PMO Racing-run Peugeot cars win twice at Velocitta
The PMO Racing Peugeot 308 cars of Pablo Pernía and Rafael Suzuki won the races at the Autódromo Velocitta that counted towards both TCR South America and TCR Brasil championships.
Pernía’s victory in the first race was his maiden one in TCR on his second appearance in the category; as the Argentine driver is only registered for TCR South America, his fellow countryman Matías Rossi scored the points for the win in TCR Brasil. Suzuki, who had rejoined PMO Racing after a guest appearance in the season opening endurance race at Interlagos, scored his third victory in the series after last year’s at Rivera and Cascavel.
Both Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso and W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis retained their leads in the standings. In TCR South America, Rosso has a five-point advantage over Pedro Cardoso, with Reis in third position, nine points behind. Reis leads Cardoso by one in TCR Brasil, while Galid Osman follows four further points adrift.
Race 1 – The Peugeot cars of Cardoso and Pernía had topped the qualifying ahead of Rodrigo Baptista’s Honda and Rossi’s Toyota. However, Cardoso was demoted to sixth on the grid due to a penalty for an incident with Osman in the previous event at Cascavel; Pernía inherited the pole and led at the start rejecting an attempt from Baptista. Rossi, Osman, Cardoso and Rosso followed, while Reis made a slow start from P5 due to a clutch problem and dropped at the back of the field. In lap 2, Baptista made a mistake and rejoined in fourth position behind Rossi and Osman. Fabián Yannantuoni crashed in lap 5, the safety car was deployed and neutralized the race for two laps. At the restart, trying to defend his fourth place, Baptista hit Cardoso and sent him wide. Cardoso lost another position to Suzuki who then passed Baptista for P4 in lap 12. Up front, Pernía built up a three-second lead and went on to claim his maiden TCR win with Rossi and Osman joining on the podium. During the final lap, Suzuki dropped several places to finish tenth; Baptista took the flag in fourth position but was demoted to sixth by a five-second penalty for the incident with Cardoso.
Race 2 – Marcos Regadas and Juan Manuel Casella shared the front row of the reversed grid but they both stalled at the start; Suzuki and Rosso from the second row jumped ahead, while Reis followed in third position ahead of Baptista, Osman and Rossi. In lap 2. Reis overtook Rosso for second and tried to close in on Suzuki who increased his pace and his leading gap. In lap 8, Osman hit Baptista who went wide and dropped from fourth to seventh; then Baptista slowed and eventually stopped.
Suzuki’s lead exceeded the four seconds over Reis, while Rosso struggled to defend his third position from Osman; behind them Rossi was chased by Pernia and Cardoso.
In lap 15, Osman took third from Rosso; Rossi and Pernía delivered the final thrill as they ran abreast while fighting for P5, with Pernía eventually passing Rossi in lap 16. Behind them Regadas overtook Cardoso for P7 but spun and lost the position again.
Suzuki won by 3.9 seconds over Reis; Osman third, was dropped to seventh by a ten-second penalty for the incident with Baptista and so Rosso inherited the third place.
The two series will race together again on 19/21 July at Interlagos, where they will be joined by the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour.
Velocitta – Race 1
- Leonel Pernía (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308), 16 laps
- Matías Rossi (Toyota Team Argentina, Toyota Corolla GRS), 3.251
- Galid Osman (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 3.960
Velocitta – Race 2
- Rafael Suzki (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308), 20 laps
- Raphael Reis (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 3.919
- Juan Ángel Rosso (Paladini Racing, Toyota Corolla GRS), 17.494
Championship points – TCR South America
- JÁ. Rosso, 130 pts; 2. P. Cardoso, 125; 3. R. Reis, 121
Championship points – TCR Brasil
- R. Reis, 182 pts; 2. P. Cardoso, 181; 3. G. Osman, 177
Picture: TCR South America/Rafael Gagliano
