Leonel Pernía and Fabricio Pezzini claim Villicum victories

Honda’s Leonel Pernía and W2 Pro GP’s Fabricio Pezzici claimed the victories in the TCR South America races at the San Juan Villicum circuit on Sunday, as Leonel Pernía extended his points lead.

Race One

After claiming pole position by over half a second from Squadra Martino team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr on Saturday, Leonel Pernía started the opening race from the front.

At the start, Piquet was very slow away from the line, whilst his Honda team-mate Tiago Pernía failed to get away at all from fourth on the grid directly behind him.

With a stricken car on the grid, it meant the safety car had to be called at the end of the opening lap, with Leonel Pernía having eased into a comfortable lead ahead of W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis and PMO Racing’s Pedro Cardoso, whilst Piquet had dropped to fifth.

Racing resumed on lap three, and little changed at the front. At the back of the field, María Nienkötter went off at the hairpin after outbraking herself, and when fellow Brazilian Enzo Gianfratti went off at the same place a lap later, the safety car was called for once again to remove the stricken cars.

The action got underway again on lap eight, and Leonel Pernía once again eased into a comfortable lead ahead of Reis.

Further back, Piquet was battling hard with Cardoso for fourth, but the pair made side-by-side contact under braking for Turn 7. Piquet’s Honda clearly picked up some damage, and he retired to the pits at the end of the lap.

Cardoso ended up having to battle with Fabián Yannantuoni for the final podium place in the latter stages of the race, with Yannantuoni ultimately prevailing after retaking the place on the penultimate lap, having originally taken third on the fifth lap.

Reigning champion Cardoso was thus fourth, ahead of Panamanian team-mate Luis Ramírez in fifth in the second Peugeot.

W2 Pro GP’s Fabricio Pezzini took sixth in his CUPRA, ahead of the Honda of Mariano Pernía in seventh and the second Paladini Racing Lynk & Co of Juan Ángel Rosso in eighth.

Series rookie Exequiel Bastidas and Genaro Rasetto completed the top ten in their Audi and Peugeot respectively, benefitting when Paladini’s Santino Balerini fell off into the gravel three laps from the finish.

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	14	28:16.111	1:43.110	1
2	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	14	1.074	1:43.236	3
3	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	6.120	1:43.317	5
4	1			Pedro CARDOSO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	14	6.948	1:43.693	6
5	3			Luis RAMÍREZ	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	14	10.712	1:43.926	7
6	113			Fabricio PEZZINI	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	14	12.883	1:43.663	9
7	55			Mariano PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	14	13.500	1:43.331	8
8	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	15.392	1:43.697	16
9	51			Exequiel BASTIDAS	Paladini Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	14	16.086	1:44.336	12
10	66			Genaro RASETTO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	14	24.899	1:43.971	10
11	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	14	35.112	1:46.900	14
12	95			Santino BALERINI	Paladini Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	11	+ 3 LAPS	1:43.823	11
R	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	9	DNF	1:43.315	2
R	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	5	DNF	1:47.082	13
R	23			María NIENKÖTTER	Cobra Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	4	DNF	1:47.371	15
R	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	0	DNF	N/A	4

Race Two

Rosso had the reverse-grid pole and made a good start, whilst Cardoso lost out on the opening lap by going wide at the hairpin.

Pezzini dived inside Rosso’s Lynk & Co for the lead into the hairpin on the second lap, and from there the 2022 champion scampered clear, despite the efforts of the Paladini Racing team in pursuit.

Whilst it was Rosso who was his closest challenger early on, Yannantuoni moved into third on lap ten when he passed Mariano Pernía.

Rosso then let Yannantuoni into second a lap later, but with Yannantuoni unable to close in on Pezzini, the positions were swapped back on the penultimate lap.

Pezzini thus took his second win of the season by over two seconds ahead of Rosso, with Yannatuoni completing the podium.

W2 Pro GP’s Reis got by Mariano Pernía for fourth three laps from the finish exiting the final corner, and with Leonel Pernía and Piquet Jr tucked up behind him, Mariano Pernía lost three places in one go.

Reis was thus fourth, ahead of Leonel Pernía and Piquet Jr, as Mariano Pernía took seventh after clearly struggling for pace compared to his rivals.

Cardoso was eighth, narrowly ahead of Tiago Pernía and PMO’s Genaro Rasetto.

Leonel Pernía has now extended his championship total to 219 points ahead of Cardoso (176), Reis (144), Rosso (141) and Pezzini (140).

The next event takes place at Termas de Río Hondo on 31 May – 1 June.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	113			Fabricio PEZZINI	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	18	32:53.092	1:43.668	1
2	16			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	2.248	1:44.265	2
3	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI	Paladini Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	3.274	1:43.920	6
4	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	18	4.723	1:44.021	8
5	44			Leonel PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	6.452	1:44.181	10
6	33			Nelson PIQUET JR	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	6.706	1:44.075	9
7	55			Mariano PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	8.623	1:44.230	3
8	1			Pedro CARDOSO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	18	10.172	1:44.394	5
9	85			Tiago PERNÍA	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	10.464	1:44.538	7
10	66			Genaro RASETTO	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	18	14.489	1:44.747	11
11	3			Luis RAMÍREZ	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	18	19.893	1:44.468	4
12	51			Exequiel BASTIDAS	Paladini Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	18	27.319	1:45.621	13
13	19			Enzo GIANFRATTI	Porthack Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	33.071	1:46.179	14
14	88			Adrián CHIRIANO	Honda YPF Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	41.867	1:46.725	15
15	23			María NIENKÖTTER	Cobra Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	18	43.997	1:46.991	16
R	95			Santino BALERINI	Paladini Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	3	DNF	1:44.969	12