Just as in the rival Production Car TC2000 Touring Series, two teammates will fight it out for the driver’s championship in the South American "Super Touring Car Championship’s" final race of the season after they finished first and second in the penultimate round at the Mar del Plato Circuit in the 7th-round of the 8-round series. With the one race remaining, Oscar Larrauri now leads his teammate Osvaldo Lopez by only 1-point, 100 to 99.

The Saturday qualifying heat had to be put off due to torrential showers, and the starting grid was determined by the drivers’ points order. That allowed Oscar Larrauri to take the lead from fellow Quadrifolglio Corse Alfa Romeo 156 star Osvaldo Lopez. Larrauri held onto the lead until lap six, when Lopez took a dive inside the sister Alfa and stole the lead, which he held onto until the conclusion of the race.

After a spirited climb through the field, Gustavo der Ohanessian took over third place in his older Alfa Romeo 155, demoting the BMW of Diego Menendez to fourth place late into the race. The final result then guaranteed Alfa Romeo the Manufacturer’s 2000-Season Championship.

Club Saloon Racing in England, the near equivalent of SCCA Racing, was as popular as ever this year throughout all of England, with Alfa Romeo racers bearing the standard for all others to follow. All makes and models of Alfa Romeos, along with their drivers, are competing in British Saloon and Club Racing and are drawing envious glances from other series organizers with both the quality and quantity of the Alfa "Racing Product".

Some 107 drivers and cars (Alfas) scored points in the series, with cars ranging from a 1960’s Giulia Saloon, up to and including the current crop of Alfa 156s and GTV models. At the top of the heap was Enzo Buscaglia, who had his well-sorted and mighty 3.3 litre, 380bhp V-6 powered Alfa 75 (Milano) winning the season title (see photo).

American Alfa fans must stare in amazement at the lack of Alfa Romeo products competing in the different American Sportscar and Saloon Racing SCCA and other series, while elsewhere in the world, both on the continent and in England, Alfas continue to not only win but, in many cases, dominate the competition. Many feel that this is due to the fact that Alfa no longer has a presence here in the USA. However, with the recent announcement by Auto Delta to begin importing three different models of Alfa Romeo in the year 2002, this situation could very well change.

The other problem is that many SCCA and Vintage Race types have never really understood and/or attempted to set up the many different older Alfas that are still available and offer, almost in box-stock form, performance, handling opportunities and potential not found in many of the other makes of vehicles commonly seen on US circuits (BMW’s, Rice-Burners, etc.).

The other thing that is unique in bringing Alfa Romeo into prominence among Club Racers, especially in England, is that they tend to have many "Marque Classes", while we here in the USA tend to lump everything together in different classes. This way of classifying cars can often prove to be detrimental to some makes of cars, especially in SCCA’s so-called Improved Touring Classes where the National Organization is not really concerned with seeing to it that all of the cars in a given class are made, and allowed to be set up, in a manner (handicapping) that insures that all models are capable of winning and are equally competitive at all events. This, probably more than anything else, has affected the Alfa Romeo product here, as it has historically of late been in classes where it really is mismatched.