Facundo Ardusso completes perfect weekend at Termas de Río Hondo
Renault Sport repeated the 1-2 from Saturday with Facundo Ardusso and Leonel Pernía winning the Super TC 2000 feature race at Termas de Río Hondo. Matías Rossi completed the podium for Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina.
Ardusso claimed the lead from pole at the start of the race in front of Pernía, Canapino and Rossi, a race held under extreme temperatures of 35ºC (95ºF). Canapino immediately started putting pressure on Pernía for second place, nearly spinning off at Turn 12 at the end of the first lap.
The fight meant that Ardusso could open up a gap in the lead of the race. The first lap also saw Alessandro Salerno of privateer Peugeot Junior Team retiring due to a technical issue.
On lap five the pit stop window opened and Citroën Total Racing’s José Manuel Urcera came in from sixth immediately, followed Bernardo Llaver, Emiliano Spataro, Federico Iribarne.
Mariano Werner of Team Peugeot Total Argentina was in fifth when he made his stop at the end of lap six.
When Werner exited his pit spot, he made contact with Matías Milla’s Citroën C4 Lounge, leaving him facing the wrong way in the pit lane. The rules state the car in the fast lane, Milla in this case, has priority and Werner was black-flagged three laps later for the incident.
Former WTCC driver Néstor Girolami entered pits from 12th place on lap seven, but a wheel gun got stuck during his stop, making him lose vital time.
Rossi entered the pits on lap eleven from fourth place, and changed his front tires, making for a time in the pits of 30.9 seconds, second fastest of all behind Urcera’s stop of 30.7 seconds.
Canapino went for two fresh front tires on lap 13, in another clean pitstop.
Ardusso completed his pit stop from the lead on lap 14 and came out in second, ahead of Rossi and Canapino while Pernía was yet to pit.
Moments later, Llaver’s rear right tire exploded, sending him in a spin off track. Llaver managed to go back to pits and resumed the race after changing the punctured tyre.
Pernía came in from the lead not long after and his pitstop looked quicker than Ardusso’s. But the Renault driver had completed a fast out lap and regained the lead when Perná rejoined the track.
Ardusso won the race after 23 laps, repeating the 1-2 from yesterday’s qualifying race for Renault Sport ahead of team-mate Pernía. Rossi completed the podium ahead of Canapino, Spataro and Yannantuoni.
Canapino has had his championship lead over Ardusso reduced to just two points, 173 versus 171. Pernía is placed third on 160 points and Rossi is fourth on 155 points.
The next Super TC 2000 round takes place on October 7th at San Nicolás, 200 kilometres north of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires. The circuit is brand new and was completed earlier this year.
