The other two Equipo Fiat Oil Combustibles entries driven by Emiliano Spataro/Caca Bueno and Emiliano Lopez/Ezequiel Bosio finished in seventh and eighth place respectively at the end of the 1 hour and 12 minute duration encounter to ensure all three of the factory-supported Fiat Lineas finished in the overall top-eight.

The factory Fiat team, now in its third season back in the top-level TC2000, Argentina's highly competitive touring car championship, with the Linea, has been making very steady progress all season. Spataro finished in second place in round six, which took place at the Autódromo Oscar Cabalen in Córdoba, while at the last race (round 7) at the Autódromo Termas de Rio Hondo, López made it back-to-back podiums for the Equipo Fiat Oil Combustibles with a fighting third place.

For the "endurance" distance round 8, held at the Autódromo Roberto Mouras de La Plata, second drivers were drafted in to the cars to support the lead pilots. At the top of the timesheets Mariano Werner and Esteban Guerrieri were uncatchable, they planted the Toyota Corolla onto pole position, and then were untroubled at the front of the race as the pair completed the 47 laps in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 10 seconds.

López and Diego Aventín in the #37 Linea were the only Fiat crew to make it through to the top-ten qualifying shoot-out and their best lap time of 1:28.142 was good enough for seventh place, just 0.925 seconds off Werner's pole time. Come the race and the Fiat Linea duo made up several places before perfect pit timing allowed them to jump to second place, and they eventually crossed the finish line 7.413 seconds off the Toyota to allow Lopez to take his best result of the season and a second consecutive podium finish. It was the third consecutive podium for Fiat.

Third place went to Mariano Pernía/Omar Martínez (Equipo Petrobras), however they were 35 seconds behind the #37 Fiat crew at the chequered flag. The other two factory Fiat Lineas capably battled up the leaderboard from their mid-teens grid slots to finish seventh and eighth, also on the lead lap.

After eight rounds of the Campeonato Argentino 3M de TC2000, and with four remaining, Fiat is second in the manufacturers' standings, having now just edged past Honda thanks to the 45 points the Italian brand scored at La Plata over the weekend, while the Japanese carmaker's haul from the race was limited to 25 points. At the front Toyota extended its overall lead to 308 points, Fiat moves into second place with 230 points, while Honda has 228 points. Third placed Renault stands on 206.5 points while the rest of the manufacturers contesting the series this year are made up of Ford (177), Chevrolet (125.5) and Peugeot (81).

In the drivers' standings Spataro is in fifth place on 95 points having scored in seven out of the eight races so far while Lopez has now moved onto 89 points, thanks to the 22 points he picked up at La Plata. López, who missed scoring points in the first three races, is now breathing down his team mate's neck in the championship, just 6 points behind. At the top of the table Matias Rossi, who didn't score at La Plata after suffering power steering problems - his first time out of the points paying positions this year - retains the championship lead with 144.5 points, while 25 points for Leonel Pernia keeps him in second but closes the gap down to 15 points as he climbs to 129.5 points. Also trimming Rossi's lead was the third major contender in the 2011 title fight, Mariano Werner, his 35 point haul means he now has 123.5 points. The next round of the Campeonato Argentino 3M de TC2000 will take place on September 11 at Trelew.