Here's the thing, when you build a brand-new campaign in a series as brutal as Turismo Carretera, speed is only half the battle. Alejandro "Chata" Saparrat, engineer for Marcelo Ambrogio's squad, has a machine capable of fighting at the sharp end in the hands of Julián Santero, but the raw stats paint a turbulent picture. The raw pace of the BMW has been good, but reliability dealt them a devastating blow long before the fight really heated up.
Six retirements across the year is a heavy toll, and it proved to be the exact margin that locked them out of the Copa de Oro on the first attempt. As Saparrat put it bluntly: "The evaluation that we make is the following: in terms of the operation of the car it was good, but the negative thing is that we stopped a lot during the year and that left us out of the Copa de Oro in the first attempt. Six DNFs is a lot."
We are very well, the category welcomed us in an excellent way and little by little we are getting to know more things and that leads us to be very happy to be here,
Thankfully, the opening round of the Copa de Oro at the Rosendo Hernandez circuit in San Luis offered a massive spark of hope. Santero piloted the BMW to a second-place finish, securing crucial points that keep his hopes alive through the lucky-loser "last minute" system.
"In San Luis we had good potential and we hope to keep it this date," Saparrat said regarding their current trajectory. "TC is very even, very fine, you cannot relax, and much less abandon. If we achieve it, we are going to arrive with chances to the final competition to be held in La Plata."
For Marcelo Ambrogio's outfit, this campaign marks their debut season in Turismo Carretera, adding an extra layer of challenge to an already steep learning curve. Yet the reception from the category and the constant discovery of new data have left the garage in high spirits.
"We are very well, the category welcomed us in an excellent way and little by little we are getting to know more things and that leads us to be very happy to be here," Saparrat concluded. If they can keep the machine running until the checkered flag, La Plata might just witness something special.
