General
Mart?nez wins at Comodoro Rivadavia Speedway
Comodoro Rivadavia, February 29th.-Omar MartÃnez (Ford No. 4) arrived to victory in the second round of the Argentinian Touring Car Championship (TC) held at Comodoro Rivadavia Speedway, province of Chubut located in southern Argentina after a hard ...
Published: Mar 2, 2004, 11:15 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Comodoro Rivadavia, February 29th.-Omar Martínez (Ford No. 4) arrived to victory in the second round of the Argentinian Touring Car Championship (TC) held at Comodoro Rivadavia Speedway, province of Chubut located in southern Argentina after a hard fought, thrilling battle with four times champion Guillermo Ortelli (Chevrolet No. 3) and Christian Ledesma (Chevrolet No. 2).
One of the best TC races in a long time started with Ledesma in pole position followed by Martínez, Diego Aventín (Ford No. 5), Ortelli and Rafael Verna (Ford No. 16) in the top five places.
When the green light showed-up confirmed the preview speculation that put both Chevrolet in a dominant position.
Ledesma took the leading while Ortelli jumped from fourth and grabbed second place leaving behind both Ford contenders, Martínez and Aventín.
Ortelli pushed since the very first move Ledesma`s position until take the lead after eleven laps of hard dispute, while 2003 series champion Ernesto Bessone (Dodge No. 1) was 25th. trying to recover places struggling with the low perfonmance of his car.
The way Ortelli arrived to first position seemed to be the end of the argued for the leading, but Ledesma and Martínez in a very steady rhythm proved otherwise .
After 12 laps the classification had Ortelli, Ledesma and Martínez all together and an also very interesting fight from four to the rest: Verna, J.M. Silva (Ford No. 6), Aventín, Hernández (Ford No. 22), Rossi (Chevrolet No. 48), Traverso (Torino No. 12), Ponce de León (Ford No. 10) completed the top ten places and the best was about to come.
The gap between Ortelli and Ledesma arrived to be so close that Christian couldn`t avoid a little bump that put his Chevy in the limit of loose it and spun. Martínez, closer.
The 18th. lap became the crucial lap of the competition when Ledesma passed Ortelli and Martínez with all his experience, his known talent and a great engine left behind both Chevrolet taking the leadership of the race with an amazing move and leaving breath-less the most of 40000 souls present in the circuit.
In that same moment Ledesma lost any chance when a bent tyre made him go to pits killing with this the victory opportunity.
Once Martínez grabbed the leadership, the rhythm of the race imposed secure him a safe road to the chequered flag always with Ortelli second, but with no chance.
However the argued for the last step of the podium continued until the very end between both Ford drivers, Verna and Silva.
Verna decided not complicate his rival who was with a more steady car in that moment and Silva overtook him taking his first podium of the season.
During and after the podium ceremony Martínez showed himself deeply moved for this victory, his number 19th. in 145 races in TC.
¨I was in the right place in the right moment¨, while he continued: ¨My car was much better and positive in the second part of the race. This victory is really good fou us after what happened at Mar de Ajó, and the fact of winning is important for the championship¨, Martínez said.
In the other hand Ortelli congratulated his team for the great car with a sourprising perfonmance in the first part. ¨I think it was a nice race with many moves that the fans enjoy a lot and that why I leave happy. Besides this result works for me in the championship¨, explained Ortelli after the podium.
More than happy with the third place was J.M. Silva, who showed himself exultant during with the Ford fans and just commented: ¨It came up a brilliant, clean and very nice race¨.
Bessone arrived to the chequered flag after all: ¨It was a horrible weekend and I recovered in the end. I started 35th. and finished 13th. I hope in two races have the new car¨, explained unhappy the current champìon.
With two rounds disputed the standings has Ortelli leading with 45.5 points followed by young Rossi with 30,5 whilr Martínez jumped to third with 27,5 units.
Now the category will move to La Plata speedway on March 21st.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Special Snocross at MIS Sunday notes
Next article Alex Hasse to debut at Las Vegas Bullring
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Christian Ledesma
Okayama: Chevrolet preview
WTCC
WTCC
Okayama: Chevrolet preview
VALENCIA: Chevrolet preview
WTCC
WTCC
VALENCIA: Chevrolet preview
Menu and Muller to race 200 Km Of Buenos Aires
WTCC
WTCC
Menu and Muller to race 200 Km Of Buenos Aires
Latest news
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
2 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 3 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 Can-Am drivers
General
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 Can-Am drivers
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe