Jorge Barrio gives Toyota first win in TCR as Raphael Reis secures race two honours

Argentine youngster Jorge Barrio gave the new Toyota Corolla its first TCR win in the opening TCR South America race at Buenos Aires, whilst Raphael Reis scored his second win of the season in race two.

Barrio, 18, had earlier cemented his pace by scoring a strong first pole position on Saturday when he qualified a tenth of a second ahead of title contender Juan Ángel Rosso’s Honda.

At the start of race one, Barrio held the lead at the first corner, despite banging wheels lightly in some side-by-side action with Rosso.

But thereafter, the Toyota was relatively unchallenged and went on to claim a first win for the car by almost three seconds.

However, as Barrio is ineligible for championship points due to running under a temporary homologation, maximum points went to Rosso who took the chequered flag in second.

The podium was completed by PMO Motorsport’s Santiago Urrutia, although the Lynk & Co driver was ultimately far from the pace, finishing almost 20 seconds adrift of the race winner.

José Manuel Sapag had qualified in fourth but actually ran third on the first half of the opening lap, before making a mistake and allowing Urrutia into third, where he remained.

Later in the race, points leader Fabricio Pezzini overtook Sapag for fourth, with his Argentine compatriot and team-mate thus finishing in fifth.

The second Squadra Martino Honda of Fabio Casagrande was sixth, ahead of the PMO Racing Peugeot of Juan Manuel Casella in seventh.

Scuderia Chiarelli’s Pedro Aizza was eighth, with the top ten being completed by PMO’s Enrique Maglione and W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis, the latter having been spun by Ignacio Montenegro on the fourth lap whilst fighting for ninth, prompting a recovery drive from the CUPRA racer.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	32			Jorge BARRIO	Toyota Gazoo Racing Latin America	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	17	23:29.357	1:21.345	1
2	26			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	2.997		2
3	96			Santiago URRUTIA	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	19.670		3
4	7			Fabricio PEZZINI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	24.878		6
5	33			José Manuel SAPAG	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	33.562		4
6	34			Fabio CASAGRANDE	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	36.553		12
7	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	38.828		5
8	35			Pedro AIZZA	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	38.951		8
9	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	41.848		11
10	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	17	44.842		10
11	22			Gabriel LUSQUIÑOS	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	17	1:00.450		9
12	11			Roy BLOCK	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	1:13.578		13
13	87			Franco FARINA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	+ 1 LAP		7
EX	29			Ignacio MONTENEGRO	Crown Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	0	EXC		15
NS	17			Alceu FELDMANN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	–	DNS		14
NS	85			Walter HERNÁNDEZ	Milanese Sport	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS		–

For race two, the grid was partially reversed, with the pole position going to Reis, who had qualified in tenth on Saturday.

At the rolling start, Reis got away well with Gabriel Lusquiños in second also maintaining position at the start.

Further back, Pezzini made contact with the Peugeot of Casella at the first corner, spinning him off into the dirt, as the Lynk & Co driver continued in fifth.

Reis pulled away to win the race by over 12 seconds ahead of the Audi of Lusquiños, with Pezzini completing the podium, having passed Franco Farina’s Peugeot on lap two and later Aizza’s Hyundai on lap five.

Farina held on to finish in fourth after also passing Aizza, who dropped down the order later in the race after losing out in a fiercely-contested battle.

That meant Montenegro brought his Crown Racing Honda home in fifth, ahead of the Toyota of Barrio in sixth, leaving Aizza to take the finish in seventh.

Ahead of the final meeting at Villicum, Pezzini continues to lead the standings with 465 points, ahead of Rosso (398) and Reis (365). Although mathematically all three are still in title contention, in all likelihood it is only Rosso who has a chance of denying Pezzini the title.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	20	27:57.952	1:22.251	1
2	22			Gabriel LUSQUIÑOS	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	20	12.967		2
3	7			Fabricio PEZZINI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	16.084		5
4	87			Franco FARINA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	16.714		4
5	29			Ignacio MONTENEGRO	Crown Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	20	16.886		15
6	32			Jorge BARRIO	Toyota Gazoo Racing Latin America	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	20	17.192		10
7	35			Pedro AIZZA	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	29.684		3
8	34			Fabio CASAGRANDE	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	20	37.383		12
9	26			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	20	41.585		9
10	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	45.886		6
11	11			Roy BLOCK	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	20	1:25.622		13
12	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	18	+ 2 LAPS		11
R	96			Santiago URRUTIA	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	5	DNF		8
R	33			José Manuel SAPAG	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	2	DNF		7
NS	17			Alceu FELDMANN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	–	DNS		14
NS	85			Walter HERNÁNDEZ	Milanese Sport	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS		–