Rossi wins race, Fontana wins title in San Luis
MatÃ*as Rossi took Renault's first win of the season, as Norberto Fontana put on a storming drive to fourth from 12th to win the 2010 TC2000 championship. As the grid formed up for the start, Bernardo Llaver's Corolla crawled off the line with the door open signalling a problem for the Toyota driver. This saw the field go on a second parade lap and a reduction in the race distance to 17 laps.
Despite some wheel spin at the start, MartÃ*n Basso managed to hold on this his first place ahead of Rossi's Renault Mégane, but a charge on the inside across the circuit at the end of the lap saw Rossi snatch the lead.
Toyota Team Argentina driver Mariano Werner quickly worked his up to third, passing the Chevrolet of Guillermo Ortelli, with the top four then making a break, pulling away from the Toyota Corolla of Facundo Ardusso.
Rossi's team-mate was out early, Juan Manual Silva ending his troubled season with contact with the Fiat of Ignacio Char, just before Maximiliano Baumgartner crashed out in the Riva Racing entry, causing the race's only safety car.
At the restart, Fontana went on full attack, quickly progressing up to eighth place, with the Honda of Leonel PernÃ*a firmly in the 2002 champion's sights. Fontana needed to finish several places ahead of him to stand a chance of winning the title.
Fontana made a daring move on Ardusso on lap eight, with the Toyota tipping Fontana's Ford Focus into a slide as he passed, but Fontana held on to it and kept the position, with José MarÃ*a López following through into seventh position.
Fontana was closing fast on PernÃ*a, and as the Ford caught Pernia, the Honda left the door open on the inside and Fontana was able to slip through for fifth on lap 10. PernÃ*a could still win the title if he stayed close to Fontana with his 8.5 points lead.
At this point, Fontana's team-mate Basso started slowing from second place, initially looking like a team order from Ford, it was clearly a mechanical problem for the pole sitter, promoting Werner up to second ahead of Ortelli, with Fontana now fourth and PernÃ*a fifth.
The following lap, a mistake by PernÃ*a saw him slide his Honda Civic into the tyre barrier. He managed to reverse and rejoin, but dropped to 14th place, wiping out his championship chances, as long as Fontana finished.
Fontana cruised in fourth place, with Lopez closing behind.
Rossi found himself under pressure from Mariano Werner for the final three laps of the race, with the Toyota driver chasing his first win of 2010. Rossi's defensive driving however saw him hold on and take his first win of the year from Werner, with Ortelli securing the final spot on the podium
Fontana finished fourth, with PernÃ*a only managing to recover to 13th, which meant that Fontana wins Ford's first title since 2005 with Gabriele Ponce De León, and Fontana's first since 2002.
Norbert Fontana's championship winning Ford Focus
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Race
Parte 1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMuK3NQcI3U&feature=player_embedded#!
Parte 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOZA...layer_embedded