The 2006 200 km of Buenos Aires is the third edition of this touring car race on the TC2000 season. The race was held in the Autódromo Juan y Óscar Gálvez in Buenos Aires.

Report

In front of more than 45,000 spectators, displaying much aptitude and aplomb, Argentina's Matías Rossi and Switzerland's Alain Menu, aboard a Chevrolet Astra of the Chevrolet Elaion team, the pairing came home winners of the third edition of the Buenos Aires 200 km, round 12 of the Argentinian TC2000 Championship. Second place went to Martín Basso and Brazil's Hoover Orsi (Ford YPF), and third to Fabián Flaqué and Ernesto Bessone (RV Competición). Buenos Aires, October 29, 2006.- In front of more than 45.000 spectators, displaying much aptitude and aplomb, Argentina's Matías Rossi and Switzerland's Alain Menu, aboard a Chevrolet Astra of the Chevrolet Elaion team, the pairing came home winners of the third edition of the Buenos Aires 200 km, round 12 of the Argentinian TC2000 Championship. Second place went to Martín Basso and Brazil's Hoover Orsi (Ford YPF), and third to Fabián Flaqué and Ernesto Bessone (RV Competición).

A very inspired Rossi, as he usually is on each round, and a very efficient Menu, gave shape to a duo which dominated at Buenos Aires, because the "Grenadier" (as Rossi is known) -who drove the first stint- climbed through the field from 8th on the grid, to first place, and handed over his car in perfect condition to his co-driver, who kept it in front and escaped even further from his pursuers.

Apart from the great show provided by these two, in this special event of TC2000, there are many things to point out which gave the day a special brilliance and added more ingredients to the fight for the title. The other contenders, Gabriel Ponce de León (Ford-YPF) and Juan Manuel Silva (Honda Petrobras Lubrax) faced a series of problems and did not add to their championship tally.

Deception came quickly for "Pato" Silva, as on lap 3 he saw as his car's race ended after his co-driver was nerfed off the track by Flaqué (who stated that it was "unavoidable") at the exit of Ascari and ended up in the barriers.

For Ponce de León the story was different, but finished in the same way. The driver from Junín started from 10th and was in 7th place when he stopped at the pits for the driver change on lap 17. After a very quick driver change (15 secs) the number 1 Focus stalled, but the team got it going rapidly again. All would come to an end when Brazil's David Muffato overdid things and hit the tyre barriers.

While their rivals encountered trouble, Rossi climbed through the field and from 4th, shortly after the start, he got past Flaqué on the back straight before the end of lap 1 and did the same with Ortelli (Renault Mégane) on lap 3, and a lap later he overtook Basso superbly at Salotto, with a move that will remain in everyone's minds for a long time.

Once in the lead, the only remaining official Chevrolet driver (Christian Ledesma and Marcelo Bugliotti had already retired) began to worked out an advantage by way of several lap records, while behind him, Basso and Ortelli fought it out for second, closely followed by Emiliano Spataro (Sportteam), Diego Aventín (Honda Petrobras Podium) and Norberto Fontana (Toyota Team Argentina).

As from lap 15, driver changes were allowed. Rossi stopped and handed over to Menu, while Ortelli overtook Basso on lap 16, and soon after Basso stopped. But, in the best Formula One style, the Ford team was quicker than the Renault pits staff and Orsi went out onto the track before Verna could retain 2nd place.

After the mentioned driver changes, Spataro took the lead and tried to edge away from his rivals prior to his pit stop, but his efforts were not enough and co-driver Cacá Bueno went back to the track in 3rd behind Menu and Orsi. Flaqué was also coming through the field and claimed 2nd place following the pit stops before he handed over his Ford Focus to Ernesto Bessone on lap 20.

After the driver change period, Menu was a comfortable leader, with a 14secs cushion over Orsi, who in turn was followed by Bueno, Verna and Bessone, who would be one of the leading protagonists of the latter stages of the race, together with Switzerland's Menu and Brazil's Felipe Maluhy (Lucas Benamo's co-driver in the Renault TC2000 Team).

Menu set a number of lap records and increased his advantage on his way to a resounding victory. Bessone got past Verna and Bueno and ended up in 3rd place, while Maluhy also got the better of Verna and then unsuccessfully tried to get past his countryman Bueno.

Behind these came the driver pairings of Leandro Carducci/Henry Martin and Rubén Salerno/Roberto Urretavizcaya, aboard VW Boras of the privateer Sportteam outfit, completing a great job by team directed by Sergio Polze, with three cars in the first seven places. The first ten places were completed by Maximiliano Merlino/Sebastián Diruscio (Proas Motorsport) and Guillermo Valle/José Luis Di Palma (RV Competicion).

Results

Position Number Driver Car
1 8 Argentina Matías Rossi
Switzerland Alain Menu
Chevrolet Astra
2 2 Argentina Martín Basso
Brazil Hoover Orsi
Ford Focus
3 20 Argentina Fabián Flaqué
Argentina Ernesto Bessone
Ford Focus
4 3 Argentina Emiliano Spataro
Brazil Cacá Bueno
Volkswagen Bora
5 12 Argentina Lucas Benamo
Brazil Felipe Maluhy
Renault Mégane
6 11 Argentina Guillermo Ortelli
Argentina Rafael Verna
Renault Mégane
7 4 Argentina Leandro Carducci
Argentina Henry Martin
Volkswagen Bora
8 43 Argentina Rubén Salerno
Argentina Roberto Urretavizcaya
Volkswagen Bora
9 36 Argentina Maximiliano Merlino
Argentina Sebastián Diruscio
Chrysler Neon
10 50 Argentina Roberto Valle
Argentina Jose Luis Di Palma
Ford Focus
11 48 Argentina Gabriel Adamoli
Argentina Federico Lifschitz
Volkswagen Polo
12 22 Argentina Mariano Altuna
Argentina Sebastián Porto
Chevrolet Astra
13 5 Argentina Diego Aventín
Brazil Tarso Marques
Honda Civic
14 32 Argentina Nicolás Kern
Argentina Cesar Coggiola
Ford Focus
15 23 Argentina Ezequiel Bosio
Argentina Ariel Pacho
Chevrolet Astra
16 21 Argentina Emanuel Moriatis
Argentina Lionel Ugalde
Ford Focus
17 18 Argentina Mariano Bainotti
Argentina Diego Menéndez
Honda Civic
18 9 Argentina Norberto Fontana
Brazil Luciano Burti
Toyota Corolla
19 1 Argentina Gabriel Ponce de León
Brazil David Muffato
Ford Focus
20 39 Argentina Carlos Okulovich
Brazil Enrique Bernoldi
Honda Civic
21 14 Argentina Nelson García
Argentina José Ciantini
Ford Focus
22 30 Argentina Lucas Armelini
Argentina Walter Hernández
Chevrolet Astra
23 31 Argentina Jorge Trebbiani
Argentina Nicolás Iglesias
Chevrolet Astra
24 10 Argentina Gabriel Furlán
Brazil Christian Fittipaldi
Toyota Corolla
25 30 Argentina Crispín Beitía
Argentina Luis José di Palma
Ford Focus
26 19 Argentina Franco Coscia
Argentina Cantonati
Honda Civic
27 52 Argentina Daniel Belli
Argentina Pedro Comito
Honda Civic
28 16 Argentina Oscar Fineschi
Argentina Martín Ponte
Honda Civic
29 6 Argentina Juan Manuel Silva
United Kingdom Anthony Reid
Honda Civic
30 49 Argentina Guillermo Castellanos
Argentina Mariano Gonzalez Cono
Volkswagen Polo
31 38 Argentina Fabian Yannantuoni
Italy Fabrizio Giovanardi
Honda Civic
32 40 Argentina Marcelo Bugliotti
United Kingdom Robert Huff
Chevrolet Astra
33 7 Argentina Christian Ledesma
Italy Nicola Larini
Chevrolet Astra
34 27 Argentina Rafael Moro
Argentina Gabriel Suarez
Honda Civic
35 28 Argentina Gustavo Der Ohanessian
Argentina Omar El Bacha
Fiat Stilo

References

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