Leonel Pernía secures TCR South America title in Cuiabá

Honda YPF Racing’s Leonel Pernía secured the TCR South America title with one event to spare, as he won the opening race in Cuiabá whilst team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr was victorious in the second race.

Even before the action got underway in anger, Pernía’s title chances, already looking near-certain, were strengthened when his main title rival, PMO Racing’s Pedro Cardoso, was unable to participate due to a health issue.

Pernía continued the strong form he has carried all season in qualifying, with the Argentine out-qualifying Piquet by a quarter of a second on Friday. However, Piquet would subsequently be sent to the back of the grid for the opening race after an engine change penalty was applied.

The race had been originally scheduled to take place later that day, but a thunderstorm caused its postponement to Saturday.

Further rain delays on Saturday meant that the brand-new circuit ended up hosting two night races, rather than the originally scheduled one.

The opening sprint got underway behind the safety car on a wet circuit, with racing commencing in anger on the second lap.

Pernía was unchallenged however and cruised to his sixth win of the season by a comfortable margin; his main challenger early on had been G Racing’s Enzo Gianfratti early on, but the Brazilian soon fell back from the leading Honda.

On lap four, Leonardo Reis slowed from third, his CUPRA experiencing technical issues which dropped him down to tenth. The CUPRA driver then spun off again on the next lap, before pitting.

Reis nevertheless caused the safety car to come out, which allowed the field to close up. By this stage, Piquet was up to sixth.

Racing resumed on lap seven, with Fabián Yannantuoni muscling past Raphael Reis for fourth with light contact in a move which would later earn him a penalty.

Piquet then passed Rasetto for fifth on the restart, before overtaking Raphael Reis further around the lap.

On lap eight, Piquet got by Yannantuoni, before overtaking Gianfratti around the outside on the penultimate lap, completing a recovery drive to second from the back of the grid.

Gianfratti completed the podium in third, whilst a ten-second penalty for Yannantuoni meant that Raphael Reis claimed fourth.

Tiago Pernía brought his Honda home in fifth, ahead of Rasetto in sixth, Mariano Pernía in seventh and Yannantuoni in eighth after the Paladini Racing driver’s penalty was applied.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	44			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	27:10.629	2:03.629	1
2	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	3.066	2:03.282	14
3	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	12	6.012	2:04.733	2
4	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	12	9.698	2:04.934	5
5	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	15.452	2:05.807	8
6	66			Genaro RASETTO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	12	15.623	2:05.489	7
7	55			Mariano PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	12	18.059	2:05.197	10
8	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	12	18.805	2:04.927	4
9	107			Ernani KUHN	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	12	21.736	2:06.873	9
10	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	12	26.772	2:07.956	11
11	23			María NIENKÖTTER	Cobra Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	12	27.886	2:08.004	12
12	84			Fernando CROCE	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	12	33.890	2:08.276	13
13	293			Leonardo REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	10	+ 2 LAPS	2:05.170	3
R	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	2	DNF	2:13.073	6
NS	1			Pedro CARDOSO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–

Race two

The reverse-grid pole went to series newcomer Ernanai Kuhn, but he lost the initial lead to the jump-starting Peugeot of Rasetto, who vaulted into the lead from third on the grid.

An eventful opening lap saw contact between new champion Leonel Pernía and Ernani Kuhn, ending the latter’s race, whilst at the next corner there was contact between Rasetto, who slowed halfway around the lap, and Raphael Reis, which also baulked Tiago Pernía.

Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso took advantage to take the lead ahead of Leonardo Reis and Yannantuoni, before the safety car was called due to Ernani’s stricken CUPRA.

When racing resumed, Piquet, who was up to fifth by this stage, quickly got by Rasetto, who later served a drive-through penalty for his start.

Leonardo Reis muscled past Rosso for the lead further around the lap, also allowing the other Lynk & Co of Yannantuoni into second, with Piquet then passing Rosso for third at the last corner and quickly getting by Yannantuoni for second before losing out exiting the next corner.

A fierce battle for the lead followed for the next five minutes, with Piquet eventually emerging in front of Rosso.

New champion Leonel Pernía was soon into third, but with just two and a half minutes to go the veteran Argentine lost control of his car all on his own and spun off onto the wet mud, unable to rejoin the circuit.

A second safety car period was required, resulting in a two-lap spring to the finish at the end.

Thus Piquet won ahead of Leonardo Reis and Yannantuoni. Rosso threw away second on the penultimate lap when he slid wide, then going off at the next corner and dropping down further.

Contact between Mariano Pernía and Ezno Gianfratti also occurred at the same time, gifting fourth to Rasetto, ahead of Gianfratti in fifth.

Mariano Pernía rejoined to take sixth, ahead of the Honda of Adrián Chiriano and Rosso down in eighth, some 40 seconds behind the lead at the end.

The season concludes at Interlagos in Brazil on 12 – 14 December.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	34:59.084	1:59.081	9
2	293			Leonardo REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	0.643	1:58.954	7
3	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	5.104	2:01.669	6
4	66			Genaro RASETTO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	5.387	1:59.488	3
5	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	17.816	2:01.859	8
6	55			Mariano PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	16	21.952	2:00.682	11
7	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	16	39.100	2:08.226	12
8	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	40.801	1:59.125	4
9	23			María NIENKÖTTER	Cobra Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	16	52.358	2:07.889	13
10	44			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	+ 4 LAPS	1:59.585	10
R	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	11	DNF	2:10.935	5
R	84			Fernando CROCE	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	7	DNF	2:19.136	14
R	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	3	DNF	2:25.663	2
R	107			Ernani KUHN	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	0	DNF	N/A	1
NS	1			Pedro CARDOSO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–