Photo: STC2000

Renault Sport claim 1-2-3 in Buenos Aires 200km qualifying

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Facundo Ardusso with co-driver Gabriel Ponce de León claimed pole position for Renault Sport ahead of the Super TC 2000 Buenos Aires 200km race. Leonel Pernía and co-driver Damián Fineschi claimed second, followed by Matías Milla/Franco Vivian in third.

The co-drivers drivers took the wheel for the first 20 minutes of qualifying, followed by the regular entrants in another 20-minute-session. The best lap time per car was merged to define the starting grid for tomorrow’s 200km race.

Renault Sport driver Gabriel Ponce de León, co-driver to Ardusso, had a strong first run and went fastest, later beaten by team-mate Damián Fineschi who is co-driver to Pernía. Fineschi set a lap time of 1:19.857.

The following group featured the 19 regular drivers and Mariano Werner started the session by spinning his factory-prepared Fiat Linea. He was able to rejoin, albeit with flat spotted tyres.

Ardusso topped the timing sheets early on, but was beaten by Bernardo Llaver of Chevrolet YPF.

Ardusso improved his time later in the session to make it 2:39.598 for the Renault duo, putting him and co-driver Ponce de León at the top. Pernía claimed second place, just 0.169 seconds behind, followed by Milla/Vivian, half a second behind.

Julián Santero and co-driver Emiliano Spataro of Toyota will take start fourth, being just over one second slower, followed by Agustín Canapino and Franco Girolami of Chevrolet YPF.

Marcelo Ciarrocchi and Manuel Sapag of Citroën Racing claimed sixth position, with the Chevrolet YPF duo of Bernardo Llaver/Lucas Colombo Russell and the Toyota Gazoo Racing duo of Matías Rossi/Santiago Urrutia rounding off the top eight.

World Touring Car Cup front-runner Néstor Girolami will start the race from 13th position with Honda Racing team-mate Juan Ángel Rosso.

The race is scheduled to start at 11:20 local time tomorrow.