Néstor Girolami and Erick Schotten claim maiden victories in Cuiabá

Hyundai’s Néstor Girolami and W2 Pro GP’s Erick Schotten scored their maiden victories in the TCR South America series in Cuiabá, Brazil, as Leonel Pernía extended his championship lead.

Argentine Girolami had claimed pole position on Friday by a margin of less than a tenth of a second from the CUPRA of Raphael Reis.

Race one should have then followed later on Friday, but severe thunderstorms in the Mato Grosso rejoin delayed the race until Saturday morning.

Race One

At the start, Girolami reacted well at the rolling start and assumed a controlled lead, whilst behind him Reis fell backwards in the first few corners, with Leonel Pernía first muscling through at Turn 3, quickly followed by team-mate Tiago Pernía a couple of corners later.

Hyundai’s Camilo Trappa and G Racing Motorsport’s Pedro Cardoso also found their way through before the end of the first lap.

Further back, Gabriel Moura made contact with Fabián Yannantuoni half way around the opening lap, resulting in the retirement of the latter’s Lynk & Co. Moura continued with front-end damage to his Audi, but parked up on lap six, having been given a drive-through penalty for the incident anyway.

The rest of the race was a sedate affair, with Girolami claiming his maiden win in the series by almost a second and a half from Leonel Pernía at the chequered flag. The podium was completed by Tiago Pernía.

Trappa was fourth in the second Hyundai MSA Elantra, ahead of Cardoso as the leading CUPRA in fifth, ahead of Reis in sixth.

Juan Ángel Rosso brought his Paladini Racing Lynk & Co home in seventh, ahead of the Honda of Nelson Piquet Jr in eighth. The top ten was completed by the top Peugeot of Joaquín Cafaro and the CUPRA of Enzo Gianfratti.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	29			Néstor GIROLAMI	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	15	28:28.427	1:52.940	1
2	1			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	1.487	1:53.174	4
3	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	2.677	1:53.312	3
4	27			Camilo TRAPPA	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	15	3.412	1:53.370	6
5	43			Pedro CARDOSO	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	5.069	1:53.318	5
6	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	6.458	1:53.210	2
7	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	9.549	1:53.575	8
8	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	10.979	1:52.875	14
9	8			Joaquín CAFARO	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	19.566	1:53.696	15
10	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	22.953	1:53.750	11
11	3			Nicolás FUCA	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	23.577	1:53.838	13
12	9			Fabricio PEZZINI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	26.273	1:54.131	16
13	7			Erick SCHOTTEN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	26.865	1:53.536	20
14	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	30.159	1:53.888	18
15	87			Jorge MARTELLI	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	15	43.458	1:54.255	19
16	56			Gabriel ROMANO	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	15	44.337	1:54.956	12
17	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	45.048	1:55.014	17
18	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	47.887	1:54.300	7
19	20			Bruno MASSA	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	15	48.708	1:54.844	10
20	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	55.916	1:55.998	21
R	86			Gabriel MOURA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	6	DNF	1:55.981	9

Race Two

The reverse-grid second race at sunset saw W2 Pro GP’s Schotten, who took the finish in race one down in 13^th, start from pole position, with Rosso alongside.

Schotten and Rosso pulled away well at the rolling start, but behind them there was contact. Trappa had got the jump on Yannantuoni away from the start, but the latter then dived inside at Turn 1 and barged Trappa off the circuit into the gravel.

Both drivers ultimately retired from the race, Yannantuoni slowing on the second lap, whilst Trappa continued after getting out of the gravel but called it a day on lap three.

Further around the opening lap, Tiago Pernía ran Cardoso off the road and both drivers lost a handful of positions, with Cardoso retiring a lap later by the side of the circuit as a result of the contact.

Tiago Pernía was given a drive-through penalty for the incident, followed by another drive-through penalty for then speeding in the pitlane, effectively taking the Argentine out of contention for any meaningful result.

At the front, Schotten was pulling clear of the chasing Lynk & Co of Rosso, with Leonel Pernía in third also unable to close in.

On lap seven, Girolami was defending fifth from Piquet Jr, with Gianfratti in close company. Girolami and Piquet Jr made contact, and a few corners later Girolami slowed, receiving further contact from Gianfratti, before subsequently retiring from the race, bringing out the safety car as his Hyundai stopped on circuit.

The safety car failed to halt Schotten, however, who quickly restored his advantage and went on to claim his maiden win by over two seconds from Rosso.

Reis snatched third from Leonel Pernía at the final corner three laps from the finish to complete the podium, limiting his points gap to the championship leader to 14 points.

Leonel Pernía was thus fourth, ahead of Piquet Jr in fifth and Gianfratti in sixth.

Cafaro took seventh as the top Peugeot once again, ahead of the Paladini Racing Lynk & Co of Nicolás Fuca in eighth, G Racing’s Bruno Massa in ninth and Porthack Racing’s Gabriel Romano in tenth.

The next TCR South America event is at Velo Cittá on the 24 – 26 July.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	7			Erick SCHOTTEN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	31:58.944	1:52.381	1
2	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	2.398	1:52.928	2
3	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	3.537	1:52.540	9
4	1			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	5.227	1:53.169	6
5	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	6.303	1:53.255	8
6	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	6.838	1:53.269	13
7	8			Joaquín CAFARO	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	7.789	1:53.886	16
8	3			Nicolás FUCA	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	9.288	1:54.277	15
9	20			Bruno MASSA	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	10.311	1:54.035	12
10	56			Gabriel ROMANO	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	16	12.577	1:54.496	14
11	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	13.593	1:54.569	18
12	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	13.992	1:52.784	7
13	87			Jorge MARTELLI	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	14.647	1:54.552	20
14	86			Gabriel MOURA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	15.137	1:54.278	11
15	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	19.921	1:55.211	21
16	9			Fabricio PEZZINI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	28.605	1:54.042	17
17	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	Uruguay Racing Team	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	+ 3 LAPS	1:53.901	19
R	29			Néstor GIROLAMI	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	7	DNF	1:53.157	10
R	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	4	DNF	2:00.402	3
R	27			Camilo TRAPPA	Hyundai MSA	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	3	DNF	2:08.254	4
R	43			Pedro CARDOSO	G Racing Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	2	DNF	1:56.100	5