Round fifteen in Buenos Aires report

Turismo Carretera
15th. round
Buenos Aires
10/11/02

Cristian Ledesma (Chevrolet) won in the fifteenth round of the Turismo Carretera disputed in the circuit of Buenos Aires. The podium was completed by other men of Chevrolet, Guillermo Ortelli and the Ford of Alejandro Occhionero. A great weekend for all the fans of Chevrolet .

Ledesma arrived to Buenos Aires like a big candiadte to get the victory. Why? Because he won here in May and he almost does it again in the second race disputed here in September, but a mechanic problem in his machine made him to quit at that time. It was the moment of revenge for him. On saturday with a cloudy day in Buenos Aires but without rain for the qualify session, Ledesma took the pole position. The second for him in his carreer and his first with Chevrolet since he joined last year. On sunday the city dawned with rain for moments. In a partial wet floor started the first series with Ledesma leading, followed by Patricio Di Palma (Torino) and Alejandro Occhionero. In this series was Omar Martínez (Ford) who started sixth and a friction with the rookie Ariel Pacho (Dodge) put him in the back. Finally and after a lot of fight, Martínez finished seventh.

Ledesma won this series without much problem. Second finished Di Palma and Occhionero. The best Dodge was Ernesto Bessone who finished fourth after passed Juan Manuel Silva (Ford) in the last lap.

This victory in the series gave Ledesma the first place to start the final race. The competition started complicated for him after lost the leadership in the first curve in hands of Urretavizcaya (Chevrolet) who started second after win the second series of the morning. In the first lap Ledesma lost positions until fifth. However an important accident between Marcos Di Palma (Chevrolet), when he was trying to pass the leader Ramos (Ford), his brother ¨Pato¨ Di Palma and the Ford driver Etchegaray made the three to quit the race in the second lap of competition. Another mistake of Marcos Di Palma that harms the posibilities of others drivers. This situation motivated the intervention of the Pace Car during three laps. In the restart of the competition Ramos kept leading until lap eigiht when Ldesma passed him in a great maneuver in the last curve of the track. With the first place in his hands Ledesma started to make a difference with the second and won the race after the twenty-four laps of duration. This is the fourth victory for Ledesma in Turismo Carretera, the third with Chevrolet and the second in the season. Both in Buenos Aires. Great job for this young driver that now shares the fifth position in the championship with Marcos Di Palma. This is the best year for Ledesma in the category.

Now is the turn of the second in this race. No less than Guillermo Ortelli. The champion arrived to this fifteenth round of T.C. sixteens points ahead his most important rival in the championship, Diego Aventín (Ford). In the quialify session of saturday Ortelli finihsed second. As in the others series the track was to difficult because of the weather. Ortelli started first followed by Urretavizcaya and Marcos Di Palma.

However Ortelli couldn`t with the pression of this two drivers and finished third the series won by ¨Urreta¨. The best Ford in this series was Marcelo Bugliotti who arrived fourth.

For the final race, Ortelli started eighth. After the accident and when the Pace Car left the track, Guillermo started to build his fantastic perfonmance. He passed Bessone, who then quited in lap eighth with machanics problems, in fight for the fifth position. With the desertion of Urretavizcaya, when he was in the podium, Ortelli advanced to fourth place. After a lot of fight with the Ford of Ramos he finally passed him in lap sixteenth. A lap later he passed Occhionero for the second position.

Ortelli tried to catch and overtake Ledesma but it was impossible. Guillermo Ortelli is leaving his best moment. In October he finihsed second in T.C.2000 in this same circuit and he won a week ago in San Rafael. In T.C. he finished second in the last two races. With this result Ortelli is leading the championship with 23 points over Diego Aventín who in this race arrived sixth. With 25 points to dispute in the last competition, only the mathematics can say that Ortelli is not yet the champion of T.C. for the fourth time with just 29 years.

Another good result for Occhionero. Another podium for him. He completed a weekend from less to more. He qualified tenth on saturday. In his series he advanced and finished third. In the final race he started seventh. Quickly he put his Ford in the top five positions. After a very hard fight with Silva, Ramos and Aventín, Occhionero took another podium in Buenos Aires like in 2001. No doubt that he is near of get his first victory in T.C.

Martínez, who arrived to this race 26,50 points behind Ortelli, finished seventh and said bye for his aspirations of get the championship. He still has the possibilitie of win the championship in T.C.2000 like he did in 1998. Silva also came to Buenos Aires with mathematics chances of keep fighting the championship. However the fifth position is not enough for him. This is the best season for Silva in T.C. and as Martínez he is in the fight for the championship of T.C. 2000.

The next and last race of Turismo Carretera will be in December 2th. in Mar de Ajó.