Pedro Cardoso and Nelson Piquet Jr share wins in Interlagos

PMO Racing’s Pedro Cardoso and Honda YPF Racing’s Nelson Piquet Jr shared the victories in the TCR South America season finale at Interlagos in Brazil.

Race one

Although Honda YPF Racing’s Leonel Pernía qualified on pole position with the fastest time on Friday, the new champion would start from the back of the grid for the opening race due to two engine changes caused by separate failures on Friday.

That handed the actual pole to his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr, but at the start the Brazilian made a slow launch and dropped to fourth, allowing team-mate and fellow front-row starter Tiago Pernía to assume the lead, with Enzo Gianfratti and Leonardo Reis following close behind.

The race managed just one lap before Genaro Rasetto crashed his PMO Racing Peugeot at turn 1 at the start of the second tour, losing control under braking all on his own.

The safety car came out for the next two laps, but not before Pedro Cardoso had squeezed his Peugeot past Piquet for fourth.

During the safety car, Guilherme Reischl also stopped his Peugeot with mechanical issues.

Racing resumed on the fifth lap, and Cardoso immediately tried to pull a move on Leonardo Reis for third, but in doing so allowed Piquet to pass both, as the racing in the mid-pack became close and frenetic.

Leonardo Reis found himself being muscled out with slight contact, before slowing at the end of the lap with an issue, for which he pitted and ultimately returned to the race.

Along the back straight on lap six the engine in Mariano Pernía’s Honda expired, which necessitated another brief safety car intervention on lap seven.

The race continued on lap eight, with Cardoso passing Piquet for third with a move that started at Turn 1 and was completed by Turn 4, with Leonel Pernía also following through into fourth.

Pernía and Cardoso then had a close fight, allowing Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso, Piquet and the second Paladini Lynk & Co of Fabián Yannantuoni to join the fight.

Two laps later, the story changed again when comfortable race leader Tiago Pernía suffered from a front-right puncture to take him out of the race, giving the lead briefly to Gianfratti.

However, at Turn 4 on the next lap, Carodso took the lead from the CUPRA driver, having tried to seize the opportunity at Turn 1 on the lap Pernía picked up his puncture only to go too deep into the corner.

Cardoso then held the lead for the final four laps to the chequered flag, the outgoing champion scoring his third win of the season, with Gianfratti and Leonel Pernía completing the podium.

Piquet took fourth on the run to the chequered flag, leaving Rosso to finish in fifth ahead of team-mate Yannantuoni in sixth.

W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis came from the back of the grid to take seventh, ahead of Honda’s Adrián Chiriano in eighth.

The top ten was completed by María Nienkötter and Bruno Massa, although the latter didn’t take the finish after he clattered into Nienkötter’s Audi three laps from the finish.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	1			Pedro CARDOSO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	28:19.099	1:42.044	9
2	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	1.888	1:42.925	4
3	44			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	3.190	1:42.546	13
4	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	6.693	1:42.622	1
5	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	6.763	1:42.856	5
6	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	8.276	1:43.594	11
7	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	10.244	1:43.760	15
8	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	15	30.293	1:45.787	12
9	23			María NIENKÖTTER	Cobra Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	36.755	1:45.756	8
10	20			Bruno MASSA	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	12	+ 3 LAPS	1:45.750	10
11	293			Leonardo REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	12	+ 3 LAPS	1:42.100	3
R	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	10	DNF	1:42.049	2
R	55			Mariano PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	5	DNF	1:44.111	14
R	66			Genaro RASETTO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	1	DNF	1:52.297	6
R	81			Guilherme REISCHL	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	1	DNF	1:53.186	7
NS	84			Fernando CROCE	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	16

Race two

The race began under the safety car due to rain ahead of the start, and it should have been Honda YPF Racing’s Chiriano leading the field away when racing got underway on lap two.

But Chiriano dived for the pits, leaving Mariano Pernía to lead for the opening three laps, as behind him his brother and 2025 champion Leonel Pernía made rapid progress, moving up from ninth on the reverse grid to fifth by the end of the first lap of racing on lap two.

On lap four, W2 Pro GP’s Leonardo Reis got into the lead, making multiple contacts with Mariano Pernía as he muscled his CUPRA in front.

Mariano Pernía then began to fall backwards, allowing Reis to hold a comfortable lead for 11 laps, until he retired from the lead with an issue just three laps from the chequered flag.

By this stage, Piquet had made his way into second, including passing team-mate Leonel Pernía on lap seven in a move which was not hotly contested.

With Reis’ retirement, Piquet eased to his third win of the year, guaranteeing the Brazilian the runner-up spot in the standings, whilst Leonel Pernía finished in second.

The podium was completed by Raphael Reis, who came from the back of the grid in a determined drive by the CUPRA racer. Reis had to muscle past Cardoso for the place on lap 14, after trying several times in the preceding laps including taking to the mud.

Tiago Pernía took fourth, despite having been handed a drive-through penalty early on when his mechanics were still working on his car on the grid at the three-minute board.

The American-born Argentine was flying in the final laps with slick tyres on a drying circuit, having been just tenth three laps from the end.

Cardoso crossed the line in fifth but lost four more places in the classification when he was given a five-second penalty for going off-track and gaining an advantage, promoting PMO Racing team-mate Genaro Rasetto to fifth.

Yannantuoni was sixth as the best Lynk & Co, ahead of team-mate Rosso in seventh, Gianfratti in eighth and Cardoso in ninth, whilst the top ten was completed by Mariano Pernía.

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	17	33:37.212	1:53.848	9
2	44			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	3.920	1:54.192	10
3	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	5.144	1:52.607	15
4	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	7.020	1:50.057	8
5	66			Genaro RASETTO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	11.374	1:54.069	4
6	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	13.367	1:54.803	3
7	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	15.170	1:54.480	5
8	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	15.567	1:54.597	6
9	1			Pedro CARDOSO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	15.979	1:54.197	13
10	55			Mariano PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	24.543	1:55.106	2
11	81			Guilherme REISCHL	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	50.092	1:56.228	11
12	20			Bruno MASSA	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	17	57.840	1:56.404	14
13	23			María NIENKÖTTER	Cobra Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	17	1:05.548	1:55.053	12
14	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	1:20.534	1:57.387	1
15	293			Leonardo REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	14	+ 3 LAPS	1:53.650	7
NS	84			Fernando CROCE	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNF	N/A	–