Here is the thing about racing intelligence: sometimes the bravest move is stepping aside. That was precisely the calculation for Julián Santero at Rosario during the third round of the Copa de Oro, where a fourth-place finish left him as the virtual championship leader and practically sealed his entry through the last-minute system.
Starting and finishing fourth on Sunday, the driver from Guaymallén calmly handed a podium spot to Mariano Werner without a fight. "I let Werner pass, you were coming faster and it didn't make sense to start fighting," Santero explained after stepping out of his BMW. He noted that the chasing group led by Landa was closing in, which made yielding a single position the smartest mathematical play for the title battle—adding candidly that if Fritzler hadn't retired, things might have played out differently.
We are a little finer on what to touch, when the car needs one thing or another, we know what to touch when it understeers or oversteers,
It capped off a solid weekend where the machine steadily improved session by session. After a shaky start in practice, Santero found a step forward in qualifying to take fifth on Saturday. While their heat race was not great, the final brought a slight improvement that allowed them to hold firm. That leaves the provisional standings leader sitting on 116.5 points, holding a 16-point gap over his pursuer Facundo Chapur.
That performance follows an impressive run of three consecutive strong results, featuring a second place in San Luis, a third in San Nicolás, and now this fourth in Rosario. Santero praised the squad's progress in dialling in the machine's handling tendencies and learning its overall development. "We are a little finer on what to touch, when the car needs one thing or another, we know what to touch when it understeers or oversteers," he said.
Now, attention turns to the unknowns of Río Cuarto and La Plata, with the former marking a return to a venue the category has not visited since 2012. "Río Cuarto is going to be an interesting circuit," Santero admitted, admitting he has no idea how they will perform on a track absent from the calendar for so many years. With 47 points up for grabs at Río Cuarto to settle the final three last-minute entry spots, Santero currently enjoys a 42-point cushion in the general table over Diego Azar, who sits fourth in that particular battle.
