López celebrates win in Mexico after second race of the season
Rogelio López won the CANEL'S 200 at Super Ovalo Potosino in second race of the NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series.
After landing in 10th-place, the driver of Akron-Farmacias del Ahorro-Escudería Telmex advanced nine positions and took the lead on Lap 136 when he passed Homero Richards, Hugo Oliveras and Ruben Rovelo on the outside.
He subsequently held the position for the remaining 11 laps despite Rovelo's pressure.
The native of Aguascalientes managed to get his sixth checkered flag in this emblematic resume, tying Germán Quiroga as the top winner in the oval of 804 meters (half a mile), before more than 8,000 fans.
Thew exciting race featured six lead changes.
Oliveras led until Lap 58 when Rubén Pardo took the top spot and remained out front until Lap 82. Richards also took the lead on two occasions with Alex González taking the lead on Lap 100. He remained at the point until Lopez made his daring pass to take the lead on Lap 137.
"I think we have taken an important step to fight for the championship at the end of the season and that is very important," said López, who is the top winning driver in the series with 26 victories. "We had a very important competition with the other drivers, not just Ruben (Rovelo), I think there are many who are doing a great job and throughout the year they are going to start to pair more positions."
And on the rebound he commented: "We tried to stay in the top-5, but when I saw the opportunity to overtake, I think that the companions of HO Speed Racing had a confusion and I used to make the pass when we entered the three in the curve. I can only congratulate Rubén Rovelo and Hugo Oliveras because they have been doing a great job and also my team because they have put a lot of faith in this project. "
Seven yellow flags were thrown in the race, which prolonged the race and officials decided to stop the race at 80 minutes plus two laps and not to 200 laps as had been agreed listed as the race length originally.
The podium was completed by Rovelo, who finished second and Oliveras of Monster, both members of HO Speed Racing.
Richards, Hector Aguirre, Manolin Gutiérrez, Oscar Torres Jr., Rubén Pardo, Luis Felipe Montaño and Carlos Peralta completed the top-10.
The next race of Telcel Presenta NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series will be on May 14 and will run at Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, in Amozoc, Puebla.
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