Photo: STC2000

Leonel Pernía wins rain-hit night race on the streets of Santa Fe

Renault Sport’s Leonel Pernía claimed victory in the Super TC 2000 night race at the Santa Fe Street Circuit. He won in wet conditions ahead of his team-mate Facundo Ardusso and Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina’s Matías Rossi.

After heavy rain all afternoon, the rain ceased about half an hour before the start of the race. The field was nonetheless started behind the safety car due to the wet conditions.

The front row had Agustín Canapino of Chevrolet YPF and Renault Sport’s Pernía, ahead of Renault Sport’s Facundo Ardusso and Citroën Total Racing’s Facundo Chapur in the second row.

The green flag saw Canapino pulling away from Pernía, while Chapur overtook Ardusso for third.

Not long after, Chapur started attacking Pernía and overtook him for second two laps into the race.

There was further action three laps later as Chapur overtook Canapino at the hairpin and when the Chevrolet driver tried to reclaim the lead, they collided and Canapino went off track at the chicane.

Chapur managed to keep the lead with some damage to the floor while Canapino retired after failing to rejoin the track.

But the luck was not to last for Chapur as his floor collapsed on lap ten, sending him in a spin into the wall at the Pub turn. The Citroën driver retired and forced the safety car on track.

The incident saw Pernía moving up into the lead ahead of Ardusso, Néstor Girolami of Team Peugeot Total Argentina, Matías Rossi of Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina and Bernardo Llaver of Chevrolet YPF.

As the race restarted, Ardusso challenged team-mate Pernía for the lead and the two made contact but kept their positions.

Rossi made a move on Girolami on lap 17 for third place. The duo made contact and Rossi managed to claim third while Peugeot driver Girolami dropped two position to fifth behind Chevrolet driver Llaver.

The race ended as the time limit was reached, handing victory to Pernía ahead of Ardusso and Rossi. Llaver was fourth ahead of Girolami, Spataro, Santero and Muñoz Marchesi. Sportteam privateers Franco Riva and Matías Milla rounded off the top ten.

Canapino is still in the championship lead, despite his retirement, on 133 points. Ardusso has decreased the gap to just four points, with Rossi and Pernía joined in third on 123 points.