Victories for Baptista and Yannantuoni in Day 2 at Cascavel
In the second race day at Cascavel, Rodrigo Baptista and Fabián Yannantuoni were the winners of the two races that counted towards the TCR South America and TCR Brasil championships. Both drivers were able to convert their pole positions into lights-to-flag victories. In the second race, a pile up eliminated three title contenders: Galid Osman, Pedro Cardoso and Raphael Reis who managed to finish 14th after a penalty.
These results meant that Juan Ángel Rosso has taken the lead in TCR South America standings, two points ahead of Reis, with Baptista and Cardoso four and six points behind respectively. Reis has stayed on top of TCR Brasil, four points over Baptista.
Race 1 – The grid was the same of yesterday’s TCR Brasil, with Baptista and Osman of the front row, followed by Matías Rossi and Juan Manuele Casella. Baptista made good use of the pole and led from Osman, Rossi, Rosso, Reis and Cardoso, while Casella had a slow start from P4. In lap 1, Rosso made contact with Reis, and Leonel Pernía seized the opportunity to pass him for sixth, while Enrique Maglione served a drive through for false start. Slowly, but consistency, Baptista increased his leading margin, while the second-placed Osman resisted the pressure from Rossi. There were no changes until lap 9, when Marcos Regadas went off with a flat front tyre, which promoted Casella to ninth. Soon afterwards, Casella passed Yannantuoni for eighth.
During the final part of the race, Rossi lost contact from Osman and defended the third place from Reis; in lap 18 Reis overtook Rossi who was then attacked by Cardoso and Pernía. The latter made a mistake and dropped to eighth behind Casella, while Rossi retired with a technical issue. Baptista took the chequered flag two seconds ahead of Osman with Reis in third position. However, Reis was dropped to sixth by a five-second penalty for pushing Rosso after the start, which promoted Cardoso, Rosso and Casella to third, fourth and fifth.
Race 2 – Yannantuoni led at the start from the pole on the reversed grid, while Regadas was slow from P2 and dropped to sixth. Rosso advanced to second behind his teammate, and when the field negotiated T2 the third-placed Pernía pushed his PMO Racing colleague Cardoso wide, with the Brazilian dropping to ninth. Yannantuoni tried to pull away, while Rosso was closely followed by Pernía, Rossi, Regadas, Casella and Reis. Regadas and Casella began fighting for P5, they clashed, and Casella went wide; Reis tried to make advantage and pushed Regadas into a spin. Seconds later, Reis, Cardoso and Osman were running abreast; Cardoso and Reis made contact, involving Osman with the three cars crashing into each other. The safety car was deployed to recover Osman’s CUPRA and Cardoso’s Peugeot, while Reis made a quick pit stop and rejoined. Racing resumed in lap 12, with Yannantuoni leading and Rosso keeping second ahead of Pernía, Rossi, Casella and Baptista, while Reis was given a drive-through for the collision with Regadas. Yannantuoni claimed his first win of the season, with Rosso completing a 1-2 for Paladini Racing and Pernía finishing third.
The two series will race together again at Velocitta on 14/16 June.
Cascavel – Race 1
- Rodrigo Baptista (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 24 laps
- Galid Osman (W2 Pro GP, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.989
- Pedro Cardoso (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308), 5.330
Cascavel – Race 2
- Fabián Yannantuoni (Paladini Racing, Toyota Corolla GRS), 24 laps
- Juan Ángel Rosso (Paladini Racing, Toyota Corolla GRS), 0.786
- Leonel Pernía (PMO Racing, Peugeot 308)
Championship points – TCR South America
- JÁ. Rosso, 78 pts; 2. R. Reis, 74; 3. R. Baptista, 72
Championship points – TCR Brasil
- R. Reis, 131 pts; 2. R. Baptista, 127; 3. G. Osman, 120
Picture: TCR South America/Rafael Gagliano
