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WILLIAMS WINS IN THE SECOND ROUND OF THE MEXICAN TOURING CHAMPIONSHIP
by CAJAL

The second round of the MTC, also known as the Neon Cup, was won by
drivers Jorge Williams and J. Campero after 170 grueling laps to the 1
mile oval of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City.
The only qualifying session took place Saturday, April 13, 1996, (most
series in Mexico have gone to 1 qualifying day in order to cut costs,
or maybe the Max and Bernie show is taking hold here too) was won by
the TF Victor teammates, and brothers, and winners of the first round
of the MTC, Eduardo and Patrick Goeters with a time of 40.403 seconds.
Miguel Reyes/Alfonso Oros, polesitters in the first race, were next
in their two liters Ceta Racing Neon with 40.416 and then came Miguel
Alfageme/Alfredo Galland, Germán Quiroga/J.L.Carrete (OQUI Racing),
Claus Schinkel/Gildo Gutierrez (the same Claus who went to the British
F3 about 15 years ago), Ricardo Abarca/Jesus Robles (Tecate Racing),
and another 33 driver twosomes, all in Chrysler Neons. Missing among
the prominent drivers of this series was Michel Jourdain Jr. who was
taking the start at Long Beach IndyCar race in a Lola-Ford of the Herdez
Competition Team (Dick Simon was the teamowner until recently), becoming
the youngest driver to participate in that series, and will be racing in
Indy 500 next May (also as the youngest ever). Not bad for the 19 year
old former MTC driver.

Race day was sunny, bright, and not too hot and since no driver can
run more than 65% of the race, at least a driver change was in order
but there was talk of some teams having several pit stops prepared in
order to run light most of the race.The start was chaotic to say the
least, and at times it seems as if there were too many cars in the
race, maybe 2 heats with 20 cars each would be a better bet with the
10 best cars in each qualifying for a final, shorter, race. There were
several yellow flags which slowed the pace considerably and the Goeters,
Williams, and other pairings were always in contention, but around lap
100 when the pace car went out because of another round of yellows.

Several drivers took the chance to pit but later went out and passed
the pace car to get their positions back in a flagrant violation of the
rules. Instead of using black flags to call them back to the boxes,
the series director Mr. Rovelo, went to the track side, jumped into it
and tried to pull some drivers by their ears (at least that's what it
looked like) while they were driving at close to racing speed, and he
had no protection, not even a marshall with flags to warn the drivers
(marshalls aren't suicidal in Mexico). I'm not sure of his success but
soon he was back in the boxes, fuming, and the race was on. Williams
first lead soon after and he kept the lead through another series of
yellows, showing why he has been champion in the MTC in previous years
in the GTIII category (under 2 liters with a VW Golf).

With a few laps to go the yellows were out again and the race, contrary
to regulations which say that the last two laps should be run under
green flag, ended that way, causing a lot of drivers to complain since
they were saving the best for the last, among them the Goeters brother
which fell from the top 5. Williams/Campero won in 2 hours 16 minutes 40
seconds and 2 tenths, followed by Eugenio Martin del Campo/Paco Gomez,
German Quiroga/J.L.Carrete, Lopez/Perez, and Reyes/Oros.

The championship standings show the Goeters Bros. still leading
it with 144 points (remember 100 points goes to the winner), with
Williams/Campero second with 129, Reyes/Oros with 115, Alfageme/Gallant
with 89 and defending champion Freddy Tame/Carlos Contreras with 80.