2024 Argentine Touring Cars

[FIRE]

Poor season for Toyota and Chevy.

[TuteZaek]

New race for the TC, new NG cars, with the condiment that for the first time since the 70s the Chevys and Falcnos aren't the majority of models of their respective brands.

Lets start:

Santero, current championship leader traded his LCA built Falcon for a Mustang.

Lambiris, one of the urugayan drivers, currently 3rd in the championship with his signature orange Falcon, now drives a Mustang, also orange (sorry for bad picture, the only one i found)


The second Torino NG finally came to life, in the form of the new "Black Panther" to be driven by Kevin Candela

Ciantini, currently 4th in the championship left his dominant, but unreliable Chevy for this nice looking Camaro

Another new Camaro, built by the RV racing team will debut driven by Juan Cruz Benvenuti, and i think is the best looking TC camaro, red with black and gold details

Finally, the 3rd camaro making a debut in Posadas is for Ebarlin, but there aren't picks available online yet (its really nice, black base with yellow details including a big MOMO on the side)

with this, the amount of NG cars now reachs 19, with the Camaro and Mustang with 7 for each side, 2 Camry NG, 2 Torino NG and a lone Challenger

Whats most interesting is that in the top 10 of the championship, now there are only 3 old gen cars: Gini's 2023 Camry, Landa's Torino and Castellano's GTX (that said, 6 of those NG cars are Mustangs, with a sole, new to this race, Camaro)
If we take the first 12 that advance to the playoffs... we add a Camaro and a Chevy.

As for the oncoming NGs: At least 1 Mustang (Catalan Magni), with the posible RUS-Med one for Bonelli.
Possible but not likely: Gianini, almost done but currently on hold since is building the new TCPK Ranger,

4/5 (or even 6!!!, SCRATCH THAT, 7!!!) Camaros: Aguirre, Mangoni, Alvarez (the 3 from Canning motorsport) and Diego de Carlo (LRD), the 5th one will be from Canning too, with Canapino in mind, the 6th will be technically for Ledesma (Pradecon), with no words on the current one's future
EDIT: Forgot about Ardusso awaiting his for Buenos AIres, so another one!!

4 Camrys: Gini (Maquin Parts, was for this race, but got delayed) Agustin Martinez (Family team, same, was for Posadas got delayed), Martin Serrano (Coiro) this one with the Camry that would've been originally for Matias Rossi and in theory Chapur

2 Torinos: Cotignola and Landa, already advanced in their build

At least 1 Challenger: Martin Vazques aims to debut his at Buenos Aires while the SAP team is buidling one for Castellano, but its not confirmed for 2024 (new cars can debut till Buenos Aires, last race of the regular season, for the participants of the Playoffs)

Another thing to note in Posadas, the TC pista race will be the debut of the new Sadev gearbox that the ACTC is evaluating for using as an alternative for the Saenz TT3 currently in use in the TC.
It will race in Juan Pablo Pïlo's Falcon, built by the Alifraco team (who were the ones proposing the gearbox homologation)

[TuteZaek]

Can't edit again: Benvenutti's car is built by the Alifraco Team, not by the RV

[Adamcas87]

Originally Posted by TuteZaek

Can't edit again: Benvenutti's car is built by the Alifraco Team, not by the RV

Thank you for the in depth update

Do you think there will be any more challengers on the grid? Maybe next year

[TuteZaek]

Originally Posted by Adamcas87

Thank you for the in depth update

Do you think there will be any more challengers on the grid? Maybe next year

Elio Craparo has already confirmed his for 2025, and there should be one being built for Lautaro de la Iglesia... But no news of that one yet. That would get us 5: Trucco, Castellano, Vázquez, De la Iglesia and Craparo.

I will asume that, like nowadays, Dodge, Torino and Toyota will be mandatory for the ones coming from the TC Pista, so there is that.


The main issue is that the Fords and specially the Camaros are flooding the grid, Fontana anounced his for San Luis (first race of the playoff, last chance of debuting a car if you wanna compete for the championship) so there are 14/15 racing or confirmed Camaros for a field of 40/45 cars

[Adamcas87]

Originally Posted by TuteZaek

Elio Craparo has already confirmed his for 2025, and there should be one being built for Lautaro de la Iglesia... But no news of that one yet. That would get us 5: Trucco, Castellano, Vázquez, De la Iglesia and Craparo.

I will asume that, like nowadays, Dodge, Torino and Toyota will be mandatory for the ones coming from the TC Pista, so there is that.


The main issue is that the Fords and specially the Camaros are flooding the grid, Fontana anounced his for San Luis (first race of the playoff, last chance of debuting a car if you wanna compete for the championship) so there are 14/15 racing or confirmed Camaros for a field of 40/45 cars

Yeah I do like the look of the NG Cars but like you said I don’t wanna see half the field full of mustangs and Camaros
Would be nice to see more of the dodge, torinos and Toyotas

[TuteZaek]

[In spanish] Nice video of a walkarround of the RUS-Med team shop
Kinda on the big side, but taking into account the amount of cars and series they race... it makes sense.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_NCWqqceTU

[TuteZaek]

Ok, the ACTC doens't stop with the changes and, confirming a lot of the rumors that were circulating, they're working in a new engine development for the cars, aiming at 2026 as the earliest, trying to maintain the inline 6 cylinder formula (but not ruling out alternatives) but aiming to get at least "200 hp" more. Today's engines are in the 500 Hp total/480-490 at the wheels acording to the teams, so, they want arround 700 Hp. All of this said by Gaston Mazzacane in the Bs. As. race presentation.

On that regard, Hugo Mazzacane, Gaston's father and current ACTC President went to the USA to get data and, according to himself "takes home a lot of information" to be presented to the technical dept.
Also they talked with Palou, and seing the interest he showed, they offered him a test in a Mustang for the end of the year.

[NaBUru38]

I've lost track of the news in Argentina.

The Turismo Nacional 200-driver race at Buenos Aires will have guests like Mariano Werner, Juan de Benedictis, Marcos Landa, Mauricio Lambiris, Facundo Ardusso, Emiliano Spataro, Otto Fritzler, Bernardo Llaver, Diego Ciantini, Martin Basso, Ricardo Risatti, Ernesto Bessone, and Martin Ponte (the infamous IndyCar analyst).

https://campeones.com.ar/el-tn-con-i...-buenos-aires/

[TuteZaek]

A lot of big names there, and Ponte
There are some on the C2 that also have nice curriculums like Tato Bosio (former TN C3 Champion and TC, TC2000 and TRV6 driver), Rafa Morgenstern (Also former TC, TC2000 and TRV6) or the C2 double champion Nicolas Posco

[TuteZaek]

Catalan Magni's Mustang testing at La Plata.
That thing looks good

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by TuteZaek

Catalan Magni's Mustang testing at La Plata.
That thing looks good

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9iwX...JuaGF3anNmNg==

[NaBUru38]

TC Pick Up - round 6 La Plata:

1. Juan Pablo Gianini (Ford)
2. Julián Santero (Toyota)
3. Andrés Jakos (Toyota)
4. Nicolás Pezzucchi (Nissan)
5. Matias Rodriguez (Toyota)
6. Germán Todino (Toyota)

TC Pick Up - standings after round 6:

1. Juan Pablo Gianini (Ford), 228.5
2. Gastón Mazzacane (Volkswagen), 205.5
3. Mariano Werner (Toyota), 201
4. Andrés Jakos (Toyota), 195.5
5. Hernán Palazzo (Toyota), 191.5
6. Rodrigo Lugón (Ford), 189
7. Julián Santero (Toyota), 169.5
8. Matias Rodriguez (Toyota), 167.5
9. Valentin Aguirre (Chevrolet), 158
10. Javier Jack (Ford), 152.5

Round 7 is on August 11, yet again at La Plata.

[TuteZaek]

New week, new TC Race, the "Desafio de las Estrellas" in San Juan Villicum that define the starting positions with a lotery draw and will also be a slightly longer race (35 Laps) with 2 mandated Pit Stops (one for changing two right side tires and one for adding 40l of fuel), in short.. it will be a mess, time will say if of the good or bad kind.

6 new NG Cars: Serrano with a Camry (the one that was planned for Rossi) (A funny bit about Serrano, since he is entering a race for the first time this year, he will be drawing from the best possible positions on the lottery, with posibility of starting from pole... and he already got the 1st place in two previous draws for the Desafio de las Estrellas, maybe his luck will get him a 3rd pole "draw")
Alvarez, Aguirre and Mazzacane with Camaros
Catalan Magni with the Mustang and Landa with the Torino NG

Also there where some new bits on the future of the engines by ACTC technical director Iuliano himself: They will make new Inline 6 blocks, aparently going for aluminium, maintain the 32V DOHC head desings (that is fairly new) and go for some kind of EFI (so the ACTC finally will let go the carburators). The new engines will be TC Exclusive, and, at first at least, will not be used by either TC Pista or TC Pickups. The expected increase in HP is 150+ over the ones in use now (that have arround 500+ crank)



On unrelated but related news... the ACTC/CDA drama still going strong, with some of the CDAs big names calling "clandestine races" to the ones being organized by the ACTC.

And in the middle of that: a Rumor/hearsay/Juan Siciliano Bullshit (a Journalist/Professional **** Stirrer) that the TC2000 teams are already in the move to the ACTC, with possible testing for new engines made by Berta Motorsport coming soon basically trashing the SUV/5cil engine idea currently in the works*

*i don't believe all of this, especially the new Berta Engine unless they were working on it in silence since some time ago, but something is cooking.

[NaBUru38]

Turismo Nacional at Oberá - Class 3 final race:

1. Santiago Mallo (Chevrolet)
2. Jorge Barrio (Chevrolet)
3. Germán Todino (Toyota)
4. Jerónimo Teti (Chevrolet)
5. Fabricio Pezzini (Toyota)
6. Facundo Chapur (Ford)

Leonel Pernia braked too late and crashed Julián Santero, who got damage suspension. Then Pernia complained that it was Santero's fault...

Standings after Oberá:

1. Leonel Pernia (Ford)
2. Jorge Barrio (Chevrolet)
3. Jerónimo Teti (Chevrolet)
4. Alfonso Domenech (Ford / Volkswagen)
5. Andrés Jakos (Toyota)
6. Joel Gassmann (Chevrolet)
7. Germán Todino (Toyota)
8. Facundo Chapur (Ford)
9. Manuel Urcera (Ford)
10. Fabián Yannantuoni (Fiat)

Round 9 is on September 8 at Buenos Aires with the 200-driver race.

[TuteZaek]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Then Pernia complained
:

Sound like the usual

[uesugi kenshin]

Ortelli, Guri Martinez and Canapino all at the next TC round, shpuld be wild !!

[TuteZaek]

Originally Posted by uesugi kenshin

Ortelli, Guri Martinez and Canapino all at the next TC round, shpuld be wild !!

Emergency Canapino in an old chevy and forced Ortelli and Martinez
but well, the fans wanted the old guys in the new cars (Canapino situation aside)

[FIRE]

Aren't there a lot of changes or plans for changes recently which results in higher costs and forces drivers/teams to leave the main TC series?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by TuteZaek

[In spanish] Nice video of a walkarround of the RUS-Med team shop
Kinda on the big side, but taking into account the amount of cars and series they race... it makes sense.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_NCWqqceTU

Thanks

[TuteZaek]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Aren't there a lot of changes or plans for changes recently which results in higher costs and forces drivers/teams to leave the main TC series?

There is something of that, a lot of the smaller teams (driver owned teams mostly) and some drivers are having a hard time to make ends meet, there is a smaller field than last year, but on the other hand, last year was stupid, 50+ cars is too much. In addition to that, the 2 big profile drivers that are out this year, Pernia and Rossi, aren't out for economic reasons

That said, they expect 35 new gen cars for Buenos Aires, with 10 of them making their debut there, and a bunch more (Challengers among them) for San Luis after that, the "2 year renovation period" ended being a single year, and some drivers that are out of the TC are already working on their new cars for the next year (Gianini, for example)

Even then, i'm worried for certain drivers, Spataro is already planing his 'stang, but this year was really hard for him, others like Ponce de Leon (a triple national champ?*on and a big name for Ford, will end this year in his Falcon) and Fontana (Ex F1, Camaro expected for San Luis) are fading more and more towards the back as money gets tight, Ponce is even having trouble going to some races.

[TuteZaek]

In another news, Gianini showed the New Ranger that will be racing this weekend on the TCPK at La Plata (as always... they need to get out of there more!!!!)

This is a sort of "Works" Ranger, more so than the last "Team Ranger" effort that was backed by dealerships. In this case, Ford themselves, trhu their Quick Lane, Omnicraft and Motorcraft brands are the ones backing the project, and were the ones who asked Gianini to make it (That said, if i was Gianini i would end the year in the old Ranger, that thing won the last 3 races)

[Adamcas87]

Yeah why does the TCPK only race at la Plata??

[uesugi kenshin]

Originally Posted by Adamcas87

Yeah why does the TCPK only race at la Plata??

It races alongside TC Mouras

[TuteZaek]

Originally Posted by Adamcas87

Yeah why does the TCPK only race at la Plata??

I think at first it was to take advantage of having the logistics of the TC Mouras teams (that, also tend to be TC teams) already there
As for the present... i think they don't want to burden the teams to much, also, TCPK took a hit because of the debut of TC Pista Pick ups that tend to have smaller teams and budgets, and those teams benefit more from staying at la plata, same as the Mouras and Pista Mouras.

Even then the ACTC wants to have then race outside more.