Salta race results

Oscar Fineschi won his first race in TC 2000 but he has to wait for technical inspection to celebrate.

Salta, Argentina, August 10th.- Norberto Fontana (Toyota Corolla), Guillermo Ortelli (Honda Civic), Walter Hernández and Omar Martínez (Toyota Corolla) all led the eighth round of the TC 2000 championship at Salta, but none of them made it to the finish as winners. Oscar Fineschi was the one who saw the checkered flag first in his inaugural victory in TC 2000 after 115 races.

It is winter in Argentina, but here the wether was mild and, despite a brand new asphalt on the track, most of the front runners tyres went off and caused mayhem at both the pits and he edge of the circuit.

With so many retirements and delays, changes were many and action was constant during the race. After 32 laps, it was private driver Oscar Fineschi who took honours this time. Fineschi had a fine drive in his Honda Civic to win overall for the first time since he returned to the category two years ago. He had been poleman at Oberá back in 2001 and Privateers champion that season, but this success was special. The tin-top veteran had been class champion in national Touring Cars in the '80s and a winner of the South American Touring Car series in the '90s.

Another car of his team driven by the young single seater refugee Leandro Carducci could have been third had he not been given a penalty for crashing against Juan Manuel Silva, who took that place instead.

Current Mégane Cup champion Nicolás Kern, in only his eighth event in TC 2000, was second with excellent tactics and a good demostration of his skills at the wheel of another private entry, the Ford Escort Zetec of the Belloso Competición team.

Good jobs for Mariano Bainotti (Alisi Honda Civic), too, fourth ahead of the Volkswagen Polo of "Rex", the Civic of Martín Basso and Carducci. Among the top ten, Roberto Corletta (Ford Escort), Gabriel Furlán (Mitsubishi Lancer) and Marcos Di Palma (Chevrolet Astra).

During the post race technical inspection the stewards decided to hold the final results as provisionals because the compression ratio in Fineschi`s Honda engine was found over 11:1. As the technical rule book admits that this ratio can be meassured with different procedures, this action will be made on Tuesday 12th. afternoon at the Automovil Club Argentino headquarters in Buenos Aires.

The provisional points for the championship show that Fontana has 72 points, Silva 65, Hernández 60, Fineschi 56 and Ponce de León 55 before going to the next event at Resistencia on 31st August.

<pre> TC 2000 Salta, 4.106 m. Race Sunday August 10th. 2003

 1  11 FINESCHI OSCAR           H CIVIC          32     52;16,995
 2  17 KERN NICOLAS             FORD ESCORT      32    52;17,881        0,886
 3   3 SILVA JUAN MANUEL        H CIVIC          32    52;18,933        1,938
 4  14 BAINOTTI MARIANO         H CIVIC          32    52;20,876        3,881
 5  35 " REX "                  VW POLO          32    52;38,712        21,717
 6  24 BASSO MARTIN             H CIVIC          32    52;42,057        25,062
 7  12 CARDUCCI LEANDRO         H CIVIC          32    52;48,597        31,602
 8  30 CORLETTA ROBERTO         FORD ESCORT      32    53;07,782        50,787
 9   8 FURLAN GABRIEL           MITSUB. LANCER   32    53;09,861        52,866
10  21 DI PALMA MARCOS          CH ASTRA         32    53;28,960        1;11,965
11   6 PONCE DE LEON GABRIEL    FORD FOCUS       32    53;29,827        1;12,832
12  10 BUGLIOTTI MARCELO        CH ASTRA         31
13   9 LEDESMA CHRISTIAN        CH ASTRA         31
14  40 LORENZATTI FRANCO        FORD ESCORT      31
15  26 GARCIA NELSON            FORD ESCORT      31
16  29 INFANTE JULIO            H CIVIC          31
17   4 ORTELLI GUILLERMO        H CIVIC          30
18  28 YANNANTUONI FABIAN       H CIVIC          28
19  36 TUERO ESTEBAN            VW POLO          27
20   2 MARTINEZ OMAR            TOYOTA COROLLA   27
21   5 HERNANDEZ WALTER         FORD FOCUS       26
22  27 BEITIA CRISPIN           FORD ESCORT      25

Did not qualify 23 15 VUYOVICH NICOLAS H CIVIC 20 24 20 ARMELLINI LUCAS CH ASTRA 12 25 16 SATORRA JUAN PABLO FORD ESCORT 9 26 42 CANELA OSCAR H. CIVIC 9 27 1 FONTANA NORBERTO TOYOTA COROLLA 2

Winner's average 150,785 km/h. Fastest lap: Ortelli, 1;34.530, 156,369 km/h., lap 26 30s penalty Carducci because of dangerous driving against Silva Drive through penalty Infante because of dangerous driving agaist Corletta No safety car periods Provisional results due to technical reasons

Championship (provisional): 1. Fontana 72 2. Silva 65 3. Hernández 60, 4. Fineschi 56 5. Ponce de León 55, 6. Furlán 54 7. Ledesma 50 8. Ortelli 35 9. García 31 10. Martínez y Bugliotti 18

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