Matías Rossi crowned champion as Agustín Canapino wins season finale

Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina driver Matías Rossi finished third in the Buenos Aires season finale today, scoring enough points to claim his fifth Super TC2000 title. Main rival Agustín Canapino won the race for Chevrolet YPF to finish second overall, eight points behind.

Toyota driver Julián Santero started from pole position but was overtaken by Canapino at the start. Santero then immediately allowed team-mate Rossi past him up into second behind the Chevrolet driver.

Santero later reclaimed second position and tried to gain on Canapino, as Rossi only needed to finish eighth to win the title.

Former champion Facundo Ardusso of Renault Sport was running in fourth place in the early stages of the race, followed by Toyota driver Rubens Barrichello in fifth.

Outgoing champion Leonel Pernía managed to snatch fifth from Barrichello as the race had passed the mid-point.

Pernía passed Ardusso on lap 18, while Toyota drivers Santero and Rossi in positions two and three kept trying to close in on leading driver Canapino.

But the positions remained static in the final part of the race and Canapino crossed the line first, close to two seconds ahead of Santero and Rossi.

Pernía and Ardusso finished fourth and fifth, with former F1 driver Barrichello rounding off the top six.

Rossi claimed the title on 188 points, with Canapino second and Santero third. Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina claimed the teams’ title.

Rossi, aged 36, claimed his first two titles in 2006 and 2007, followed by his third in 2011 and his fourth in 2013.

The next Super TC 2000 season is set to start on March 13-14 at a yet to be confirmed venue.