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2024 El Calafate Turismo Carretera round

Event Information
Round 1 of 15 in the 2024
Date	23–25 February 2024
Location	El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina
Venue	Autódromo Enrique Freile
Results
Race 1 Distance 5 laps 19 km Winner Mariano Werner Werner Competición 6:46.603
Race 2 Distance 5 laps 19 km Winner Facundo Ardusso RUS Med Team 6:43.817
Race 3 Distance 5 laps 19 km Winner Otto Fritzler Pradecon Racing 6:43.995
Race 4 Distance 25 laps 95 km Pole position Mariano Werner Werner Competición 1:20.458 Winner Tobías Martínez Trotta Racing Team 40:24.132

The 2024 El Calafate Turismo Carretera round (commercially titled Gran Premio Shell Helix) was a motor race for Turismo Carretera held on the weekend of 23–25 February 2024. The event was held at the Autódromo Enrique Freile in El Calafate, Argentina and consisted of four races – three 'heats' of 19 kilometres, and a 'final' of 95 kilometres. It was the opening round of fifteen in the 2024 Turismo Carretera championship.

Background

The event was notable as the debut of the series' five new models. Having almost exclusively run versions of the Chevrolet Coupé SS, Dodge GTX, Ford Falcon and Torino Cherokee for the last 50 years, as well as the Toyota Camry from 2022, versions of the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang were admitted to the grid, along with a facelifted Camry and a 'concept' Torino.

43 competitors were entered in the event, however Martín Vázquez withdrew. Ten of the entries were new models – three Camaros and Mustangs apiece, two facelifted Camry models, one Challenger and one new Torino.

Results

Qualifying

Juan Cruz Benvenuti crashed in practice and withdrew from the remainder of the weekend.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Time/Gap	Pts
1	1	Mariano Werner	Werner Competición	Ford Mustang	1:20.458	2
2	83	Facundo Ardusso	RUS Med Team	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+0.010
3	21	Otto Fritzler	Pradecon Racing	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.077
4	68	Julián Santero	LCA Racing	Ford Falcon	+0.111
5	79	Facundo Chapur	AyP Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.126
6	7	Marcos Landa	Trotta Racing Team	Torino Cherokee	+0.187
7	19	Diego Ciantini	JP Carrera	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+0.279
8	22	Juan José Ebarlín	LRD Performance	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+0.408
9	127	Marcelo Agrelo	Maquin Parts Racing	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.458
10	3	Germán Todino	Maquin Parts Racing	Ford Falcon	+0.494
11	197	Marcos Quijada	UR Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	+0.503
12	13	Juan Tomas Catalán Magni	CM Motorsport	Ford Falcon	+0.520
13	161	Kevin Candela	Candela Competición	Torino Cherokee	+0.594
14	107	Tobías Martínez	Trotta Racing Team	Torino TC 2024	+0.623
15	10	Valentín Aguirre	JP Carrera	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+0.629
16	4	Jonatan Castellano	Castellano Power Team	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.659
17	122	Andrés Jakos	Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina	Toyota Camry 2024	+0.683
18	11	Christian Ledesma	Pradecon Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	+0.684
19	177	Ayrton Londero	Gurí Martínez Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.712
20	63	Nicolás Bonelli	RUS Med Team	Ford Falcon	+0.728
21	88	Nicolás Trosset	UR Racing	Ford Mustang	+0.774
22	121	Elio Craparo	Hermanos Álvarez Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.803
23	172	Santiago Álvarez	JP Carrera	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+0.834
24	34	Emiliano Spataro	Spataro Racing	Ford Falcon	+0.890
25	85	Ricardo Risatti	LRD Performance	Chevrolet Camaro	+0.894
26	157	Juan Bautista de Benedictis	DTA Racing	Ford Mustang	+0.938
27	6	Mauricio Lambiris	Maquin Parts Racing	Ford Falcon	+0.948
28	95	Agustín Martínez	Gurí Martínez Competición	Ford Falcon	+0.970
29	231	José Manuel Urcera	Moriatis Competición	Ford Falcon	+1.034
30	53	Federico Iribarne	Alifraco Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+1.218
31	77	Augusto Carinelli	Fancio Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+1.329
32	9	Juan Martín Trucco	Di Meglio Motorsport	Dodge Challenger	+1.389
33	38	Nicolás Cotignola	Sprint Racing	Torino Cherokee	+1.579
34	94	Lautaro de la Iglesia	Di Meglio Motorsport	Dodge GTX Cherokee	+1.688
35	47	Norberto Fontana	Hermanos Álvarez Competición	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+1.723
36	12	Gastón Mazzacane	Dole Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+1.772
37	5	Santiago Mangoni	Las Toscas Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+1.928
38	75	Sergio Alaux	Giavedoni Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	+2.095
39	96	Juan Cruz Benvenuti	Alifraco Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	No time
40	71	Sebastián Abella	LCA Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	No time
EXC	23	Esteban Gini	Maquin Parts Racing	Toyota Camry 2022	Excluded
EXC	114	Gastón Ferrante	AyP Competición	Toyota Camry 2024	Excluded
Source:

Heat 1

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts.
1	1	Mariano Werner	Werner Competición	Ford Mustang	5	6:46.603	1	5
2	68	Julián Santero	LCA Racing	Ford Falcon	5	+0.144	2	4.5
3	19	Diego Ciantini	JP Carrera	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+1.325	3	4
4	161	Kevin Candela	Candela Competición	Torino Cherokee	5	+5.762	5	3.5
5	3	Germán Todino	Maquin Parts Racing	Ford Falcon	5	+5.763	4	3
6	4	Jonatan Castellano	Castellano Power Team	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+6.180	6	2.5
7	121	Elio Craparo	Hermanos Álvarez Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+6.511	8	2
8	85	Ricardo Risatti	LRD Performance	Chevrolet Camaro	5	+8.671	9	1.5
9	177	Ayrton Londero	Gurí Martínez Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+9.562	7	1
10	94	Lautaro de la Iglesia	Di Meglio Motorsport	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+10.560	12	0.5
11	77	Augusto Carinelli	Fancio Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+11.323	11
12	5	Santiago Mangoni	Las Toscas Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+11.420	13
13	95	Agustín Martínez	Gurí Martínez Competición	Ford Falcon	2	+3 laps	10
DNS	71	Sebastián Abella	LCA Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS
Fastest Lap: Julián Santero (LCA Racing), 1:20.721
Source:

Heat 2

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts.
1	83	Facundo Ardusso	RUS Med Team	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	6:43.817	1	5
2	22	Juan José Ebarlín	LRD Performance	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+2.033	3	4.5
3	197	Marcos Quijada	UR Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	5	+3.097	4	4
4	122	Andrés Jakos	Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina	Toyota Camry 2024	5	+5.071	6	3.5
5	107	Tobías Martínez	Trotta Racing Team	Torino TC 2024	5	+6.196	5	3
6	63	Nicolás Bonelli	RUS Med Team	Ford Falcon	5	+6.879	7	2.5
7	172	Santiago Álvarez	JP Carrera	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+8.828	8	2
8	23	Esteban Gini	Maquin Parts Racing	Toyota Camry 2022	5	+9.011	14	1.5
9	157	Juan Bautista de Benedictis	DTA Racing	Ford Mustang	5	+12.471	9	1
10	231	José Manuel Urcera	Moriatis Competición	Ford Falcon	5	+13.543	10	0.5
11	75	Sergio Alaux	Giavedoni Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+19.204	13
12	9	Juan Martín Trucco	Di Meglio Motorsport	Dodge Challenger	5	+20.278	11
13	47	Norberto Fontana	Hermanos Álvarez Competición	Chevrolet Coupé SS	1		12
DSQ	79	Facundo Chapur	AyP Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	Technical	2
Fastest Lap: Facundo Ardusso (RUS Med Team), 1:20.575
Source:

Heat 3

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts.
1	21	Otto Fritzler	Pradecon Racing	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	6:43.995	1	5
2	7	Marcos Landa	Trotta Racing Team	Torino Cherokee	5	+1.090	2	4.5
3	127	Marcelo Agrelo	Maquin Parts Racing	Dodge GTX Cherokee	5	+2.303	3	4
4	10	Valentín Aguirre	JP Carrera	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+4.283	5	3.5
5	11	Christian Ledesma	Pradecon Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	5	+5.291	6	3
6	13	Juan Tomas Catalán Magni	CM Motorsport	Ford Falcon	5	+9.324	4	2.5
7	88	Nicolás Trosset	UR Racing	Ford Mustang	5	+11.962	7	2
8	34	Emiliano Spataro	Spataro Racing	Ford Falcon	5	+11.963	8	1.5
9	114	Gastón Ferrante	AyP Competición	Toyota Camry 2024	5	+16.321	14	1
10	53	Federico Iribarne	Alifraco Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+17.381	10	0.5
11	12	Gastón Mazzacane	Dole Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	5	+18.036	12
12	6	Mauricio Lambiris	Maquin Parts Racing	Ford Falcon	5	+35.990	9
13	38	Nicolás Cotignola	Sprint Racing	Torino Cherokee	5	+35.991	11
DNS	96	Juan Cruz Benvenuti	Alifraco Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS
Fastest Lap: Otto Fritzler (Pradecon Racing), 1:20.500
Source:

• ^1 – Emiliano Spataro was given a five-second post-race penalty for colliding with Nicolás Trosset.
• ^2 – Nicolás Cotignola was given a ten-second post-race penalty for colliding with Mauricio Lambiris.

Final

The first race of Turismo Carretera's new era was filled with chaos and controversy. Facundo Ardusso led the pack from the start, whilst Nicolás Bonelli spun out in front of the pack at the first corner. At the end of the first lap, Juan José Ebarlín spun out Marcelo Agrelo, causing a chain-reaction crash that included Andrés Jakos, Christian Ledesma, Juan Tomás Catalán Magni, Kevin Candela and Valentín Aguirre, resulting in a safety car period and Ebarlín's post-race disqualification. On the restart, Ardusso and Otto Fritzler lightly clashed wheels at the opening corner – however Ardusso later backed off with a slow puncture, resulting in a five-second penalty for Fritzler. Mariano Werner then inherited the lead in his new Mustang, but "the Fox of Paraná" spun out four laps later and was stationary for just long enough to cause a safety car. Marcos Landa in the older model Torino claimed the lead, and maintained a comfortable gap to Diego Ciantini (who passed Ebarlín for second) before a safety car came out with three laps to go as Jakos pulled off the circuit with mechanical issues. A one-lap shootout would determine the winner between Landa and Ciantini, and with three corners remaining Ciantini unloaded Landa in front of the pack – dropping the Uruguayan outside the top ten. Ciantini crossed the line first followed by Ebarlín and Fritzler, but Ciantini would receive a post-race penalty for the contact with Landa, leaving fourth-placed rookie Facundo Chapur victorious after the additional sanctions for Ebarlín and Fritzler – until he too was disqualified an hour after the race for breaching the engine compression limit, leaving fellow rookie and reigning TC Pista champion Tobías Martínez in the brand new Torino TC 2024 – built in 50 days and untested – as the winner having been originally classified fifth.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Pts.
1	107	Tobías Martínez	Trotta Racing Team	Torino TC 2024	25	40:24.132	40
2	23	Esteban Gini	Maquin Parts Racing	Toyota Camry 2022	25	+0.256	37
3	231	José Manuel Urcera	Moriatis Competición	Ford Falcon	25	+0.498	34
4	68	Julián Santero	LCA Racing	Ford Falcon	25	+0.987	31
5	6	Mauricio Lambiris	Maquin Parts Racing	Ford Falcon	25	+1.603	30
6	85	Ricardo Risatti	LRD Performance	Chevrolet Camaro	25	+1.852	29
7	121	Elio Craparo	Hermanos Álvarez Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+2.235	28
8	172	Santiago Álvarez	JP Carrera	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+2.647	27
9	95	Agustín Martínez	Gurí Martínez Competición	Ford Falcon	25	+2.832	26
10	94	Lautaro de la Iglesia	Di Meglio Motorsport	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+2.948	25
11	21	Otto Fritzler	Pradecon Racing	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+4.098	24
12	63	Nicolás Bonelli	RUS Med Team	Ford Falcon	25	+4.505	23
13	7	Marcos Landa	Trotta Racing Team	Torino Cherokee	25	+6.321	22
14	19	Diego Ciantini	JP Carrera	Chevrolet Coupé SS	25	+6.322	21
15	157	Juan Bautista de Benedictis	DTA Racing	Ford Mustang	25	+6.626	20
16	1	Mariano Werner	Werner Competición	Ford Mustang	25	+10.156	19
17	177	Ayrton Londero	Gurí Martínez Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+12.127	18
18	38	Nicolás Cotignola	Sprint Racing	Torino Cherokee	25	+14.064	17
19	5	Santiago Mangoni	Las Toscas Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	25	+14.517	16
20	88	Nicolás Trosset	UR Racing	Ford Mustang	25	+14.958	15
21	34	Emiliano Spataro	Spataro Racing	Ford Falcon	25	+14.959	14
22	12	Gastón Mazzacane	Dole Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS	25	+17.995	13
23	77	Augusto Carinelli	Fancio Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+18.334	12
24	83	Facundo Ardusso	RUS Med Team	Chevrolet Coupé SS	25	+18.978	11
25	4	Jonatan Castellano	Castellano Power Team	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	+19.372	10
26	3	Germán Todino	Maquin Parts Racing	Ford Falcon	25	+22.812	9
27	114	Gastón Ferrante	AyP Competición	Toyota Camry 2024	24	+1 lap	8
28	161	Kevin Candela	Candela Competición	Torino Cherokee	24	+1 lap	7
29	122	Andrés Jakos	Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina	Toyota Camry 2024	21	Mechanical	6
30	53	Federico Iribarne	Alifraco Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	19		5
31	197	Marcos Quijada	UR Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	18		3
32	75	Sergio Alaux	Giavedoni Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS	4		3
33	13	Juan Tomas Catalán Magni	CM Motorsport	Ford Falcon	2	Crash damage	3
34	10	Valentín Aguirre	JP Carrera	Chevrolet Coupé SS	1	Crash damage	3
35	127	Marcelo Agrelo	Maquin Parts Racing	Dodge GTX Cherokee	1	Crash damage	3
36	11	Christian Ledesma	Pradecon Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	1	Crash damage	3
DSQ	22	Juan José Ebarlín	LRD Performance	Chevrolet Coupé SS	25	Collision with Agrelo
DSQ	79	Facundo Chapur	AyP Competición	Dodge GTX Cherokee	25	Technical
DNS	9	Juan Martín Trucco	Di Meglio Motorsport	Dodge Challenger		Mechanical
DNS	47	Norberto Fontana	Hermanos Álvarez Competición	Chevrolet Coupé SS
WD	96	Juan Cruz Benvenuti	Alifraco Sport	Chevrolet Coupé SS		Practice crash
WD	71	Sebastián Abella	LCA Racing	Chevrolet Coupé SS
Fastest Lap: Jonatan Castellano (Castellano Power Team), 1:20.770
Sources:

• ^1 – Otto Fritzler was given a five-second post-race penalty for colliding with Facundo Ardusso.
• ^2 – Diego Ciantini was given a ten-second post-race penalty for colliding with Marcos Landa.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Pos.	Driver	Pts	Gap
1	Tobías Martínez	42.5
2	Esteban Gini	38	-4.5
3	Julián Santero	35.5	-7
4	José Manuel Urcera	34	-8.5
5	Ricardo Risatti	30.5	-12.5

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

1. "Estos son los circuitos de las primeras 7 fechas del TC en 2024". SoloTC. 16 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
2. "Se vienen cambios en el Turismo Carretera para 2024: lo que tenés que saber" (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 1 July 2023.
3. "43 inscriptos del TC para la primera fecha en El Calafate. En el TC Pista estará Thiago Martinez" (in Spanish). Ahora Calafate. 20 February 2024.
4. "Los 10 autos de nueva generación del TC que debutan en El Calafate" (in Spanish). SoloTC. 22 February 2024.
5. "TC: el fuerte palo que se pegó Juan Cruz Benvenuti en pleno entrenamiento" (in Spanish). LM Neuquén. 24 February 2024.
6. "TC / RESULTADOS / 2024 / EL CALAFATE (CARRERA 1 DE 15) / CLASIFICACIÓN". Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. 24 February 2024.
7. "Histórica pole position de Werner con el Ford Mustang" (in Spanish). SoloTC. 24 February 2024.
8. "TC / RESULTADOS / 2024 / EL CALAFATE (CARRERA 1 DE 15) / 1° SERIE". Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. 25 February 2024.
9. "TC / RESULTADOS / 2024 / EL CALAFATE (CARRERA 1 DE 15) / 2° SERIE". Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. 25 February 2024.
10. "TC / RESULTADOS / 2024 / EL CALAFATE (CARRERA 1 DE 15) / 3° SERIE". Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. 25 February 2024.
11. "En su debut en el TC, el sanjuanino Tobías Martínez gana en El Calafate" (in Spanish). Televisión Pública. 25 February 2024.
12. "Di Meglio: "El Challenger va a tener problemas de velocidad final"" (in Spanish). SoloTC. 28 February 2024.
13. "TC / RESULTADOS / 2024 / EL CALAFATE (CARRERA 1 DE 15) / FINAL". Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. 25 February 2024.
14. "Ardusso ganó la serie más rápida del TC en El Calafate" (in Spanish). SoloTC. 25 February 2024.

External links

• Series website
• Heat race highlights
• Final highlights

• 2024 in Argentine motorsport
• 2024 in Turismo Carretera