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. Driver Team Car Time/Gap 1 1 Mariano Werner 1:20.458 2 2 83 Facundo Ardusso +0.010 3 21 Otto Fritzler +0.077 4 68 Julián Santero +0.111 5 79 Facundo Chapur +0.126 6 7 Marcos Landa +0.187 7 19 Diego Ciantini +0.279 8 22 Juan José Ebarlín +0.408 9 127 Marcelo Agrelo +0.458 10 3 Germán Todino +0.494 11 197 Marcos Quijada +0.503 12 13 Juan Tomas Catalán Magni +0.520 13 161 Kevin Candela +0.594 14 107 Tobías Martínez +0.623 15 10 Valentín Aguirre +0.629 16 4 Jonatan Castellano +0.659 17 122 Andrés Jakos +0.683 18 11 Christian Ledesma +0.684 19 177 Ayrton Londero +0.712 20 63 Nicolás Bonelli +0.728 21 88 Nicolás Trosset +0.774 22 121 Elio Craparo +0.803 23 172 Santiago Álvarez +0.834 24 34 Emiliano Spataro +0.890 25 85 Ricardo Risatti +0.894 26 157 +0.938 27 6 Mauricio Lambiris +0.948 28 95 Agustín Martínez +0.970 29 231 José Manuel Urcera +1.034 30 53 Federico Iribarne +1.218 31 77 Augusto Carinelli +1.329 32 9 Juan Martín Trucco +1.389 33 38 Nicolás Cotignola +1.579 34 94 Lautaro de la Iglesia +1.688 35 47 Norberto Fontana +1.723 36 12 Gastón Mazzacane +1.772 37 5 Santiago Mangoni +1.928 38 75 Sergio Alaux +2.095 39 96 Juan Cruz Benvenuti No time 40 71 Sebastián Abella No time EXC 23 Esteban Gini Excluded EXC 114 Gastón Ferrante Excluded Source:
Heat 1 Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts. 1 1 Mariano Werner 5 6:46.603 1 5 2 68 Julián Santero 5 +0.144 2 4.5 3 19 Diego Ciantini 5 +1.325 3 4 4 161 Kevin Candela 5 +5.762 5 3.5 5 3 Germán Todino 5 +5.763 4 3 6 4 Jonatan Castellano 5 +6.180 6 2.5 7 121 Elio Craparo 5 +6.511 8 2 8 85 Ricardo Risatti 5 +8.671 9 1.5 9 177 Ayrton Londero 5 +9.562 7 1 10 94 5 +10.560 12 0.5 11 77 Augusto Carinelli 5 +11.323 11 12 5 Santiago Mangoni 5 +11.420 13 13 95 Agustín Martínez 2 +3 laps 10 DNS 71 Sebastián Abella Fastest Lap: Julián Santero (LCA Racing), 1:20.721 Source:
Heat 2 Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts. 1 83 Facundo Ardusso 5 6:43.817 1 5 2 22 Juan José Ebarlín 5 +2.033 3 4.5 3 197 Marcos Quijada 5 +3.097 4 4 4 122 Andrés Jakos 5 +5.071 6 3.5 5 107 Tobías Martínez 5 +6.196 5 3 6 63 Nicolás Bonelli 5 +6.879 7 2.5 7 172 Santiago Álvarez 5 +8.828 8 2 8 23 Esteban Gini 5 +9.011 14 1.5 9 157 5 +12.471 9 1 10 231 José Manuel Urcera 5 +13.543 10 0.5 11 75 Sergio Alaux 5 +19.204 13 12 9 Juan Martín Trucco 5 +20.278 11 13 47 Norberto Fontana 1 12 DSQ 79 Facundo Chapur 5 2 Fastest Lap: Facundo Ardusso (RUS Med Team), 1:20.575 Source:
Heat 3 Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts. 1 21 Otto Fritzler 5 6:43.995 1 5 2 7 Marcos Landa 5 +1.090 2 4.5 3 127 Marcelo Agrelo 5 +2.303 3 4 4 10 Valentín Aguirre 5 +4.283 5 3.5 5 11 Christian Ledesma 5 +5.291 6 3 6 13 5 +9.324 4 2.5 7 88 Nicolás Trosset 5 +11.962 7 2 8 34 Emiliano Spataro 5 +11.963 8 1.5 9 114 Gastón Ferrante 5 +16.321 14 1 10 53 Federico Iribarne 5 +17.381 10 0.5 11 12 Gastón Mazzacane 5 +18.036 12 12 6 Mauricio Lambiris 5 +35.990 9 13 38 Nicolás Cotignola 5 +35.991 11 DNS 96 Juan Cruz Benvenuti Fastest Lap: Otto Fritzler (Pradecon Racing), 1:20.500 Source:
– Emiliano Spataro was given a five-second post-race penalty for colliding with Nicolás Trosset. – 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.
Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Pts. 1 107 Tobías Martínez 25 40:24.132 40 2 23 Esteban Gini 25 +0.256 37 3 231 José Manuel Urcera 25 +0.498 34 4 68 Julián Santero 25 +0.987 31 5 6 Mauricio Lambiris 25 +1.603 30 6 85 Ricardo Risatti 25 +1.852 29 7 121 Elio Craparo 25 +2.235 28 8 172 Santiago Álvarez 25 +2.647 27 9 95 Agustín Martínez 25 +2.832 26 10 94 Lautaro de la Iglesia 25 +2.948 25 11 21 Otto Fritzler 25 +4.098 24 12 63 Nicolás Bonelli 25 +4.505 23 13 7 Marcos Landa 25 +6.321 22 14 19 Diego Ciantini 25 +6.322 21 15 157 25 +6.626 20 16 1 Mariano Werner 25 +10.156 19 17 177 Ayrton Londero 25 +12.127 18 18 38 Nicolás Cotignola 25 +14.064 17 19 5 Santiago Mangoni 25 +14.517 16 20 88 Nicolás Trosset 25 +14.958 15 21 34 Emiliano Spataro 25 +14.959 14 22 12 Gastón Mazzacane 25 +17.995 13 23 77 Augusto Carinelli 25 +18.334 12 24 83 Facundo Ardusso 25 +18.978 11 25 4 Jonatan Castellano 25 +19.372 10 26 3 Germán Todino 25 +22.812 9 27 114 Gastón Ferrante 24 +1 lap 8 28 161 Kevin Candela 24 +1 lap 7 29 122 Andrés Jakos 21 Mechanical 6 30 53 Federico Iribarne 19 5 31 197 Marcos Quijada 18 3 32 75 Sergio Alaux 4 3 33 13 Juan Tomas Catalán Magni 2 Crash damage 3 34 10 Valentín Aguirre 1 Crash damage 3 35 127 Marcelo Agrelo 1 Crash damage 3 36 11 Christian Ledesma 1 Crash damage 3 DSQ 22 Juan José Ebarlín 25 DSQ 79 Facundo Chapur 25 Technical DNS 9 Juan Martín Trucco Mechanical DNS 47 Norberto Fontana WD 96 Juan Cruz Benvenuti Practice crash WD 71 Sebastián Abella Fastest Lap: Jonatan Castellano (Castellano Power Team), 1:20.770 Sources:
– Otto Fritzler was given a five-second post-race penalty for colliding with Facundo Ardusso. – Diego Ciantini was given a ten-second post-race penalty for colliding with Marcos Landa.
Championship standings Drivers' Championship Driver Gap 1 Tobías Martínez 42.5 2 Esteban Gini 38 -4.5 3 Julián Santero 35.5 -7 4 34 -8.5 5 Ricardo Risatti 30.5 -12.5 Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References
External links Series website Heat race highlights Final highlights
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