Leonel Pernía leads a Renault Sport 1-2 at the opening round in Córdoba

Renault Sport celebrated a 1-2 result in the first round of the 2019 Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship, with Leonel Pernía taking the victory with reigning champion Facundo Ardusso second, while Toyota’s Julián Santero completed the podium.

Pernía started from pole position and kept the lead at the start from Ardusso, followed by Santero, who passed Chevrolet’s Bernardo Llaver at the first corner.

The first laps saw little action in respect of the the battle for the lead, with Pernía opening up more than three seconds over Ardusso, with Santero nine adrift.

Chevrolet YPF’s Agustín Canapino made his way through the field and was up to fourth from ninth on the grid, overtaking his team-mate Llaver and Citroen’s rookie Marcelo Ciarrocchi.

The main focus during the first half of the race was Toyota’s Matías Rossi, who had to start at the back because of a technical penalty after his car was found to be under the minimum weight in qualifying. The factory Corolla eventually reached Fiat’s Mariano Werner for eighth, and became embroiled in a long battle.

Pernía led the 1-2 of Renault Sport followed by Ardusso, as Santero delivered a strong result for Toyota with third.

Canapino crossed the line in fourth, followed by Ciarrocchi. Tomás Gagliardi Genné of Chevrolet YPF crossed the line in sixth, ahead of Rossi, Citroen’s Facundo Chapur, Werner and Renault’s Matías Milla.

Following technical scrutineering, Ciarrocchi was then excluded from fifth with his car found to be under the minimum weight, that allowed Honda’s José Manuel Urcera into the top ten.

Pernía leads the standings on 25 points, followed by Ardusso on 15, Santero on 12, Canapino on ten and Gagliardi Genné on eight.

The second round of the Super TC 2000 championship will be held at General Roca on April 28th.