Paul Jourdain Retains the GTM Pro 1 Lead in the Super Copa Roshfrans Super Cup

Paul Jourdain took the GTM Pro 1 championship lead away from Emiliano Richards with two victories on the same weekend at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, in the first round of the Súper Copa Roshfrans since the category paused activities over three months ago.

Photo By Cristhian Rodríguez

The Súper Copa Roshfrans had not raced since May 3, when the fourth round was held at León. The break, which extended over three months, coincided with the World Cup hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada during the summer, and left the category's return to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez as the true start of the second half of the calendar.

Jourdain arrived at that round with the fastest time on Friday and started from the front in Saturday's first race, where he had to hold off Richards' advances for much of the event before closing it out at the front. The cancellation of the second qualifying session gave him pole once again for the second race, in which he maintained the lead over Salvador de Alba Jr. all the way to the checkered flag.

Photo By Cristhian Rodríguez

Before this round, Richards led the standings with 358 points to 357 for Jourdain, the closest margin between the top two in any Súper Copa category this year. That closeness can be explained by what happened in the races leading up to the break. Richards already had two wins on the season since Aguascalientes; Jourdain, on the other hand, who had not finished outside the top three in the first three rounds, closed that same event in eighth place in race two. The weekend's result in the capital corrects that setback and returns Jourdain to the top of the standings heading into the final stretch of the season.

Photo By Cristhian Rodríguez

In Tractocamiones, Juan Cantú changed his truck's engine on Friday night due to a technical issue and started from the back of the grid. He charged through the field all race long and reached the lead in the final meters of the track, just a few seconds ahead of his teammate Santiago Tovar, with Héctor Aguirre in third, so the three occupied the top three positions. That trio had already taken the first three spots at Aguascalientes, although then it was Tovar at the front with Cantú and Aguirre behind.

Photo By Cristhian Rodríguez

The three drivers were already battling each other for the title before this round. Tovar arrived at the front with 360 points, Cantú followed with 349, and Aguirre was third with 330. The result in the capital brings Cantú closer to the top and leaves the trio as the strongest reference in the class for the remainder of the calendar, with the particularity that the title fight there is being waged between teammates rather than against other drivers.

Photo By Cristhian Rodríguez

The Súper Copa Roshfrans will hold its sixth round on August 29 and 30 at the Autódromo Francisco Villa in Chihuahua. Jourdain will arrive there at the top of GTM Pro 1 for the first time this season, with Richards forced to respond immediately, and Cantú will look to sustain the advantage he gained in the capital in a class where, for now, he is racing primarily against his own teammates.