The rift between the
Argentine Automobile Club
and the
Asociación Corredores Turismo Carretera,
in short circuit for some months, widened on Monday when the ACA announced that it was revoking "the selective sports power" that it had delegated in 2001 to the ACTC to supervise
Tourism Road
,
TC Pista
and
Top Race
.
The brief statement deepened the crisis in Argentine motorsports, in the midst of the power struggle between these two entities, and opened a big question about what will happen in the short and long term with these categories, which have already inaugurated their seasons.
The ACA is the partner (or representative) of the
International Automobile Federation
in Argentina, so it has the power to regulate the sporting practice of motorsport in the country, following the rules and regulations of the FIA International Sports Code.
That same code enables it to delegate the supervision of powers to another entity and it did so in 2001 when, after several months of dispute, it granted the ACTC the power that it has now withdrawn.
What does this decision of the ACA imply and what impact could it have on the development of the championships?
In practice, you may not see any immediate changes.
As explained by
Eugenio Breard
, president of the
ACA
Automobile Sports Commission in a conversation with
Carburando
, the ACTC, as an entity, will be able to continue organizing the races of its categories, so the TC, for example, will be able to continue with the development of its season. as planned.
However, as the Association is no longer "a recognized supervisory body", its powers will no longer be carried out under the framework of the ACA and the FIA.
And without the legal protection of these organizations, the problem could arise, for example, if an accident occurs during the tests, because the ACTC would be solely responsible for the drivers, the circuits and the public.
"Legally, the organizer of a competition is responsible for what happens in that competition. In the cases of those categories, the ACA no longer has any relationship with the organizer and, therefore, has no relationship or responsibility for the competitors, the organizers, the promoters and the advertisements; nothing related to those categories," Breard summarized.
A question that arose after hearing the statement was what would happen to the pilots who compete in the TC and the TC Pista (
It is worth remembering that the Top Race, despite being mentioned in the text, was once again supervised by the ACA in 2011
).
Would they expose themselves to a sanction if they chose to continue in the ACTC categories?
Breard said no.
The press release in which the ACA announced the removal of sporting power from the ACTC.
ACA Press Photo
"We are not going to harm the pilots. Those who have the ACA sports license can compete in any race they want. If they are going to run one of the ACTC and the ACTC allows it, we are not going to penalize them," he stated.
And he clarified: "If a driver who does not have an ACA license wants to race in a club category, he will have to get his license. It's that simple. And if a rider comes who competes only in ACTC or another organization and who does not have a license of the ACA and asks for the international license, we are going to tell him that he has to compete in at least one race in a competition supervised by the CDA to obtain it, because to give him the international license you have to be responsible.
The conflict between the ACA and the ACTC began at the end of last year, when the Association chaired by
Hugo Mazzacane
announced that starting in 2024 it would supervise National Tourism and Trail Tourism, which until then were regulated by the CDA.
The ACTC explained that these categories were awarded by common agreement with them under the protection of Law No. 24052/91, "referring to the motor sport supervisory entities existing in our country."
For the ACA, however, this "move" was a clear violation of the agreement they had signed in 2001 and which granted it only the power of supervision over the TC, the TC Pista and the Top Tace.
"We wish to express that, independently of invoking a repealed law to attribute powers that it lacks, the International Sports Code of the International Automobile Federation recognizes the Argentine Automobile Club as the sole National Sports Authority, the holder and depositary of sports power, who through The Automobile Sports Commission supervises automobile races in national categories, including National Tourism and Track Tourism,” explained the ACA through a press release.
The CDA even sent a document letter to the Caballito-based organization urging it to back down to avoid sanctions that are contemplated in the International Sports Code.
The ACTC statement on the inspection of the TN and Tourism Pista, which sparked the conflict.
ACTC Press Photo
In the last few hours, the CDA also pointed out that since the signing of that agreement almost 23 years ago, the ACTC had committed other violations of the contract by creating new categories, such as the
TC Mouras
, the
TC Pista Mouras
and the
TC Pick Up
, that had not been taken into account at the time.
"Over time there may have been conversations between ACA and ACTC, but nothing was ever put in writing to support the creation of those categories, which violated what was done in 2001," Breard said in an interview with the Campeones
site
.
The president of the CDA also said that in recent months, in a couple of meetings with representatives of the FIA, they asked him what they expected "to exercise the international sports code", which enables them to withdraw the delegation of power.
And he ruled out that any further measures against the ACTC are being considered.
"We don't want to have a legal battle," he said.
However, the rift between the two organizations appears to be growing wider.
And we will have to wait to see what real impact this new scenario of Argentine motorsport has on the championships and the drivers.