R?o Cuarto qualifying summary

First pole for rookie Martin Basso at Río Cuarto  

Río Cuarto, July 26.- 2003 is the first season for Martín Basso in TC 2000 and Río Cuarto is the first pole position for him just on his 29th birthday. His works Honda Civic lapped one of the fastest circuits in Argentina in 1.11.717 at 166.153 km/h.

In only his seventh appearance at the wheel of a front-wheel drive car, Basso was 0.199s quicker than team mate Guillermo Ortelli in opposite places than those they had got in the round before this one at Oberá. The Mitsubishi Lancer of Gabriel Furlán was third, 0.293s behind the best Honda.

The day was a little unpredictable from the weather point of view as there was a little rain after noon just when the Formula Super Renault single seaters were racing. Consequently, most of the Qualifying session were held in wet condition and none knows what might happen tomorrow with this.

Christian Ledesma was a brave contender for fourth place, driving his Chevrolet Astra minutes after he was told his father passed away in his nativa town. Gabriel Ponce de León (Ford Focus Zetec) was fifth in front of Marcelo Bugliotti (Chevrolet Astra), Norberto Fontana (Toyota Corolla), Walter Hernández (Ford Focus Zetec), Juan Manuel Silva (Honda Civic) and Omar Martínez (Toyota Corolla).

As usual, Sunday’s main event starts at 12:40 (40 laps or 60 minutes). Before that, there are two six-laps heats in the morning.

<pre> TC 2000 Río Cuarto, 3.310 m. Qualifying Saturday, July 26th., 2003

1  24  BASSO MARTIN             H CIVIC             1:11.717             2  4   ORTELLI GUILLERMO        H CIVIC             1:11.916        0.199 3  8   FURLAN GABRIEL           MITSUB. LANCER      1:12.010        0.293 4  9   LEDESMA CHRISTIAN        CH ASTRA            1:12.044        0.327 5  6   PONCE DE LEON GABRIEL    FORD FOCUS          1:12.100        0.383 6  10  BUGLIOTTI MARCELO        CH ASTRA            1:12.122        0.405 7  1   FONTANA NORBERTO         TOYOTA COROLLA      1:12.154        0.437 8  5   HERNANDEZ WALTER         FORD FOCUS          1:12.162        0.445 9  3   SILVA JUAN MANUEL        H CIVIC             1:12.227        0.510 10 2   MARTINEZ OMAR            TOYOTA COROLLA      1:12.257        0.540 11 20  ARMELLINI LUCAS          CH ASTRA            1:12.595        0.878 12 11  FINESCHI OSCAR           H CIVIC             1:12.662        0.945 13 36  TUERO ESTEBAN            VW POLO             1:12.663        0.946 14 28  YANNANTUONI FABIAN       H CIVIC             1:12.685        0.968 15 26  GARCIA NELSON            FORD ESCORT         1:12.751        1.034 16 16  SATORRA JUAN PABLO       FORD ESCORT         1:12.880        1.163 17 12  CARDUCCI LEANDRO         H CIVIC             1:12.971        1.254 18 21  DI PALMA MARCOS          CH ASTRA            1:13.125        1.408 19 40  LORENZATTI FRANCO        FORD ESCORT         1:13.246        1.529 20 18  LOPEZ JUAN MANUEL        ALFA ROMEO 146      1:13.310        1.593 21 35  " REX "                  VW POLO             1:13.395        1.678 22 34  MOREIRO JAVIER           MITSUB LANCER       1:13.566        1.849 23 15  VUYOVICH NICOLAS         H CIVIC             1:13.737        2.020 24 39  FLAMARIQUE JULIAN        TOYOTA COROLLA      1:13.830        2.113 25 17  KERN NICOLAS             FORD ESCORT         1:14.329        2.612 26 30  CORLETTA ROBERTO         FORD ESCORT         1:14.631        2.914 27 41  FILIBERTI NICOLAS        H CIVIC             1:14.986        3.269 28 14  BAINOTTI MARIANO         H CIVIC             1:15.749        4.032 29 27  BEITIA CRISPIN           FORD ESCORT         1:16.648        4.931 30 29  INFANTE JULIO            H CIVIC             1:18.619        6.902 Average: 166,153 km/h.

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