Juan Ángel Rosso doubles up in eventful Rivera races

Squadra Martino’s Juan Ángel Rosso won both of Sunday’s TCR South America races at Rivera in Uruguay, although PMO Motorsport’s Fabricio Pezzini maintained his championship lead.

Rain prior to the start of the opening race left the Uruguayan track very damp in places, creating tricky and highly variable levels of grip around the circuit.

At the start of race one, pole-sitter Rosso moved into a comfortable lead, whilst further back Rodrigo Aramendia made a slow start from fifth on the grid, the PropCar Alfa Romeo driver dropping several places.

The second lap saw championship leader Fabricio Pezzini caught out by the conditions, sliding his Lynk & Co and briefly dropping to seventh behind Gabriel Lusquiños and Aramdneia.

However, later around the lap Pezzini regained fifth, before taking Alceu Feldmann for fourth on the next lap.

Feldmann rain in fifth thereafter until just after the halfway stage of the race, when the CUPRA driver fell off the circuit in the damp and brushed the barriers.

That ultimately resulted in a front-left puncture for the Brazilian and he would finish the race three laps down after ap putstop.

Rosso at the front had opened up a margin of four seconds over the chasing Raphael Reis at one stage, but as the circuit dried Brazilian Reis caught the Argentine, bringing the gap down to less than a second in the closing laps.

However, Reis couldn’t get closer than half a second, and Rosso ultimately went on to win his first race of the year, which was also Squadra Martino’s first win in the series.

Reis claimed second, whilst Pedro Aizza brought his Scuderia Chiarelli Hyundai Elantra home in third, having swapped places with Feldmann early on for the final podium place.

Pezzini recovered to fourth as the best PMO driver, ahead of team-mate José Manuel Sapag in fifth. Juan Manuel Casella was the best Peugeot driver in sixth, whilst his team-mate Franco Farina fell off the circuit on lap 13 in the slippery conditions.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	26			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	25:25.620	1:22.117	1
2	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	18	2.358	1:22.762	2
3	35			Pedro AIZZA	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	20.029	1:23.518	6
4	7			Fabricio PEZZINI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	27.777	1:23.409	4
5	33			José Manuel SAPAG	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	33.774	1:23.428	11
6	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	18	34.155	1:23.685	8
7	27			Rodrigo ARAMENDIA	PropCar Racing Team	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	18	1:01.713	1:25.525	5
8	3			Bia FIGUEIREDO	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	18	1:05.013	1:25.449	12
9	12	T		Edson REIS	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	1:28.261	1:26.057	16
10	34	T		Fabio CASAGRANDE	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	17	+ 1 LAP	1:29.018	14
11	37	T		Guilherme REISCHL	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+ 1 LAP	1:30.421	10
12	17			Alceu FELDMANN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	15	+ 3 LAPS	1:24.027	3
EX	10	T		Adalberto BAPTISTA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	17	+ 1 LAP	1:26.336	17
R	22			Gabriel LUSQUIÑOS	Crown Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	12	DNF	1:24.774	7
R	87			Franco FARINA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	12	DNF	1:25.163	9
R	15	T		Enrique MAGLIONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	6	DNF	1:31.658	13
R	5	T		Marcio BASSO	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	3	DNF	1:42.396	18
R	97	T		Hernán GIURIA	PropCar Racing Team	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	1	DNF	N/A	15

At the start of race two, front row starters Guilherme Reischl and Farina both made poor launches, with Reischl stalling in front of the pack.

As Scuderia Chiarelli’s Edson Reis came through from near the back of the field he crashed heavily into the back of the stricken Peugeot, spinning his Hyundai Elantra sideways in the track and into the path of the Audi of Cobra Racing’s Adalberto Baptista.

The significant shunt brought out the red flags as the three drivers were seen to, whilst laso resulting in a lengthy 30-minute delay.

When the race restarted, Farina now effectively found himself on pole with PMO team-mate Casella alongside.

Although Farina got away better this time, it was Casella who assumed the lead from Aizza through the first corners, with Rosso gaining little ground initially.

Casella then did a sterling job of holding off race-long pressure from firstly Aizza then latterly Pezzini as the race progressed.

A late-race safety car period was required when Casella’s team-mate Franco Farina went off at Turn 2, which effectively brought the race down to a two-lap showdown at the end.

By this stage, Rosso had also worked his way up the order. The Argentine had in fact dropped to tenth early on, losing out to Bia Figueiredo before clawing back lost ground.

The Honda driver gained two places on lap three when both Farina and Maglione lost time, before passing Figueiredo for seventh a lap later.

He lucked into a position when Sapag passed Lusquiños on lap six, giving him sixth, before he passed Sapag on lap 11.

Rosso at this stage was adrift of the leading trio, but caught them before the safety car intervention anyway.

When racing resumed on lap 20, Casella held station, effectively resulting in a last lap showdown. Pezzini tried the inside line at Turn 2, and Caslla went wide, sliding off into the barriers.

Rosso then took advantage a couple of corners later to sneak the lead, holding on for the final half a lap to win again and move to third overall in the championship.

Pezzini was second, whilst Aizza completed the podium. Feldmann was in 12^th after the first lap but worked his way up to fourth by the finish, ahead of Aramendia, Fabio Casagrande, Sapag and Figueiredo.

Raphael Reis was ninth, the W2 Racing CUPRA driver having ran in sixth on the first lap before he was knocked off the circuit into the mud by Maglione on lap two and rejoined at the back of the pack.

After Rivera, Pezzini continues to lead the standings with 286 points ahead of Reis (256), Rosso (244), Sapag (207) and Aizza (179).

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	26			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	21	30:33.354	1:19.262	10
2	7			Fabricio PEZZINI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	21	1.549	1:20.381	7
3	35			Pedro AIZZA	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	21	2.146	1:20.314	5
4	17			Alceu FELDMANN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	21	2.360	1:19.760	8
5	27			Rodrigo ARAMENDIA	PropCar Racing Team	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	21	4.693	1:20.709	6
6	34	T		Fabio CASAGRANDE	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	21	7.723	1:21.742	14
7	33			José Manuel SAPAG	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	21	9.097	1:20.533	11
8	3			Bia FIGUEIREDO	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	21	9.865	1:20.608	12
9	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	21	11.426	1:19.340	9
10	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	21	47.847	1:20.356	3
11	97	T		Hernán GIURIA	PropCar Racing Team	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	20	+ 1 LAP	1:21.714	15
12	15	T		Enrique MAGLIONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	19	+ 2 LAPS	1:20.870	13
R	87			Franco FARINA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	DNF		2
R	22			Gabriel LUSQUIÑOS	Crown Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	5	DNF		4
R	37	T		Guilherme REISCHL	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	0	DNF	N/A	1
R	12	T		Edson REIS	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	0	DNF	N/A	16
R	10	T		Adalberto BAPTISTA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	0	DNF	N/A	17
NS	5	T		Marcio BASSO	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	18