F1 1970 Championship 2
AIR - F1 1970 - R4 - Buenos Aires
Florian Masse led at the end of every lap of the 33-lap race, while the fight behind him left the Championship leaders level on points.
A lead established early
Kasperi Sirén had pole position, but by the end of the opening lap he was ninth and Florian Masse was in front. Masse remained the leader at the end of each of the 33 laps, bringing his Formula RSS 1970 V8 home for victory. It was a commanding result, though the order behind him was far from settled.
The first lap gave the race its shape. Sirén had ground to recover before he could challenge for a place on the podium, and David Czemmel was soon among those contesting second. On lap five Czemmel passed Rolf Biber on the Recta del Lago to take that position. Masse, meanwhile, continued to head the field as the arguments behind him drew in new contenders.
Second place changes hands
Sirén's recovery brought him into direct contention with Czemmel in the second half of the race. Their contest produced repeated changes of position rather than one decisive move. Czemmel passed Sirén for second on the Recta del Lago on lap 21, and took the place there again on lap 22. Sirén responded on the Recta del Fondo on lap 24, then passed Czemmel on the Recta del Lago on lap 26.
That last observed exchange proved important to the result. Sirén finished second, with Czemmel third, giving the Hungarian a place on the podium after his earlier spell in second. Sirén also set the fastest lap, 1:48.052. Neither his pace nor the work required to recover from that first-lap setback displaced Masse from the lead, but it gave Sirén a hard-earned second place when the race was over.
Andrew's advance
Andrew made the most striking early advance. Starting 14th, he was fifth by the end of lap one. His progress was not simply a matter of positions changing elsewhere: on lap two he passed Czemmel on the Recta del Lago, only for Czemmel to pass him later that same lap in the Entrada a los Mixtos corner. It was a brief exchange within a much longer climb through the order.
Sirén passed Andrew for third on lap ten as his own recovery continued. Andrew nevertheless finished fourth, ten places above his starting position. His race supplied another measure of how thoroughly the opening order had been rearranged beneath Masse, even while the leader's place remained constant.
A long contest farther back
Rolf Biber and Richard Rossier, ultimately classified 12th after completing 32 laps, spent much of the race in close company. For 22 successive laps they were within two seconds of one another at the end of each lap. The advantage changed hands several times; Biber was ahead by the end of lap 31 after another late reversal.
Rossier then lost five places on lap 32, a lap that included an incident and a pit-lane visit. Biber completed the full distance in sixth. Their prolonged contest had occupied a very different part of the race from the struggle for second, but it gave the middle order its own persistent point of interest.
Level at the top
The victory also changed the Championship picture. Sirén had arrived three points ahead of Masse; after four of the scheduled six rounds, Masse has taken a share of the lead. Both stand on 117 points under the scoring rule now in effect. Sirén's second place kept him alongside the winner in the table, rather than behind him, despite Masse's uninterrupted run at the head of this race.
Masse left with the win and a place at the top of the Championship, but not a points advantage. With two rounds still to run, the order at the front remains open.
