Súper TC 2000 · History

Súper TC 2000 was the top division of Argentina’s TC2000 touring car championship from 2012 to 2021. It came out of a technical overhaul of the series planned in mid-2011. The overhaul dropped the 2,000cc limit that had given the series its name since 1979 and gave every car the same 2.7-litre naturally aspirated V8. The first race was held on 11 March 2012 at the Oscar Cabalén circuit in Alta Gracia and was won by Matías Rossi in a Toyota Corolla. Across ten seasons, six drivers and five manufacturers won the title.

Origins and the 2012 rules

The project was driven by TC2000’s management, led by president Pablo Peón, who said he wanted the most powerful and advanced touring car series in South America. The rules were built around the RPE TCX engine. It was a 2,700cc V8 that Radical Performance Engines developed in England from two Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle blocks. It was mounted transversely at the front, drove the front wheels and used paddle shifters. Tyres came from Pirelli. On that shared mechanical base, each manufacturer raced one of its own models: the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze, Peugeot 408, Renault Fluence, Honda Civic and Fiat Linea, among others.

The first titles: López and Rossi

The 2012 calendar had twelve rounds, two of them on street circuits in Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. Mariano Werner won for Toyota on the streets of the capital on 1 April and won again in Rosario three weeks later. In mid-season, José María López won four races in a row in the PSG-16 Team Ford Focus, at General Roca, Oberá, Rafaela and San Martín. The title was settled on 25 November at Potrero de los Funes. Néstor Girolami won the race for Peugeot, and López took the championship with 203.5 points to Rossi’s 197. Rossi hit back in 2013, winning the title for Toyota Team Argentina in the Corolla.

Peugeot, Chevrolet and Renault

Girolami was the first driver to win the title twice. He took it in 2014 and 2015 in the Peugeot 408, first with Peugeot Lo Jack Team and then with Team Peugeot Total Argentina. In 2016 the champion was Agustín Canapino in the Equipo Chevrolet YPF Cruze. From 2017, Renault Sport and its Fluence led the field. Facundo Ardusso won in 2017 and 2018, and his first title ended a run of more than twenty years without a Renault champion in TC2000. The previous one had been Juan María Traverso in 1993. In those years the calendar included the Buenos Aires 200 km, a race that paid more points than a regular final.

The turbo years

In 2019 the engine changed. The Radical V8s gave way to a 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four built by the French company Oreca, and the rules also cut downforce. The new engine made its debut on 7 April 2019 at Alta Gracia, a race that also brought back standing starts. Leonel Pernía took the first pole and won the first race of the turbo era, ahead of Ardusso and Julián Santero. At the end of the year, Pernía gave Renault its third title in a row. In 2020 Rossi won his second championship in the Toyota Gazoo Racing YPF Infinia Corolla. In 2021 Canapino won again in the Chevrolet Cruze, the last title of the Súper era.

Titles by manufacturer and the return of the TC2000 name

Over the ten seasons of Súper TC 2000, Renault won three drivers’ titles (2017, 2018 and 2019). Peugeot, Toyota and Chevrolet won two each, and Ford won one, in 2012. Rossi, Girolami, Ardusso and Canapino were the two-time champions. In early 2022, brothers Alejandro and Diego Levy bought the series from Grupo Clarín. In February that year, Alejandro Levy announced that the championship would drop the “Súper” label and go back to being called TC2000, the name it was founded under in 1979. The first race under the restored name was held in 2022 at the Autódromo Juan Manuel Fangio in Rosario.