Osman and Rosso win TCR Brasil’s races in Cascavel
Galid Osman and Juan Ángel Rosso were the winners of the pair of TCR Brasil’s races at Cascavel’s Autódromo Zilmar Beux. Osman led for the whole Race 1 in his W2 Pro GP CUPRA Leon VZ, rejecting the assaults from series newcomer Matías Rossi in the Toyota Team Argentina Corolla GRS.
After missing the first race following a crash in Qualifying, Rosso made up with an authoritative victory on a damp track in Race 2. The Paladini Racing driver led home a 1-2-3 for Toyota cars ahead of Cobra Racing’s Thiago Vivacqua and Rossi.
Osman’s teammate and points leader Raphael Reis focused on scoring and finished fifth in race 1 and fourth in race 2, retaining the lead in the standings, ten points clear of Pedro Cardoso and twenty of Osman.
Race 1 – Rosso and Fabio Casagrande, 7th and 12th in Qualifying were missing; Rosso had crashed his Toyota in Q2, while technical issues had sidelined Casagrande’s Honda. Rodrigo Baptista had been the fastest in Qualifying, from Osman, Rossi and Juan Manuel Casella; but the poleman stalled the engine at the start and was passed by the whole field, with Osman leading ahead of Rossi, Cardoso and Casella. These two pairs pulled away. Rossi managed to follow Osman for the first ten laps, but then the Brazilian was able to shake his rival off. Behind them, the battle for P3 continued with Casella stuck on the tail of Cardoso’s car. They delivered some thrilling moments, with Casella desperately trying to find a gap and pass Cardoso.
Osman won by 1.5 seconds over Rossi, while Cardoso was third after Casella had dropped three seconds behind him during the late stages. Baptista completed a strong recovery from 11th after the start to sixth at the end, behind Reis and in front of Marcos Regadas; he also set the fastest lap in the process.
Race 2 – The Toyota cars of Vivacqua and Fabián Yannantuoni shared the front row on the reversed grid, with Regadas’ Peugeot and Rosso’s repaired Toyota behind them, while Casagrande was missing again. On a very damp track most of the drivers went for slick tyres; this time it was Regadas who stalled the engine at the start, while Vivacqua led from Rosso, Reis, Rossi and Cardoso who performed some spectacular stunts to keep control of his Peugeot and avoid crashing into Rossi’s car. Yannantuoni dropped down after running wide on the grass. Up front, Vivacqua was under pressure from Rosso who passed him for the lead in lap 6. Vivacqua then was chased by Rossi who had passed Reis in lap 9; the latter was closely followed by Cardoso and Baptista. Rosso benefited from the battle behind him to create a gap. In lap 14, Cardoso went wide in the attempt to pass Reis and lost the fifth position to Baptista. Rosso claimed a comfortable win, while Vivacqua was able to keep Rossi at bay and finish second. Reis won the dash for P4 beating Baptista by 18 thousandths.
TCR Brasil will join TCR South America tomorrow for another pair of races.
Cascavel – Race 1
- Galid Osman (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 20 laps
- Matías Rossi (Toyota Team Argentina, Toyota Corolla GRS), 1.516
- Pedro Cardoso (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308), 3.799
Cascavel – Race 2
- Juan Ángel Rosso (Paladini Racing, Toyota Corolla GRS), 19 laps
- Thiago Vivacqua (Cobra Racing, Toyota Corolla GRS), 2.548
- Matías Rossi (Toyota Team Argentina, Toyota Corolla GRS), 3.301
Championship points
- R. Reis, 98 pts; 2. P. Cardoso, 88; 3. G. Osman, 78
Picture: TCR South America
