Juan María Traverso

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Juan María Traverso (Ramallo; December 28, 1950) is a former Argentine motor racing driver. Recognized nationally for his participation in the most important Argentine categories, he is considered one of the most important drivers in the history of Argentine motorsports, thanks to his extensive record of titles obtained that includes 16 championships and 7 runners-up in his 34 years of career.. He also competed in other categories such as Class 3 of National Tourism, the Argentine Pilots Club and Formula 2 Codasur. At the international level, he ventured into European Formula 2, in the Campionato Italiano Velocitá Turismo-N2 and obtained a victory in Class A7 of the World Rally Championship in 1988.

He made his professional debut in 1971 competing in Road Tourism, a category where he also announced his retirement in 2005. He obtained his first victory on October 29, 1972, in the Vuelta de 25 de Mayo, which made him enter the history of winners. of the TC, as the 109th pilot to achieve a victory for the first time and repeating this honor 46 times. On the other hand, he was part of the pilot squads that gave rise to the Club Argentino de Pilotos, Turismo Competimiento 2000, Top Race and the evolution of the latter Top Race V6 categories. In 2000, he was honored by the Konex Foundation with the Platinum Konex Award as the best driver of the decade. He currently presides over the Argentine Flyers Association, an entity whose presidency he assumed once his retirement was announced.

Biography

Early years

Since he was little, Traverso had a special interest in automobile competitions, although it was very difficult for him to get a car loan to go for a few laps in the pasture, until at the age of 15 he was able to have his own vehicle, a Ford A. without escape that made an infernal noise and the one that the residents of the City of Ramallo remember to this day.

He attended high school at the Colegio de La Salle in the Federal Capital and then returned to Ramallo (the city of origin of his parents) to dedicate himself to agricultural activity.

He became friends with "Marito" García, who raced in karting and then ventured into Road Tourism, which he accompanied to the races whenever he could and his debut in Road Tourism was a consequence of García joining the official General Motors team and giving him his Torino Hare. 1 1/2 with which I was participating until that moment.

He ran his first race on October 31, 1971 in the Vuelta de Pergamino, "He was happier because Copello (his idol) had won than for having debuted in Turismo Carretera,", expressed Juan María.

First wins and championships in the TC

Traverso won his first race on October 29, 1972: The Supernafta YPF award contested in the semi-permanent race on May 25. On his triumphant return to Ramallo he is greeted by a crowd and the celebrations last three days.

In 1973 he joined the official Ford team, occupying the place that had been left vacant by the death of Nasif Estéfano and having Héctor Luis Gradassi as a partner.

In 1977 he achieved his first Road Tourism championship, winning seven races and repeated the victory the following year, winning eight competitions.

He opened some car dealerships in Ramallo and San Pedro, until he recognized that what he wanted was not behind a desk but inside a race car and decided to dedicate himself fully to this activity.

Successes in TC2000

In 1980, after passing through Europe, he began his activity in the recently formed Turismo Competition 2000, participating with a Ford Taunus. But his successes would come in 1986 with his first championship aboard a Renault Fuego coupe.

The most remembered race

On April 3, 1988 he ran a memorable competition in General Roca with the legendary Fuego coupe of the official Renault team prepared by Oreste Berta.

With five laps remaining, Silvio Oltra, with the nose of Flaco's car under the trunk of his vehicle, caught up with Carlos Crocco (a straggler) in the braking zone of the hairpin, choosing the rope as a place of overtaking. Crocco thought that the two were going to pass him outside and stayed in the traffic area that had been circulating. In the confusion, Traverso passed them both in the same maneuver and took the lead. Oltra then stuck behind the Fire of the Flaco.

A few minutes later, an oil pipe that had been cut from Traverso's car caused the lubricant to fall everywhere, passing through the right rear wheel of the Fuego coupe and bathing the windshield of Oltra's car. The rest was scattered on the floor and made the track almost impassable. So it was that Traverso began to turn, raising his times by one second per lap while he put his hands at the service of the feat of driving the car forward in such conditions. Half choked by the smoke produced by the oil spilling onto the hot exhaust, Traverso opened the window on his side so he could breathe while he tried to guess the clue. There were only three laps left. Oltra ran close to Flaco but only out of instinct, since between the smoke and the oil he couldn't see anything, and he couldn't find a space to get ahead. The only thing he could do was wait for the oil to run out and the engine of the Fuego de Traverso to break down, and thus win. With two laps left, there was almost no lubricant left in the recuperator, the pressure was dropping and the Flaco's engine was losing performance. Oltra caught up with Flaco and bumped into him, but he swept the track, preventing him from overtaking. Reaching the last lap, tongues of fire began to emerge from under Traverso's car. Despite everything, he maintained his impressive turning pace.

The ending was electrifying, dramatic, like a movie: Flaco's Fuego in flames beat Oltra's car by centimeters, and Flaco had to forcibly abandon his vehicle to the few meters from crossing the finish line. The track was invaded by the crowd, causing the other drivers to be unable to complete the last lap.

That same year he won his second crown in the category. In 1990 he was champion of the category again and repeated the crown the following three seasons. His last title in the TC2000 was in 1995, driving a Peugeot 405.

The ghost Torino

In 1989, when commemorating 20 years of the Torino sports epic in the Marathon de la Route de Nürburgring, Renault Argentina financed the construction of a Torino to participate in a Road Tourism competition on August 27 of that year at the Autódromo de Buenos Aires. The only condition that the company set was the choice of the pilot. As it could not be otherwise, he chose the greatest exponent of the brand at that time: Juan María Traverso. The car was finished two days before the race and was enough to put it on the track for qualifying. But Torino could not qualify and could not start Sunday's final.

Career summary

Season	Category	Equipment	Auto	Careers	Victorias	Poles	VR	Podium	Points	Pos.
1971	Tourism	Traverse Competition	Torino 380 W	4	0	0	0	0	-	NC
1972	Tourism	Traverse Competition	Torino 380 W	13	1	0	0	2	31	8.
1973	Tourism	Traverse Competition Ford Motor Argentina	Torino 380 W Ford Falcon	13	1	0	2	3	54	5.o
1974	Tourism	Ford Motor Argentina	Ford Falcon	14	5	0	5	8	134	2.
1975	Tourism			11	2	0	1	6	83	3.o
1976	Tourism			12	1	0	2	5	80	3.o
1977	Tourism			11	7	3	4	10	191	1.o
1978	Tourism			11	8	2	2	9	281,5	1.o
1979	Formula 2 European	March Racing	s/d	12	0	0	0	0	3	18.
1980	Competition 2000	Ford Motor Argentina	Ford Taunus	9	1	2	3	3	75	3.o
1981	Competition 2000			11	2	0	2	5	104	3.o
1982	Competition 2000			2	0	1	0	2	27	10.
1983	Competition 2000	Herceg Competition Akel Competition		8	4	4	2	5	84	4.o
1983	Tourism	West Competition Degliantoni Roberto Del Campo	Ford Falcon	15	4	3	1	7	145	4.o
1984	Competition 2000	Akel Competition	Ford Taunus	12	1	1	0	4	77	4.o
1985	Competition 2000	Autodelta	Renault 18	10	2	4	1	4	70	5.o
1986	Competition 2000	Berta Motorsport	Renault Fuego	12	4	6	5	9	161	1.o
1986	Formula 2 Codasur		Renault 18	1	0	0	0	0	-	NC
1987	Competition 2000		Renault Fuego	12	4	5	3	5	119	2.
1987	World Rally Championship	s/d	Renault 18 GTX II	1	0	0	0	0	-	NC
1988	Competition 2000	Berta Motorsport	Renault Fuego	13	4	8	3	9	155	1.o
1988	World Rally Championship	s/d	Renault 18 GTX II	1	0	0	0	0	6	48.
1989	Competition 2000	Berta Motorsport	Renault Fuego	12	5	5	5	6	118	2.
	World Rally Championship	s/d	Renault 18 GTX II	1	0	0	0	0	3	61.
	National Class 3 Tourism	s/d	Renault 18 GTX II	1	0	0	0	0	12	19.
1990	Competition 2000	Berta Motorsport	Renault Fuego	14	4	5	2	12	198	1.o
1991	Competition 2000			13	4	5	6	10	174	1.o
1992	Competition 2000			14	5	3	3	9	176	1.o
1993	Competition 2000			14	5	2	3	10	169	1.o
	Tourism	Carlos Límido-Jorge Pedersoli	s/d	1	0	0	1	0	11	56.o
	Campionato Italiano Velocitá Turismo - N2	s/d	Lancia Delta HF	s/d	s/d	s/d	s/d	s/d	s/d	2.
1994	Competition 2000	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 405	14	0	1	0	2	28	13.
1994	Tourism	Pedersoli Competition	Chevrolet Chevy	10	3	0	4	6	153	6.o
1995	Competition 2000	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 405	14	8	6	4	9	183	1.o
1995	Tourism	Alberto Canapino-Jorge Pedersoli	Chevrolet Chevy	16	5	7	5	10	272	1.o
1996	Competition 2000	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 405	12	3	2	1	6	129	2.
1996	Tourism	Alberto Canapino-Jorge Pedersoli	Chevrolet Chevy	16	2	2	1	6	231,5	1.o
1997	Competition 2000	Traverse Competition	Peugeot 405	26	1	0	0	6	155	7.
	Tourism	Cristian Ávila-Jorge Pedersoli	Chevrolet Chevy	16	2	3	4	6	213	1.o
	Top Race	Lepiane Motorsport	Mercedes Benz 280	15	4	2	1	7	157	2.
1998	Competition 2000	Honda Team Pro Racing	Honda Civic VI	27	10	7	15	13	291	2.
	Tourism	Cristian Ávila-Jorge Pedersoli	Ford Falcon	16	1	2	3	5	181	3.o
	Top Race	Traverse Competition	Mercedes Benz 280	18	2	0	3	2	156.	1.o
1999	Competition 2000	Mitsubishi Racing	Mitsubishi Lancer VI	19	0	0	0	0	5	25.
	Tourism	Cristian Ávila-Jorge Pedersoli	Ford Falcon	16	2	2	1	4	226,5	1.o
	Top Race	Traverse Competition	Mercedes Benz 280 (1-6) Peugeot 405 (7-12)	24	8	3	6	13	278	1.o
2000	Competition 2000	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota Corolla VIII	14	1	1	1	3	61	10.
2001	Competition 2000	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota Corolla VIII	13	1	0	0	2	48	9.
2002	Competition 2000	Toyota Team Argentina GF Motorsport	Toyota Corolla VIII (1,2) Mitsubishi Lancer VI (9,10,11)	5	0	0	0	0	8	24.
	Tourism	Urtubey Competition	Chevrolet Chevy	6	0	0	0	0	26.5	39.o
	Top Race	Traverse Competition	BMW 320i	8	1	0	3	3	52	27.
2003	Tourism	Urtubey Competition	Chevrolet Chevy	16	0	1	0	1	109	12.
2003	Top Race	Traverse Competition	BMW 320i	24	4	1	1	s/d	264	1.o
2004	Tourism	Urtubey Competition	Torino Cherokee	16	2	1	1	2	132.5	9.
2005	Tourism	Urtubey Competition	Torino Cherokee	9	0	0	0	0	77	19.
2005	Top Race V6	River Plate Motorsport	Citroën C5	3	0	1	2	s/d	40	17.
Source:

Filmography

2006: Cars: An adventure on wheels - Doc Hudson.

Palmarés

Title	Category	Automobile	Year
Champion	Tourism	Ford Falcon	1977
Champion	Tourism	Ford Falcon	1978
Champion	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1986
Champion	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1988
Champion	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1990
Champion	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1991
Champion	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1992
Champion	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1993
Champion	Tourism	Chevrolet Chevy	1995
Champion	TC 2000	Peugeot 405	1995
Champion	Tourism	Chevrolet Chevy	1996
Champion	Tourism	Chevrolet Chevy	1997
Champion	Top Race	Mercedes-Benz C-202	1998
Champion	Tourism	Ford Falcon	1999
Champion	Top Race	Peugeot 405	1999
Champion	Top Race	BMW 3	2003

Other distinctions

Title	Category	Automobile	Year
Subfield	Tourism	Ford Falcon	1974
Subfield	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1987
Subfield	TC 2000	Renault Fuego	1989
Subfield	Campionato Italiano Velocitá Turismo - N2	Lancia Delta	1993
Subfield	TC 2000	Peugeot 405	1996
Subfield	Top Race	Mercedes-Benz C-202	1997
Subfield	TC 2000	Honda Civic VI	1998

Victories in the TC

#	Date	Competition	Automobile	Prom. (km/h)
1	29 October 1972	Return of 25 May	Torino 380 W	190,002
2	11 November 1973	Circuit 25 de Mayo	Ford Falcon	195,877
3	7 April 1974	Return of Olavarria		193,323
4	23 June 1974	Return of Cordoba		219,862
5	8 September 1974	Allen return		184,203
6	24 November 1974	General San Martín		166,564
7	15-22 December 1974	Argentine Grand Prix		192,437
8	12 October 1975	Return of Olavarría		192,982
9	16 November 1975	San Miguel del Monte		221,055
10	19 December 1976	Return of Villa Carlos Paz (*)		155.925
11	1 May 1977	White Bay return		193,163
12	29 May 1977	General San Martín		167.757
13	12 June 1977	Oscar Cabalén		153,361
14	17 July 1977	General San Martín		168,211
15	23 October 1977	General San Martín		168,176
16	6 November 1977	Authorm of Las Flores		148.090
17	11 December 1977	Tandil's return		190,793
18	5 March 1978	Tandil's return		189.869
19	2 April 1978	General San Martín		164,514
20	16 April 1978	Return of Olavarría		199,534
21	20 August 1978	Laboulaye return		133.936
22	2-3 September 1978	Salta return		135.885
23	24 September 1978	Authorm of Las Flores		145.517
24	5 November 1978	Tandil's return		190,732
25	2-10 December 1978	Argentine Grand Prix		198,263
26	13 March 1983	General San Martín de Mendoza		133.408
27	24 April 1983	Return of Necochea		162.410
28	19 June 1983	General San Martín		154.757
29	21 August 1983	Punta Alta Volley		197,053
30	25 September 1994	Semipermanente Jorge Martínez Boero de Bolívar	Chevrolet Chevy	150.843
31	6 November 1994	Campo de Mayo		154.116
32	11 December 1994	Oscar Alfredo Gálvez		140,207
33	23 April 1995	Southern Park City of Rio Fourth		144.716
34	13 August 1995	City of Rafaela^#)		172,939
35	10 September 1995	Authodrome Oscar Alfredo Gálvez^#)		183,375
36	5 November 1995	July 9th City		159.832
37	9 December 1995	Oscar Alfredo Gálvez		163,333
38	5 May 1996	Oscar Alfredo Gálvez		190.167
39	7 July 1996	Oscar Alfredo Gálvez		192,208
40	29 June 1997	Oscar Alfredo Gálvez		192,542
41	10 August 1997	City of Paraná		155.117
42	24 May 1998	Southern Park City of Rio Fourth	Ford Falcon	152.859
43	4 April 1999	South American Authodrome of Olavarría		115.840
44	25 July 1999	Juan Manuel Fangio de Balcarce		128.286
45	27 July 2004	Martin Miguel de Güemes	Torino Cherokee	150.188
46	22 August 2004	South American Authodrome of Olavarría	Torino Cherokee	156.305

Results

Tourism Competition 2000 (incomplete)

Year	Equipment	Auto	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	Res.	Points
1997			RAF I		RC I		POS		SJU I		PAR		GR		BB I		SJU II		RC II		NDJ		MZA		BB II		TRE		RAF II		7.	155
1997	Traverse	Peugeot405	3	2	4	16† (14†)	4	14† (12†)	3	5	10	6	3	1	7	3	13	Ret	4	4	6	7	8	Ret	22† (16†)	Ret	Ret	Ret			7.	155
1998			AG I		MDP I		RC I		SJU I		OLA		GR		PAR I		BA		BB		SJU II		MDP II		RC II		AG II		PAR II		2.	291
1998	Honda TeamPro Racing	HondaCivic VI	1	2	17 (11)	5	4	1	1	1	Ret	NL	1	17 (11)	6	1	Ret	Ret	5	6	1	2	Ret	1	2	Ret	5	1	11	1	2.	291
1999			AG I		MDP		POS		OLA		RC		BA I		BB		TRE		AG II		GR		RAF		PAR		SJO		BA II		25.	5
1999	MitsubishiRacing	MitsubishiLancer VI	14	Ret	25	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	NL	Ret	NL							Ret	NL	Ret	16	14	Ret	Ret	7	10	Ret	17†	Ret	25.	5
2000			RC I	TRE	AG	SJU I	PAR I	OBE	BB	RAF	BA I	SJO	SJU II	RC II	BA II	PAR II															10.	61
2000	Toyota TeamArgentina	ToyotaCorolla VIII	Ret	3	13	Ret	Ret	7	21†	Ret	2	12	5	10	Ret	1															10.	61
2001			RAF	RC	BB	SJU I	PAR	BA I	OBE	AG I	SJO	SJU II	MDA	RES	AG II	BA II															9.	48
2001	Toyota TeamArgentina	ToyotaCorolla VIII	Ret	Ret	7	5	Ret	Ret	NL	Ret	Ret	1	Ret	18†	3	7															9.	48
2002			GR	RC	SJU I	BB	RES	OBE	AG	Sal	SJU II	PAR	BA	SRA	PIG	MDP															24.	8
	Toyota TeamArgentina	ToyotaCorolla VIII	7	11
	GFMotorsport	MitsubishiLancer VI									Ret	7	14

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