Road tourism: Juan Tomás Catalán Magni was pure sobriety in Neuquén and was baptized as a solo winner

Juan Tomás Catalan Magni (Ford) took his first solo driver win this Sunday in Road tourism prevailing in the second round of the division’s annual calendar held at the Parque Provincia de Neuquén racetrack, in the municipality of Centenario.

The young man from Arrecife, 24, had already shared the privilege of winning a TC competition, but as guest pilot. It happened in 2017, when he accompanied the chaco Juan Manuel Silva and both won the 1000 kilometers of Buenos Aires, at the Oscar and Juan Gálvez circuit.

On this occasion Catalán Magni, who had finished the debut match held last February in Viedma in third place, won by himself as the only and main midfielder, after an entertaining fight with Julian Santero (Ford).

The driver from Arrecifes, who made 73 appearances in the category, completed the 25 laps of the 4,380-metre track in a time of 40m36s128, at an average speed of 161.814 kilometers per hour.

Santero of Mendoza, for his part, finished at 2.611 seconds, blaming a significant drop in the performance of his car, due to a problem with the left rear tyre, which grazed the finish line on the rim.

Towards the middle of the race, when the positions were starting to be defined, the accident occurred which sanctioned the triumph of the young man from Arrecife, or rather that in a second relaunch due to the entry of the safety car due to an oversight of Ricardo Risati (Chevrolet), Santero di Mendoza was forced to give up the position to the winner, after a small friction between the two, at the exit of turn 4 of the circuit.

“I didn’t see that it hurt him in that specific manoeuvre. In the first one, maybe yes, it happened to me a little and I touched him involuntarily”, apologized the 29-year-old originally from Guaymallén.

Then, Catalán Magni took his chance, led in one race by another pair and kept his sober driving to take the win.

“I drove tense during the first 24 laps. Only in the last one was I able to enjoy knowing that the victory would not have escaped,” confessed the winner, new championship leader, with 83 units.

“We hope this victory will serve as a push to be able to fight for the tournament. It will be very difficult but I think we have a car” confided Catalán Magni.

The Uruguayan finished third and last step on the podium Maurice Lambris (Ford), at 5s842. The Entre Rios Mariano Werner (Ford), winner of the inaugural test in Viedma, guaranteed the excessive power of the brand Ovalwith a fourth place, at 6s607.

He’s also from Reef Valentine Aguirre (Dodge) finished fifth, at 6.945 seconds, while the defending champion, the boy from Rio Negro (Turin) had to settle for sixth place, at 7.163 seconds.

The Buenos Aires native of Lobería, Castilian Jonathan (Dodge), third in the race, finished in seventh place, at 7,653. Rivera’s pilot German Todino (Dodge) qualified eighth, at 7,767; the Entre Rios Niccolo Bonelli (Ford) finished ninth at 9,999 and the man from Balcarce Santiago Mangoni (Chevrolet) completed the top ten with 10.832 seconds.

After the first two dates of the tournament, Catalán Magni leads the standings with 83 points; followed by Werner with 82.5; Castilian, 73; Lambris, 72; Todino, 63 years old; Aguirre, 57.5; Craparo, 56; Urcera, 54.5 The next race on the calendar will be on Sunday 26th of this year at the Toay racecourse, in the province of La Pampa.

Source: Telam