Salta qualifying notes

Another pole for Guillermo Ortelli at Salta

Salta, Argentina, August 9 - Five out of eight pole positions in TC 2000 this season have gone to Honda Racing Argentina. Their Civic were fastest on most Qualifying sessions, and from them, Guillermo Ortelli has been the most efficient driver with three poles to his credit, the latest at Salta today .

Ortelli beat Norberto Fontana's Toyota Corolla by 0.354s and very near behind them the other Toyota of Omar Martínez was third at 0.360s.

Despite his conditions to be the best in the track repeatedly, the driver of the #5 Honda still needs that touch of luck that he lacked to win more than just once in 2003 so far.

Fourth place went to the best Ford, the Focus Zetec of 2001 champion Gabriel Ponce de León, who kept himself ahead of Gabriel Furlán (Mitsubishi Lancer), Walter Hernández (Ford Focus), local ace Nicolás Vuyovich (Honda Civic), Crispín Beitía (Ford Escort), Nelson García (Ford Escort) and Marcelo Bugliotti (Chevrolet Astra).

The "Martín Miguel de Güemes" circuit in Northern Argentina not so far from Bolivia has been completely changed. There is new asphalt through its 4.106 metres and cars go exactly the opposite way they used to in the past.

The two short races, as always six laps each, will start at 10:00 and 10:30. The main event has 32 laps, instead, and the green lights turn on at 12:40.

TC 2000
Qualifying session
Saturday, August 8 2003
Salta, 4.106 m <pre> 1 4 ORTELLI GUILLERMO H CIVIC 1:33.602 2 1 FONTANA NORBERTO TOYOTA COROLLA 1:33.956 0.354 3 2 MARTINEZ OMAR TOYOTA COROLLA 1:33.962 0.360 4 6 PONCE DE LEON GABRIEL FORD FOCUS 1:34.016 0.414 5 8 FURLAN GABRIEL MITSUB. LANCER 1:34.185 0.583 6 5 HERNANDEZ WALTER FORD FOCUS 1:34.190 0.588 7 15 VUYOVICH NICOLAS H CIVIC 1:34.218 0.616 8 27 BEITIA CRISPIN FORD ESCORT 1:34.248 0.646 9 26 GARCIA NELSON FORD ESCORT 1:34.252 0.650 10 10 BUGLIOTTI MARCELO CH ASTRA 1:34.276 0.674 11 3 SILVA JUAN MANUEL H CIVIC 1:34.379 0.777 12 28 YANNANTUONI FABIAN H CIVIC 1:34.384 0.782 13 24 BASSO MARTIN H CIVIC 1:34.414 0.812 14 20 ARMELLINI LUCAS CH ASTRA 1:34.548 0.946 15 16 SATORRA JUAN PABLO FORD ESCORT 1:34.553 0.951 16 9 LEDESMA CHRISTIAN CH ASTRA 1:34.592 0.990 17 14 BAINOTTI MARIANO H CIVIC 1:35.164 1.562 18 42 CANELA OSCAR H. CIVIC 1:35.245 1.643 19 17 KERN NICOLAS FORD ESCORT 1:35.392 1.790 20 11 FINESCHI OSCAR H CIVIC 1:35.401 1.799 21 36 TUERO ESTEBAN VW POLO 1:35.441 1.839 22 40 LORENZATTI FRANCO FORD ESCORT 1:35.515 1.913 23 29 INFANTE JULIO H CIVIC 1:35.561 1.959 24 21 DI PALMA MARCOS CH ASTRA 1:35.664 2.062 25 12 CARDUCCI LEANDRO H CIVIC 1:35.853 2.251 26 35 " REX " VW POLO 1:36.236 2.634 27 30 CORLETTA ROBERTO FORD ESCORT 1:36.326 2.724 Average 157,920 km/h.

Championship positions: 1. Fontana 72, 2. Hernández 60, 3. Ponce de León 55, 4. Silva 53, 5. Furlán 52

-www.tc2000.com.ar