Pedro Cardoso and Nelsinho Piquet win one apiece in Velocitta
Brazilian drivers Pedro Cardoso and Nelson Piquet jr. shared honours in the TCR South America/TCR Brasil event at Autódromo Velocitta.
Cardoso, the reigning champion, won Saturday’s race in his PMO Racing Peugeot 308 thanks to a daring move to overtake Leonel Pernía right after the start. Pernía’s Honda YPF teammate Piquet claimed his maiden TCR victory on Sunday, starting from the pole of the reversed grid.
With second in Race 1 and third in Race 2, Pernía has increased his lead in the TCR South America standings, to 123 points over Cardoso, while Piquet is five further points adrift.
Tiago Pernía, who was the points leader in TCR Brasil before the event couldn’t enter the Country because he holds a USA passport, and Brazil has just introduced a visa application for American citizens. This helped Raphael Reis to move on top of the standings, six points clear of Piquet and ten of Léonardo Reis.
Race 1 – Léonardo Reis had won his fist pole of the season in a thrilling qualifying that had resumed for the last two minutes after a red flag caused by the spin of Maria Nienkötter’s Toyota. Reis had beaten Pernía by nine thousandths, while Cardoso and Raphael Reis had qualified third and fourth. Rosso and Piquet had been 7th and 10th fastest but were dropped at the back of the grid following engine changes.
The poleman stalled at the start and was swallowed by the pack; Pernía led the field, but during the first lap he was passed by Cardoso. The reigning champion built a three-second lead and retained it for the whole race, with Pernía and Raphael Reis in second and third. Behind them, series returnee Marcos Regadas passed Fabián Yannantuoni for P4 in lap 7. The most entertaining battle was between Piquet and Léonardo Reis who passed Genaro Rasetto in lap 11, moving up to P7 and P8 before advancing one more place in lap 16, when they overtook Enzo Gianfratti.
Race 2 – Piquet and Gianfratti sat on the front row of the reversed grid; Piquet made a good start, while Gianfratti and Rasetto in P5 stalled. Yannantuoni sprinted from sixth on the grid to second behind Piquet, while Regadas and Juan Ángel Rosso were fighting for third and collided during the first lap. Rosso crashed into the barrier and Regadas was black-flagged for the incident. After one lap behind the safety car, racing resumed, and Piquet began to pull away. Behind him, Yannantuoni rejected an attack from Cardoso holding on to the second place. Cardoso fell under pressure from Pernía who eventually passed him in lap 14 to take third.
TCR South America and TCR Brasil will resume on November 14/16 at Goiânia.
Race 1
- Pedro Cardoso (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308), 17 laps
- Leonel Pernía (Honda YPF Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 2.555
- Raphael Reis (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 3.921
Race 2
- Nelson Piquet jr. (Honda YPF Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 20 laps
- Fabián Yannantuoni (Paladini Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 7.790
- Leonel Pernía (Honda YPF Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 9.689
Championship points – TCR South America
- L. Pernía, 531 pts; 2. P. Cardoso, 408; 3. N. Piquet jr., 403
Championship points – TCR Brasil
- R. Reis, 123 pts; 2. N. Piquet jr., 117; 3. L. Reis, 113
Picture: TCR South America/Magnus Torquato
