The 2010 200 km of Buenos Aires is the seventh edition of this race on the TC2000 season. The race was held in the Autódromo Juan y Óscar Gálvez in Buenos Aires.
Bernardo Llaver and Mauro Giallombardo spearheaded a terrific weekend for Toyota Team Argentina, by claiming victory in the Buenos Aires 200 Km at the Oscar & Juan Gálvez autodrome, ahead of team-mates Facundo Ardusso/Agustín Canapino and Mariano Werner/Esteban Guerrieri. Third place allowed Werner to claim the Endurance Series Quini 6 title. The results of this, the penultimate round of the Campeonato Argentino 3M de TC2000, has led to the title going down to the wire between Leonel Pernía (Equipo Petrobras) and Norberto Fontana (Ford YPF).
The 200 Km as usual proved to be not just any other race in the calendar. Not because of the of the circuit’s long and varied history, not because of how the championship standings remain, not because of the attendance of over 50,000 spectators at Argentina’s leading motorsport venue.
But yes because the already traditional Buenos Aires 200 Km were much more than a great spectacle: the confirmation of a resurging of the Toyota team, the definition of the privateers’ title, with Fabián Yannantuoni (Vittal DTA) as its new champion, the completion of the Endurance Series Quini 6 championship, which Werner claimed, and the confirmation that only Pernía and Fontana now stand a chance of winning this year’s TC2000 championship on December 5th at San Luis.
As expected, the race had all the ingredients of this type of event. For example, the mandatory pit stops for driver changes, between laps 15 and 21.
The Toyotas were the pace-setters throughout the weekend. Although Werner/Guerrieri claimed pole on Saturday, the Japanese marque’s 1-2-3 speaks volumes about the cars’ pace in race trim. And victory for the Llaver/Giallombardo duo had a special taste, especially after the way Llaver missed out on what might have been his first win in the division at the previous round at Oberá, a fortnight ago.
However, not everything turned out perfectly for the team. Because Werner, who started the race from pole aboard the No. 9 Toyota, jumped the start and the Stewards proceeded to dictate a drive-through for him, which spelt the end of his and Guerrieri’s hopes of victory.
Their team-mate Facundo Ardusso, aboard the No. 10 Toyota Corolla, drove splendidly and overtook one of the pre-race favourites, Emiliano Spataro (Scudería Fiat), while standings leader Leonel Pernía (Equipo Petrobras) started from 11th and by the end of lap 1 he was up to 8th.
Werner’s penalty allowed Ardusso into the lead prior to handing over to co-driver Agustín Canapino, who also drove a great race and ended up as runner-up.
With Ardusso leading quite comfortably, there were a number of retirements in his wake, which gave way to a constant change of positions.
In what refers to the retirements, 10 cars exited the race during the first stages, between laps 3 and 13, such as those of Ezequiel Bosio/Marcelo Bugliotti, Emiliano Spataro/Ezequiel Baldinelli and Leandro Carducci/Stefan Johnasson (aboard Fiat Linea examples), Gabriel Ponce de León/Daniel Serra (Ford Focus), together with Mariano Altuna/Jorge Trebbiani and José María López/Gabriele Tarquini (Equipo Petrobras Honda Civics).
Spataro was one of the first retirements, after Fiat’s leading driver had arrived at Buenos Aires seeking to near in on the standings leader, so as to have a shot at the title at the forthcoming season-closer in San Luis. But a puncture on the corner at the far end of the layout spelt the finish of his and his team’s championship hopes.
Lap 15 and the cars began streaming into the pitlane for the driver changes, with most of them having been completed by lap 18. That was when Canapino took over Ardusso’s Corolla, and Giallombardo took over Llaver’s car, while Werner handed his to Guerrieri one lap later.
Fontana and Mauricio completed the swiftest driver change, which led to their Ford Focus rising to 2nd place after all the pit stops had been completed, with Giallombardo already heading towards victory.
Nearing the finish, Canapino –in a great maneouvre- and Guerrieri overtook Mauricio and went to complete Toyota’s brilliant 1-2-3, much to the pleasure of team director Gustavo Aznáres, who not even during the team’s toughest times had given up in his efforts for a recovery, thus celebrating this win in style, after much hard work.
The Fontana/Mauricio Ford finally managed to come home in 6th place, which translated into some very important championship points for Fontana, who thus closed in on standings leader Pernía (8th).
Pernía now leads the standings with 119 points to his name, followed by Fontana with 110,5, ahead of Spataro (85), who as mentioned previously no longer stands a chance of the battling for this year’s title.
Fabricio Pezzini/Hanna Abdallah (Escudería Río de la Plata), Rubén Salerno/Gustavo Der Ohanessian (JM Motorsport) and Fabián Yannantuoni/José Yannantuoni (Vittal DTA) filled the privateer’s podium, with Fabián Yannantuoni claiming the title in this division.
| Position | Number | Driver | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32 | Bernardo Llaver Mauro Giallombardo |
Toyota Corolla |
| 2 | 10 | Facundo Ardusso Agustín Canapino |
Toyota Corolla |
| 3 | 9 | Mariano Werner Esteban Guerrieri |
Toyota Corolla |
| 4 | 4 | Néstor Girolami Matías Russo |
Honda Civic |
| 5 | 12 | Christian Ledesma Yvan Muller |
Chevrolet Vectra |
| 6 | 7 | Norberto Fontana Ricardo Mauricio |
Ford Focus |
| 7 | 31 | Francisco Troncoso Rafael Morgenstern |
Toyota Corolla |
| 8 | 3 | Leonel Pernía Ricardo Risatti |
Honda Civic |
| 9 | 11 | Guillermo Ortelli Alain Menu |
Chevrolet Vectra |
| 10 | 5 | Juan Manuel Silva Felipe Maluhy |
Renault Megane |
| 11 | 51 | Ignacio Char Juan Manuel López |
Fiat Linea |
| 12 | 37 | Santiago Ventana Germán Suárez |
Honda Civic |
| 13 | Fabricio Pezzini Hanna Abdallah |
Honda Civic | |
| 14 | 27 | Rubén Salerno Gustavo Der Ohanessian |
Volkswagen Bora |
| 15 | 15 | Fabián Yannantuoni Jose Yannantuoni |
Peugeot 307 |
| 16 | 24 | Leonel Larrauri Oscar Larrauri |
Honda Civic |
| 17 | Javier Manta Gustavo Fontana |
Honda Civic | |
| 18 | Gonzalo Fernandez Alejandro Berganza |
Volkswagen Bora | |
| 19 | 18 | Juan Cruz Alvarez Nicolas Minassian |
Peugeot 307 |
| 20 | 6 | Matías Rossi Guido Falaschi |
Renault Megane |
| 21 | 35 | Martín Basso Lionel Ugalde |
Ford Focus |
| 22 | Nicolás Ursprung Ignacio Moreira |
Volkswagen Bora | |
| 23 | Jorge Cersósimo Gaston Ricardo |
Volkswagen Bora | |
| 24 | 13 | Emanuel Moriatis Diego Aventín |
Fiat Linea |
| 25 | 1 | José María López Gabriele Tarquini |
Honda Civic |
| 26 | 2 | Mariano Altuna Jorge Trebbiani |
Honda Civic |
| 27 | 14 | Emiliano Spataro Ezequiel Baldinelli |
Fiat Linea |
| 28 | 25 | Daniel Belli Adrián Chiriano |
Honda Civic |
| 29 | 8 | Gabriel Ponce de León Daniel Serra |
Ford Focus |
| 30 | 43 | Franco Coscia Lucas Benamo |
Peugeot 307 |
| 31 | 16 | Matías Muñoz Marchesi Guillermo Albertengo |
Peugeot 307 |
| 32 | 17 | Luis José di Palma Franco Vivian |
Peugeot 307 |
| 33 | 40 | Leandro Carducci Stefan Johansson |
Fiat Linea |
| 34 | 39 | Ezequiel Bosio Marcelo Bugliotti |
Fiat Linea |