Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso secured pole position for the opening TCR South America race at Rosario in Argentina, edging out fellow Toyota racer Bernardo Llaver by a mere 0.006 seconds.
Rosso quickly claiumed the top time in the 12-car Q2 shootout, although towards the end of the session he was almost denied by Llaver’s Toyota Team Argentina Corolla.
Squadra Martino’s Ignacio Montenegro was third, the young Honda racer having been the first to post a top time in Q2, ahead of team-mate Juan Manuel Casella in fourth.
Galid Osman was both the top Brazilian and W2 Pro GP driver in fifth – Raphael Reis, who took pole in the season opener just three weeks ago, failed to even progress beyond Q1.
The second Paladini Toyota of Fabián Yannantuoni was sixth, ahead of the third Squadra Martino Honda of Fabio Casagrande in seventh, the last driver within half a second of Rosso.
Surprisingly, none of the PMO Motorsport Lynk & Co drivers ended up in contention for pole, despite having been fast in Q1. Brazilian Rafael Suzuki had been third, just 0.051 seconds off the pace in Q1, but ended up eighth and 0.519 seconds adrift in Q2.
Reigning champion Fabricio Pezzini was ninth, with the TTA Toyota of José Manuel Sapag completing the top ten and thus claiming the reverse-grid pole for Sunday’s second race.
After missing out on progressing beyond Q1, Reis ended up just 14th in his CUPRA, 1.463 seconds from the top Q1 time.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 09:10 local time (13:10 BST, 14:10 CEST), followed by race two at 12:55 local time (16:55 BST, 17:55 CEST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 |  |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:39.431 | – |
| 2 | 17 | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:39.437 | 0.006 |
| 3 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:39.555 | 0.124 |
| 4 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:39.664 | 0.233 |
| 5 | 28 |  |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 4 | 1:39.706 | 0.275 |
| 6 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:39.902 | 0.471 |
| 7 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:39.908 | 0.477 |
| 8 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 1:39.950 | 0.519 |
| 9 | 1 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 2 | 1:40.029 | 0.598 |
| 10 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 5 | 1:40.338 | 0.907 |
| 11 | 24 | |
Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 1:40.366 | 0.935 |
| 12 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 3 | 1:40.456 | 1.025 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 17 | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:39.513 | – |
| 2 | 2 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 5 | 1:39.559 | 0.046 |
| 3 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 1:39.564 | 0.051 |
| 4 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:39.725 | 0.212 |
| 5 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 7 | 1:39.731 | 0.218 |
| 6 | 1 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 1:39.782 | 0.269 |
| 7 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:39.945 | 0.432 |
| 8 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:39.995 | 0.482 |
| 9 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:40.060 | 0.547 |
| 10 | 24 | |
Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:40.380 | 0.867 |
| 11 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:40.591 | 1.078 |
| 12 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:40.643 | 1.130 |
| 13 | 70 | |
Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | 1:40.885 | 1.372 |
| 14 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:40.976 | 1.463 |
| 15 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:41.137 | 1.624 |
| 16 | 20 | |
Pablo OTERO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 1:41.360 | 1.847 |
| 17 | 7 | |
Juan Pablo BESSONE | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 1:42.037 | 2.524 |
| 18 | 69 | |
Gonzalo ALTERIO | Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 8 | 1:42.041 | 2.528 |
| 19 | 10 | |
Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:42.326 | 2.813 |
| 20 | 55 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 1:44.911 | 5.398 |