner in second on 155 points. 40 points are still to play for in the final race of the year. The qualifying result left Rossi and Canapino out of contention for the title.

The race is scheduled for 12:05 local time today. Ardusso will be champion if he finishes in 13th place or higher, while Werner needs to win and expect his rival to finish 14th or worse in order to claim the title.