Casella and Perníá victorious at Termas de Rio Hondo
Juan Manuel Casella and Leonel Pernía won the two TCR South America races held at Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina, which sets up a title showdown going to the final round between Uruguay’s Casella, and this year’s already crowned TCR Brazil champion Pedro Cardoso.
After the application of the drop of the three lowest scores, Cardoso leads the championship by just two points ahead of Casella when 85 points will be at stake in the season finale at Rosario on November 29/December 1.
Raphael Reis lies in third position with a gap of 49 points, while Juan Ángel Rosso and Leonel Pernía are mathematically still in contention being 67 and 77 points behind the leader.
Race 1 – Rodrigo Baptista had claimed pole in a close qualifying session that had seen the seven fastest drivers within four tenths, with Reis, Casella, Matías Rossi, Rafael Suzuki, Leonel Pernía and his son Tiago behind the poleman, while points leader Cardoso had qualified eighth.
At the start, Baptista led the field while Casella from P3 sprinted straight ahead of Reis and up to second; he then took the lead from Baptista into T2. On the next lap Baptista was defending second place from a challenging Reis, but the attack cost the Brazilian time, and he was passed by Rossi, while Suzuki’s Peugeot stopped on the grass and retired with an engine issue that sidelined him for the rest of the day.
On lap 5, Fabián Yannantuoni and newcomer Bautista Damiani came together while fighting for P9 and both cars retired with the safety car deployed. The competition resumed on lap 8, with Casella still in the lead and Baptista under huge pressure from Rossi. On lap 10, Cardoso and Galid Osman swapped places a few times while fighting for P6. Up front, Rossi lost contact with Baptista and was now being chased by Reis and Pernía. On lap 13, Pernía passed Reis for fourth with a challenge around the outside of T2, which was the last change before the chequered flag. Casella won from Baptista and Rossi, with the other title contenders Reis and Cardoso finishing fifth and sixth.
Race 2 – Yannantuoni started from pole with the top eight reversed from qualifying, but he bogged down at the start, with Osman moving straight into the lead. Cardoso had a great launch from P3 and was challenging around the outside of Osman into T2 which allowed Leonel Pernía straight through into the lead. Osman settled in second, while Cardoso dropped into third as the top three began to break away from Rossi in fourth. At the end of the first lap there was trouble as Reis was turned around in contact with newcomer Tiago Pernía. The safety car was immediately called, but both drivers were able to continue and rejoined at the back of the pack. The race resumed on lap 3, with Leonel Pernía initially forced to defend hard against Osman. It was soon confirmed that fourth-placed Rossi would have to serve a drive-through for starting out of position and he was passed by Casella before serving the penalty on lap 7. Reis was on a charge after his earlier spin, and was up to eighth by lap 8, chasing Matías Cravero and Baptista. Reis passed Baptista for seventh on lap 11, before contact with Cravero allowed Baptista ahead of them both. Reis came back at Baptista, moving ahead and up to sixth but the two made contact and speared off the track, narrowly missing Cravero’s Honda. Both rejoined the track, but while Reis dropped to eighth, Baptista was forced to retire. Up front, Perníá went on to win ahead of Osman and Cardoso, with Casella fourth; Reis was demoted to tenth by a five-second penalty for the incident with Baptista.
Termas de Río Hondo – Race 1
- Juan Manuel Casella (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 14 laps
- Rodrigo Baptista (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 0.609
- Matías Rossi (Toyota Team Argentina, Toyota Corolla GRS), 3.477
Termas de Río Hondo – Race 2
- Leonel Pernía (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308 TCR), 17 laps
- Galid Osman (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ TCR), 1.007
- Pedro Cardoso (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308 TCR), 10.611
Championship points
- P.Cardoso, 419 pts; 2. J.M. Casella , 417; 3. R. Reis, 370
Picture: TCR South America/Hernán Capa
