Leonel Pernía clinches second win in a row for Renault Sport

Renault Sport has taken another 1-2 finish in the Argentinian Super TC 2000 Championship, with Leonel Pernía and Facundo Ardusso scoring big for Renault at General Roca, with Fiat’s Mariano Werner completing the podium.

Pernía held onto the ahead of team-mate Ardusso at the start, while Toyota’s Julián Santero dropped back to fifth in his Corolla, with Werner passing him along with Chevrolet’s Agustín Canapino.

Toyota’s Matías Rossi then caught and passed Fabián Yannantuoni’s Fiat for eighth position. At the front, the Renault duo of Pernía and Ardusso were the fastest until lap seven, when Werner began to up his pace from third place.

After passing Yannantuoni, Rossi went on to pass José Manuel Urcera, who was seventh in the best factory Honda Civic.

Matías Muñoz Marchesi’s Fiat suffered a puncture on lap 13, while Chevrolet driver Bernardo Llaver had to retire after a contact with Urcera early in the race.

Five laps later Muñoz Marchesi stopped on track and retired after rejoining the race following his puncture. Rossi then started to attack Urcera for seventh, as Pernía, Ardusso and Werner led comfortably ahead.

The safety car came out on lap 21, and the gaps were all wiped out, but nothing changed at the restart.

Rossi eventually managed to get past Urcera, who hit him side-to-side to recover the position, taking the Toyota off the track.

Pernía won by 2.3 seconds ahead of Ardusso, Werner, Canapino and Santero.

Matías Milla crossed the line in sixth for Renault Sport, as Yannantuoni took seventh in place of Urcera, who was moved back to ninth because of the contact with Rossi, who was classified eighth, while Ricardo Risatti completed the top ten for Honda Racing.

Pernía now leads with 48 with a gap of 16 to Ardusso (now on 32), Santero and Canapino are tied on 20.

San Juan’s new circuit of ‘El Villicum’ will host Super TC 2000’s next round on May 19th.