On Sunday, in San Nicolás, the race of the Tourism Highway ended up with Mariano Werner as a leader but upon reaching the pit lane Hand Urcera He put his Torino where the “1” sign was and celebrated. In the radio communication, his team had informed him that he was the winner because the sports commissioners had sanctioned the man from Entre Ríos for overcome it outside the limits of the track.

That sanction had also been communicated to the reigning champion, who was on the track to grant an extra lap to celebrate the victory. However, he didn’t accept it: He “parked” his Ford behind the Rio Negro man and second place was left vacant as the two celebrated.

But for whom was the triumph? “It’s a shame”said Werner, who complained about a “hasty” decision by the CAF. “He passed me in a place not allowed”Urcera supported pointing to the map of the circuit.

On the podium, where he finally received the Carlos Alberto Pairetti Grand Prix trophy which left him as Leader of the Gold Cup with only one point of advantage (135 to 134) over those looking for the bi-championship with two dates from the end, they were nicole neumann (42) and two of his daughters.

Despite his 31 years and his long career, which started in motocross and then moved on to motorsports, Manu Urcera is best known for his relationship with the modelstarted in March 2021.

The romance broke into gossip shows, where they talked about a start “irregular” because Urcera was dating someone. In the last summer, meanwhile, there was talk of a crisis due to an alleged deception of the pilot while they were on vacation in Punta del Este.

Nothing happened from a rumor and, while the relationship between them is consolidated – even the model has acknowledged that they were engaged -, the one born in San Antonio Oeste dreams of give Turin the title to TC after 51 years.

A past in motocross in a wealthy family

José Manuel Urcera was born on July 9, 31 years ago. He is the son of María Cecilia Roza and Claudio Urcera, owner of several companies -TSB, TN Cuyana, VDN, Cementos del Sur, Oil Sinergia and Fiscal and Customs Deposit of Neuquén, among others- linked to the oil industry. Paula’s older brother studied Administration but his true passion is iron, so much so that, with the complicity of his father, he started practicing sport when he was 4 years.

“I guess very reluctantly at the beginning and with all natural fears. But it was not a whim without context. I am the son of a runner. Dad did it with cars and then moved on to motocross. I saw him with his friends and he was really crazy. At the age of three I played with toy cars and some time later I started asking to get on a motorbike, “he told La Nación in an interview.

“The urge and intensity were so great that a Christmas Santa brought me tohe then added. I ran from four to 19. My mother, from now on, was very resigned. He was mini when she heard the roar of dad’s motorcycles and walked out on the pavement desperate. They say all his friends were ready to go out but he, at my insistence, first took me for a few laps until I fell asleep.

Even though it started out as a game, Manu Urcera took it seriously. He got ready and started competing at a very young age. “When I was racing motocross I lived for several months in the United States, I competed in the AMA championship. There are good riders here, but motocross doesn’t have the weight of motorsports and I couldn’t have lived like a motocross pro, “said the man who raced enduro in Argentina, where he was champion of the SX and MX and winner of the Summer Enduro, in the 2T Pro class, in 2009 and 2010.

But coming of age came with a dramatic change: switched to motorsports and discovered the enormous differences that existed. “Motocross is very demanding for the body, I had to dedicate five days of the week to training and in your head you have to understand that once a year you get hurt, because the falls are strong. And I got tired, because you break in the car and break in the motorcycle, “she explained.

It started in the zonal categories, where it didn’t take long to stand out: Champion in TC Neuquino and second in single-brand Gol in 2011. For this reason, the following year he starts racing at national level in Class 3 of the TN and in TC Mouras, the second category first at TC.

In 2015 it was already racing in the TC2000 and was making its debut in the Turismo Carretera. It was then that he also made the leap on a personal level: he left Cipolletti and moved alone to an apartment in Puerto Madero.

His first TC victory came in 2016, with a Chevrolet Las Toscas Racing, at the Roberto Mouras Autodrome in La Plata, while in 2017 he climbed the podium for the first time in the 1000 kilometers of Buenos Aires which celebrated the 80th anniversary of the category. That season, he also qualified for the Gold Cup, the one in which he now aspires to the title, which he missed in 2019 and 2020, when he was second and third respectively.

Despite waiting for his title to materialize in the top national category, Urcera knows what it means to be a champion: era of the TN in the historical ones 2019 and 2020. A few months later, his personal life was transformed.

The courtship with Nicole and the desire for a child

In March 2021, through a mutual friend and in Neuquén, Urcera and Neumann met. They shared a yacht ride on a lake and visited the Malman Winery in San Patricio de Chañar. They uploaded photos to their social networks of the same places and this increased the rumors later on. “He didn’t know who I was, but he gave me a chance and here we are”he confessed to Infobae.

Obviously, Manu Urcera knew who he was. “You see a tall blonde girl with that look of hers. She seemed distant to me. But of course I loved it. One day I was trying on a dress from designer Pablo Ramírez and I saw a picture of her. I asked a few things … They told me you were a loved one. But everything was there. When we were five, more or less, we crossed paths. It was spectacular. So goodbye prejudices, goodbye fears ”, she recalled in that note with La Nación.

It didn’t take long for them to move in together and start a mixed family with the model’s three daughters and former footballer Fabián Cubero.Indiana, Allegra and Sienna, who repeatedly accompany him to the races, as happened last Sunday in San Nicolás with the girls, climbed to the podium dressed in the official merchandising of the pilot.

“We live together, we are putting together a very nice family and yes, there is the idea of ​​having a child together. I’m not talking about dates because it doesn’t matter and it’s private, it’s part of our history. But while I am learning a lot with his three daughters, with whom I get along spectacularly. With Nicki we are doing everything step by step and the final touch of this beautiful story would be a child“, advance.

The first, of course, is the sporting goal that could be reached on 11 December in San Juan with the Maquin Parts Racing team. In the case of a champion, who on the street is “Nicole’s boyfriend”, although on the track she is “Manu’s girlfriend” for him, could give Turin a title that it last won in 1971.

Half a century ago there was an overwhelming dominance of the brand created by Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA)which in TC had started with the title of Eduardo Copello in 1967, had been extended with Gastón Perkins (1969) but had been sealed with Rubén Luis Di Palma 51 years ago.