Facundo Chapur, the three-time National Tourism champion who has been told he cannot race in the TC

On December 20, Facundo Chapur He opened the Twitter application on his mobile phone and wrote a message with a clear recipient to fulfill an old wish: run in the Road tourism.

“Hi ACTC. Thursday is my birthday, in case you want to treat yourself”asked the Cordovan, three times national tourism champion.

The CM (community manager) of the Asociación Corredores Turismo Carretera account got involved in the game and replied: “We have a few days to think about it, Machine Gun”.

That deadline to accept new riders in Argentina’s top category came on Tuesday, when the ACTC announced nine promotions, including non Chapur.

“I understand the issue of promotion. And I see it as a good idea in general. But I will write this message from rider to rider. I sympathize with Facundo Chapur, great rider. I believe in exceptions. Deserves for the conductive quality and experience of being in the TC. I’ll wait for you on the grill, submachine gun“she told him Matthias Rossi through the same social network, a message that Chapur retweeted and thanked in his only reference to the ACTC’s decision.

Undoubtedly, the Cordovan expected another decision; indeed, before knowing the resolution, he had written: “And today”. His illusion had a foundation: He was one of the protagonists of the TC Pista season and won three of 15 dates, making it the second winningest driver of the year, only behind champion Otto Fritzler (5). Also, aboard Torino #79, he finished fourth in the Silver Cup and in the championship.

Similarly, the Las Toscas Racing team had begun to negotiate with him so that, in the event of receiving the pass from TC Pista to TC, to get on the Turin that Leonel Pernía has left free.

But the ACTC chose five other pilots. In addition to Otto Fritzler (TCP champion), Santiago Álvarez (runner-up), Thomás Micheloud (exceeded 100 runs in the opening act, TC requirement) and Marcos Quijada (TC Mouras 2021 champion), “they promoted” Cristian Di Scala (he spent ten years at TC Pista), Juan Garbelino (95 races at TCP), Martín Vázquez (96), Humberto Krujoski (68) and Elio Craparo (86).

At Cordovan now all that remains is to wait to try again, at least a year. The other option is for the ACTC to back down. There is already a precedent in which he corrected an initial decision: it was 2018 when Juan Bautista De Benedictis, after various criticisms on social networks for not having granted him the promotion, was authorized to move to the TC.

In February 2020, just a few months after his TC Mouras debut, Chapur had announced that he would land in that category. “with the projection of reaching the Road Tourism”. Because, of course, the supreme dream is to race in the oldest championship in the world, the one that began even before Formula 1, in 1937.

“Fierrero is born”

When he made his debut at TC Mouras in October 2019, a 25-year-old Chapur explained that the first thing he did was adapting to “rear-wheel drive vehicles” after a career in “front-wheel drive cars.”

“It’s a nice process that you have to do to be firm and grow little by little with the aim of getting that necessary experience”who said Already National Tourism Champion in Class 2 (2012) and in Class 3 (2013 and 2015).

Now, just turned 29, he has no problem saying he runs “for passion”. “If I had to race for free, I would, even putting money, because I’ve already done it”recently confessed in an interview with Matías Barzola on YouTube.

The man who wanted to enter TC in 2023 started with his dream of becoming a pilot almost without knowing it, when he was three or four and his parents gave him a pedal go-kart, the kind that have a white frill and red pipes, thin wheels and a very straight seat. He was just five years old when he started racing in Jesús María’s small karting school and seven when he emerged as provincial champion.

It didn’t take long for him to distinguish himself nationally and, although he raced until he was 17 and was karting world champion, On March 14, 2010, at the age of 16, he made his debut in the minor division of the National Tourism aboard a DG MotorSport Team Ford Fiesta with a Ford Fiesta at the Roberto Mouras Autodrome in La Plata.

“I’ve never had any kind of limitation from my family, not even from my sister, who has suffered a lot out there A lot and almost all of the money was spent on racing and we couldn’t even go on vacation.. My family has made a big effort. This is something I really appreciate and it’s what has given me strength, even in the lowest moments of my career.”he told the newspaper La Nueva Mañana some time ago.

In that 2010 debut he was cast as the revelation pilot TN, the most federal category in the country; the following year he obtained his first victory and in 2012 he was champion of class 2, becoming the youngest to reach it. soon after, took the title in his first season in Class 3 and started racing in Super TC2000.

In 2019 he joined ACTC at the hands of TC Mouras and last year he made his debut in the TC Pista -and managed to enter the Silver Cup (12th)- and in the TC Pick Up, categories in which he has remained until now together with Turismo Nacional.

“I’ve never taken it badly, I’ve always understood the politics of the category. It’s not that it’s something personal and that the ACTC is after me. It seems coherent and logical to me. Yes I like it? No, I wish I was in the right TCbut the reality is that I understand how the category is organized, its decisions, which I share and, of course, I strive to do my best to meet the requirements necessary to achieve the TC”he told SoloTC in 2020.

This year, on TN’s official website, he expressed: “My dream has always been to race in a race car, no matter what”. And reinforced: “I don’t come from a wealthy family that had facilities to run. So, I have never set myself the goal of reaching such a category but of being able to run and have fun“.

In addition to this, its ambition to progress had road touring as its next step. But the ACTC told him that, for now, he’ll have to wait. Only that the pressure of social networks, where a petition has also been createdreverse this initial decision of the authorities.

Promotion system: what does the ACTC require to become a TC pilot?

• Become champion or runner-up of the TC Pista.

• To be champion of the TC Mouras, after going through the TC Pista.

• Run 100 races in the TC Track (or in combination with the TC Pick Up).

• Exceptions: Power of the ACTC CD to give promotions at its discretion.