Rossi takes all in TCR South America at San Juan Villicum
Matías Rossi stole the show in the TCR South America event at San Juan Villicum, where the Toyota Team Argentina driver took pole position and two race wins, the first for him since he joined the series and the first for the team in the current season.
In the first race, Rossi drove his Corolla to a lights-to-flag victory from the pole, resisting the pressure from Juan Manuel Casella, then in Race 2, he capitalised on his rivals’ troubles to recover from P10 at the start and beat Casella again by a narrow margin.
Despite he was a non-finisher in Race 2, Pedro Cardoso keeps the first position in the standings, eight points clear of Raphael Reis, while Casella has moved up to third, 32 further points adrift and five ahead of Juan Ángel Rosso.
Race 1 – Rossi had claimed the pole with a lap of 1:44.367 that was three tenths faster than the times set by Casella’s and series newcomer Matías Cravero, while the title contenders Cardoso, Reis and Rosso had qualified in P10, P8 and P7.
At the start, Rossi led from Casella and Cravero who managed to keep Galid Osman behind. During the first lap, Cravero overtook Casella for P2, while the pair of Rafael Suzuki and Leonel Pernía passed Osman and climbed to fourth and fifth. One lap later, Pernía moved ahead of Suzuki. Up front, Rossi, Cravero and Casella were running nose-to-tail, but in lap 6, Casella lost contact and began defending from Pernía. In lap 7, Fabián Yannantuoni spun onto the gravel and the safety car was deployed. Racing resumed after one lap, with Casella and Pernía both passing Cravero for second and third. Cravero reacted and quickly muscled his way past Pernía. Further behind, Osman, Rosso, Reis and Cardoso were in a close fight for P6. Casella kept on chasing Rossi but couldn’t get close enough to attempt a move; Rossi held on to the lead and won by less than half-a-second, while Cravero kept Pernía at bay to finish third.
Race 2 – The points leader Cardoso and Panamanian newcomer Luis Ramírez shared the front row of the reversed grid. Cardoso got away well at the start, while too much wheelspin made Ramírez moving slowly; Reis, Rosso, Suzuki and Pernía followed the leader while Rossi and Cravero made contact, with Cravero going off and retired. In lap 2, the PMO Peugeot cars filled the top three places, with Suzuki and Pernía moving ahead of Cardoso who was under pressure from Reis. Cardoso struggled to keep Reis and Rosso behind, and this helped Rossi to pass both Rosso and Reis climbing to P4. In lap 5, Rossi and Casella overtook Cardoso, while Pernía lost second as he pitted with a puncture. In lap 6, Cardoso, Ramírez and Reis came together; Cardoso spun and collected Thiago Vivacqua with both cars in the gravel. The safety car was deployed for two laps; when racing resumed in lap 10, Suzuki kept on leading from Rossi and Casella, while Osman had benefitted from the incidents for climbing to fourth. In lap 14, Rossi stole the lead from Suzuki and pulled away, while during the final moments Suzuki was passed by Casella and Osman as well, dropping to fourth. Fabio Casagrande provided the last thrill when he crashed in lap 15. Rossi took his second win of the day from Casella, Osman and Suzuki. For the incident in lap 6, both, Reis and Ramírez were handed ten-second penalties while Cardoso will be dropped five positions on the grid of the next race.
TCR South America will resume on October 5/6 at Buenos Aires.
San Juan – Race 1
- Matías Rossi (Toyota Team Argentina, Toyota Corolla GRS), 16 laps
- Juan Manuel Casella (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.465
- Matías Cravero (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 3.644
San Juan – Race 2
- Matías Rossi (Toyota Team Argentina, Toyota Corolla GRS), 17 laps
- Juan Manuel Casella (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.576
- Galid Osman (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 4.239
Championship points
- P. Cardoso, 330 pts; 2. R. Reis, 322; 3. J.M. Casella, 290
Picture: TCR South America/Hernán Capa
