Leonel Pernía and Juan Ángel Rosso win in Uruguay

Leonel Pernía and Juan Ángel Rosso shared race wins in TCR South America’s event at the Autódromo Municipal de Mercedes in Uruguay.

In Race 1, Pernía drove his Squadra Martino-run Honda Civic FL5 to a lights-to-flag victory, pipping at the start his teammate Nelson Piquet jr. who was on pole position. In the second race, Rosso and his Paladini Racing Lynk & Co inherited the lead when Genaro Rasetto’s Peugeot served a drive-through.

Thanks to his fourth victory of the season and a fourth place in Race 2, Pernía has stretched his lead in the standings to 92 points over the defending champion Pedro Cardoso, whose PMO Racing Peugeot was sidelined in the second race by a turbo failure. Piquet lies third, 111 points behind, with the W2 Pro GP pair of Fabrício Pezzini and Reis in fourth and fifth positions with gaps of 129 and 133 points.   

Race 1 – With his last qualifying lap, Piquet had snatched his second consecutive pole, beating Leonel Pernía by 45 thousandths, while Mariano Pernía completed a Honda 1-2-3. Fabián Yannantuoni had not posted a time due to gearbox problems.

Leonel Pernía made a perfect start and led from Piquet, Pezzini and Reis, while Mariano Pernía stalled from P3 and joined at the back. The leading quartet pulled away, with Cardoso fifth ahead of Rosso.

The first four drivers continued running in close formation, covered by 1.5 seconds until lap 11, when the safety car was deployed to reposition a stack of tyres in one of the turns. Racing resumed in lap 13, with Rosso who overtook Cardoso for fifth. Up front, Pernía resisted the pressure from Piquet and won by fourth tenths, while Pezzini kept his own teammate Reis at bay to secure third.

Yannantuoni had recovered up to P8 but retired in lap 10 with a technical problem.

Race 2 – The Peugeot cars of Luis Ramírez and Rasetto shared the front row of the reversed grid, while P5 remained empty as Cardoso’s Peugeot was undergoing a turbo change. Rasetto sprinted at the start, leading from Ramírez and Rosso who overtook the Panamanian in lap 2 advancing to second. Tiago Pernía went wide at T1 and dropped from fourth to ninth, while Rasetto was handed a drive-through for jump-start. Rosso inherited the lead; behind him Ramírez was passed by Reis, Pezzini, Leonel Pernía and Yannantuoni who had made an outstanding recovery from last on the grid. In lap 7, Ramírez was rammed by Enzo Gianfratti while they were fighting for P7.

Focus shifted on the battle for the lead, with Reis who had closed the gap to Rosso. Despite his efforts Reis couldn’t get close enough to attempt a passing move and in the last-but-one lap he made a mistake, went wide, hit a polystyrene banner and lost contact, leaving Rosso to go for the win. Reis finished second ahead of Pezzini and Leonel Pernía.

The championship’s second event in Uruguay will be in El Pinar on 25/27 July.

Race 1

1. Leonel Pernía (Honda YPF Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 20 laps
2. Nelson Piquet jr. (Honda YPF Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.423
3. Fabrício Pezzini (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.374

Race 2

1. Juan Angel Rosso (Paladini Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 24 laps
2. Raphael Reis (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 0.965
3. Fabrício Pezzini (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.975

Championship points

1. L. Pernía, 354 pts; 2. P. Cardoso, 262; 3. N. Piquet jr., 243

Picture: TCR South America