Leonel Pernía and Camilo Trappa share wins in season opener

Honda Racing’s Leonel Pernía and Hyundai MSA’s Camilo Trappa shared the victories in the opening TCR South America weekend of the season in Curvelo in Brazil, with Raphael Reis emerging as the early points leader.

Race One

Having claimed pole position in Saturday’s qualifying, reigning champion Pernía drove a flawless opening race to score a lights-to-flag victory.

At the start, Pernía led Hyundai’s Néstor Girolami away from the line, as further back Tiago Pernía and Raphael Reis got ahead of Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso on the first lap, whilst Hyundai’s Diego Ciantini stalled from 13^th on the grid and fell to the very back.

On lap five, Rosso moved back into third when the Lynk & Co driver capitalised on the duel between Tiago Pernía and Reis ahead, ultimately holding that position for the rest of the race as the latter two continued squabbling.

Shortly thereafter the safety car had to be called when Bruno Massa stopped his CUPRA by the side of the circuit, although the neutralisation only lasted for one lap.

Eight more laps of racing followed before the safety car was needed again when both Gabriel Moura and Enzo Falquete stopped in separate locations by the track.

That resulted in there only being enough time for one lap of racing at the end, with Leonel Pernía ultimately winning from Girolami by just under a second.

Rosso completed the podium, whilst Reis was fourth as the leading CUPRA driver. Tiago Pernía fell behind Pedro Cardoso’s CUPRA just before the safety car, and was later hit with a five-second penalty for a grid infringement.

2024 champion Cardoso thus claimed fifth on his first weekend with G Racing Motorsport, ahead of W2 Pro GP’s Celso Neto in sixth.

Hyundai’s Trappa was seventh in his first TCR race, ahead of Paladini Racing’s Fabricio Pezzini in eighth, Hyundai’s Ciantini who recovered to ninth and Juan Manuel Casella completing the top ten in his Peugeot.

Tiago Pernía fell to 12^th after his penalty was applied, whilst Honda Racing’s Nelson Piquet Jr was also hit with the same penalty and was classified down in 14^th as a result, having at one stage run as high as seventh before being forced to pit due to a loose bonnet clip.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	1			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	27:03.885	1:24.514	1
2	29			Néstor GIROLAMI	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	0.793	1:24.797	2
3	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	1.636	1:24.999	7
4	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	2.265	1:24.865	3
5	43			Pedro CARDOSO	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	2.939	1:25.133	14
6	22			Celso NETO	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	5.371	1:25.266	8
7	27			Camilo TRAPPA	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	5.727	1:25.792	9
8	9			Fabricio PEZZINI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	5.942	1:26.140	15
9	115			Diego CIANTINI	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	7.303	1:26.032	13
10	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	7.480	1:26.435	17
11	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	8.560	1:27.204	18
12	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	3.584	1:24.987	4
13	3			Nicolás FUCA	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	9.042	1:26.027	23
14	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	7.268	1:26.088	5
15	61			Fernando CROCE	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	14.909	1:30.004	20
16	7			Erick SCHOTTEN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	17	40.933	1:26.026	12
17	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	+ 2 LAPS	1:25.785	11
18	86			Gabriel MOURA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	13	+ 4 LAPS	1:25.361	10
19	99			Enzo FALQUETE	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	13	+ 4 LAPS	1:27.141	22
20	20			Bruno MASSA	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	13	+ 4 LAPS	1:25.874	16
R	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	4	DNF	1:28.428	19
R	8			Joaquín CAFARO	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	3	DNF	1:26.887	6
R	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	1	DNF	3:18.131	21

Race Two

Series newcomer Gabriel Moura had the reverse-grid pole position for race two, having set the tenth fastest time in his Audi in Saturday’s qualifying session, but when the lights went out it was Trappa who took the lead, having started on the front-row of the grid.

Neto held third early on in his CUPRA, with racing neutralised at the end of the opening lap when the safety car came out due to Enrique Maglione going off at the first corner following contact with team-mate Juan Manuel Casella.

Racing resumed on lap three, with the top four staying tightly packed. Rosso took advantage and dived inside Neto to take third at the final corner, with Piquet also seizing the opportunity from the door which had been forced open to move into fourth at the start of the following lap.

Rosso then forced the door open on Moura a lap and a half later to take second, with Piquet once again following through and taking third from the Cobra Racing driver.

The race then settled down, with Rosso unable to pass leader Trappa with the ease he had done so on his rivals beforehand. A safety car period aided, which was caused when Pedro Cardoso stopped his CUPRA on lap ten due to front-right damage when he made contact with Leonel Pernía.

Ten minutes of racing were left when the safety car peeled back into the pits. Trappa could never break free of the chasing pack, and Rosso tried for several laps to take the lead.

Piquet then capitalised on Rosso looking to the outside of Trappa on lap 17, taking second from the Paladini Racing driver, but in turn himself being unable to get by Trappa.

Thus, Trappa took victory in his first-ever weekend in the series, ahead of Piquet and Rosso on the podium.

Neto was fourth, whilst Moura held on to take a creditable fifth in the field’s sole Audi.

Reis was sixth, and with it became the early championship leader, ahead of Girolami in seventh, who sits second in the championship, three points adrift.

Leonel Pernía would have been classified in seventh, but he was hit with a 20-second penalty for the incident with Cardoso, dropping him to 15^th.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	27			Camilo TRAPPA	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	31:27.275	1:26.186	2
2	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	20	0.830	1:25.770	6
3	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	1.518	1:25.758	4
4	22			Celso NETO	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	20	3.294	1:26.094	3
5	86			Gabriel MOURA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	20	6.190	1:25.965	1
6	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	20	6.215	1:25.693	8
7	8	T		Joaquín CAFARO	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	8.322	1:26.070	5
8	29			Néstor GIROLAMI	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	8.690	1:26.058	9
9	19	T		Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	20	8.960	1:25.902	11
10	85	T		Tiago PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	20	9.700	1:26.197	7
11	60	T		Juan Manuel CASELLA	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	11.253	1:26.325	17
12	3			Nicolás FUCA	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	11.619	1:25.867	23
13	20			Bruno MASSA	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	20	12.253	1:26.453	16
14	7			Erick SCHOTTEN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	20	12.986	1:26.332	12
15	1			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	20	26.728	1:26.116	10
16	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	20	28.557	1:28.094	18
17	115			Diego CIANTINI	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	28.719	1:26.142	13
18	61			Fernando CROCE	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	20	32.271	1:29.543	20
19	99			Enzo FALQUETE	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	19	+ 1 LAP	1:27.071	22
R	43			Pedro CARDOSO	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	9	DNF	1:25.923	14
R	9			Fabricio PEZZINI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	7	DNF	1:26.295	15
R	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	1	DNF	5:05.642	19
R	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	0	DNF	N/A	21