Pedro Cardoso and Fabián Yannantuoni were the winners in TCR South America at Termas de Río Hondo, with Fabricio Pezzini missing out on victory in the second race despite leading much of the race.
Race One
Honda YPF Racing’s Nelson Piquet Jr qualified his Honda on pole position on Saturday, a quarter of a second ahead of team-mate Leonel Pernía.
But at the start of the opening race, both front-row drivers failed to get away, Piquet Jr with a slow start and Pernía with a near stall.
That allowed reigning champion Cardoso to dive into the lead before the first corner from third on the grid, although Piquet recovered to assume second a few corners later.
What followed was a thrilling battle between the Peugeot and Honda, with Cardoso and Piquet going side-by-side on numerous occasions over the following ten laps.
Piquet appeared to have the edge into the Turn 5 hairpin, but each time Cardoso defended the line, forcing Piquet to look to the outside.
On lap eight, Piquet got inside Cardoso at Turn 7, but the Brazilian stood firm around the outside, then holding the inside for the next corners and forcing Piquet to cut the circuit in avoidance.
By lap 11, Cardoso had opened up a slight margin over Piquet and the battle faded, allowing him to take his first win of the season by just over a second ahead of Piquet.
Yannantuoni finished in third, having pressured W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis for much of the race after losing third on lap six, before the latter picked up a puncture halfway around the final lap and dropped to last.
Leonel Pernía had recovered from his stall to end the opening lap in ninth, and the points leader duly gained further places as the race progressed, eventually finishing in fourth after passing his son Tiago on the tenth lap.
Tiago Pernía, who had started the race at the back due to a pre-race engine change, took fifth, ahead of his uncle Mariano Pernía in sixth.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 |  |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 27:18.085 | 1:48.685 | 3 | |
| 2 | 33 | |
Nelson PIQUET JR | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 1.200 | 1:48.634 | 1 | |
| 3 | 5 |  |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 15 | 2.794 | 1:48.746 | 4 | |
| 4 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 3.973 | 1:48.503 | 2 | |
| 5 | 85 | |
Tiago PERNÍA | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 6.742 | 1:48.780 | 11 | |
| 6 | 55 | |
Mariano PERNÍA | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 7.141 | 1:48.894 | 5 | |
| 7 | 66 | |
Genaro RASETTO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 11.599 | 1:49.022 | 9 | |
| 8 | 3 |  |
Luis RAMÍREZ | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 14.565 | 1:48.932 | 8 | |
| 9 | 51 | |
Exequiel BASTIDAS | Paladini Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 15 | 22.287 | 1:49.237 | 12 | |
| 10 | 19 | |
Enzo GIANFRATTI | Porthack Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 22.825 | 1:49.488 | 14 | |
| 11 | 88 | |
Adrián CHIRIANO | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 35.464 | 1:50.076 | 13 | |
| 12 | 23 | |
María NIENKÖTTER | Cobra Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 40.456 | 1:50.374 | 15 | |
| 13 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 48.034 | 1:48.589 | 7 | |
| R | 113 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | DNF | 1:48.744 | 10 | |
| R | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | DNF | 1:48.872 | 6 |
Race two
Pezzini found himself on the reverse-grid pole position for the second event in a row, but a slow start saw Luis Ramírez able to dive into the lead before Turn 1, albeit with slight – bit crucial – contact with Pezzini in the process.
Gennaro Rasetto also briefly got in front of Pezzini, but at Turn 2 the Peugeots made mistakes, Ramírez sliding wide, allowing Pezzini back into the lead and the Lynk & Co cars of Yannantuoni and Juan Ángel Rosso, who had retired from race one with engine issues, into second and third respectively.
Yannantuoni immediately put pressure on Pezzini for the lead, but the CUPRA driver withstood the onslaught.
By mid-distance, Pezzini had opened up a margin over the chasing Paladini cars, which became one when Rosso retired again with an engine issue on the tenth lap.
However, Pezzini began to suffer from a vibration on the front bumper of his car from lap 12 onwards, which got worse as the race progressed.
By the final couple of laps Pezzini had had to back off, allowing Yannantuoni to close in, whilst the vibrating front bumper became so bad that it began to damage his bonnet pins.
On the final lap, Pezzini’s bonnet pin gave way and the bonnet flicked up, limiting his vision. Yannantuoni breezed into the lead, and with Pezzini’s vision obstructed, Leonel Pernía and Piquet were easily able to sneak the final two podium places, as the unfortunate Pezzini limped to fourth.
Mariano Pernía was fifth in his Honda, ahead of Cardoso in sixth, the Peugeot driver seemingly lacking the pace he enjoyed in the opening race.
Rasetto was seventh, whilst Tiago Pernía was eighth after starting the race from the pitlane.
Leonel Pernía has extended his lead in the drivers’ championship and has 283 points, ahead of Cardoso (239), Piquet (189), Pezzini (164) and Reis (161) etc.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 32:52.157 | 1:48.794 | 7 | |
| 2 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 3.220 | 1:48.742 | 9 | |
| 3 | 33 | |
Nelson PIQUET JR | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 3.407 | 1:49.049 | 10 | |
| 4 | 113 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 4.239 | 1:48.431 | 1 | |
| 5 | 55 | |
Mariano PERNÍA | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 11.434 | 1:48.947 | 6 | |
| 6 | 1 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 18 | 11.859 | 1:49.163 | 8 | |
| 7 | 66 | |
Genaro RASETTO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 18 | 20.109 | 1:49.235 | 2 | |
| 8 | 85 | |
Tiago PERNÍA | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 20.605 | 1:48.486 | 11 | |
| 9 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 29.828 | 1:48.656 | 4 | |
| 10 | 88 | |
Adrián CHIRIANO | Honda YPF Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 34.351 | 1:50.256 | 13 | |
| 11 | 19 | |
Enzo GIANFRATTI | Porthack Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 47.103 | 1:50.141 | 14 | |
| 12 | 23 | |
María NIENKÖTTER | Cobra Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 18 | 58.234 | 1:50.554 | 15 | |
| 13 | 51 | |
Exequiel BASTIDAS | Paladini Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 1:16.890 | 1:48.794 | 12 | |
| R | 3 | |
Luis RAMÍREZ | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | DNF | 1:49.184 | 3 | |
| R | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | DNF | Unknown | 5 |