Fresh off a fifth-place finish in San Nicolás, Diego Azar knows exactly what he needs to do next. The Mercedes-Benz driver, prepared by Maquin Parts, heads to Rosario with a singular focus: winning. Following a string of mechanical setbacks that severely damaged his title aspirations, the driver from Del Viso is putting everything on the line to close the gap.
"If I want to have chances to fight for the championship, I have to go for the victory in Rosario yes or no and narrow the gap, because I am dragging practically 30-something points behind," Azar stated. The machine has shown serious speed, but reliability has been a disaster. A broken motor, a busted differential, and a cracked duct forced a brutal stretch of four or five consecutive races without points due to various abandonments and breakages. None of them were crashes; the hardware simply gave up.
The car is extremely good, I have a good engine, a good work team, and I have a lot of faith that from here on we are going to work very well,
Take San Luis, the opening round of the Copa de Oro, as a prime example. Running fourth in his heat, a spark plug wire cut out, dropping the Mercedes onto five cylinders. Azar was forced to start 53rd, carving his way through 22 cars with some scrapes along the way to salvage 31st. It left him 18th in the Cup standings, sitting with four drivers ahead of him for the final three transfer spots. Yet, looking back at the real potential shown in San Nicolás, he insists the speed is genuinely there.
"The car is extremely good, I have a good engine, a good work team, and I have a lot of faith that from here on we are going to work very well," Azar said. Still, the reality of the field is unforgiving. Direct rivals like Otto Fritzler and Facundo Chapur are operating a step firmer, serving as the very drivers who beat him last weekend.
With the championship battle slipping away—sliding from fourth to 17th in the standings—priorities are shifting toward team strategy. Mercedes-Benz and Maquin Parts are throwing their weight behind the strongest remaining contenders, notably Otto Fritzler sitting third in the Cup and José Manuel Urcera in 13th. "My head today is more in being able to deliver points to them (Urcera and Fritzler) to the extent that I can so that they add the greatest amount of points possible, in search of the championship for Mercedes-Benz and Maquin Parts," Azar admitted.
