Juan Ángel Rosso and José Manuel Sapag share TCR South America wins in Uruguay

Juan Ángel Rosso and José Manuel Sapag closed up the battle for the TCR South America drivers’ title at El Pinar in Uruguay, winning one race apiece as points leader Fabricio Pezzini had his worst weekend in the series thus far.

Race one

At the start, PMO Racing’s Enrique Maglione made a lightning start from fifth on the grid, jumping into the lead by the first corner, where he subsequently outbraked himself and slid slightly wide, allowing Rosso back in front.

Likewise, Scuderia Chiarelli’s Pedro Aizza was also quickly at the front, up from sixth on the grid to third through the first corners, chased by the other two PMO Peugeots of Juan Manuel Casella and Franco Farina.

W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis, meanwhile, had made a poor start, the CUPRA driver dropping down to sixth from the front row of the grid.

José Manuel Sapag, meanwhile, was down in ninth by lap four, having made three places early on, and the Lynk & Co driver was trying to follow team-mate Fabricio Pezzini, up to eighth, through the field.

Going onto lap five, Reis gained a place on Farina with a committed move through the fast first few corners, with Pezzini and Sapag quickly following suit and in the process swapping places themselves, the two PMO Lynk & Cos having quickly dispatched the Alfa Romeo of Rodrigo Aramendia just moments earlier.

By lap six, Sapag was already up to sixth and as Casella defend his fourth place hard it allowed Sapag to close in on the pair.

Both Reis and Sapag then passed Casella for fourth and fifth on lap nine, and then with a seemingly struggling Aizza dropping back on lap 12, both were able to make easy work of the Hyundai Elantra to take third and fourth respectively, the Hyundai driver retiring to the pits soon thereafter.

Reis seemed to take the best out of his tyres by the final three laps, the Brazilian unable to find a way past Maglione and ultimately dropping back behind Sapag, who claimed the final podium place.

Victory for Rosso was the Argentine’s third in a row, bringing him closer to the drivers’ standings lead, whilst second marked the first podium in the series for Maglione.

Behind Reis, Pezzini took fifth, ahead of the CUPRA of Alceu Feldmann in sixth and Casella in seventh.

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	20	25:08.383	1:10.880	1
2	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	7.020	1:11.280	5
3	33			José Manuel SAPAG	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	8.410	1:10.757	12
4	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	20	10.119	1:10.902	2
5	7			Fabricio PEZZINI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	11.176	1:11.320	13
6	17			Alceu FELDMANN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	20	17.591	1:11.127	8
7	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	19.866	1:11.249	3
8	87			Franco FARINA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	21.992	1:11.502	4
9	81			Fernando RAMA	Squadra Martino Uruguay	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	20	29.728	1:11.784	11
10	34			Fabio CASAGRANDE	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	20	34.389	1:12.149	9
11	10			Adalberto BAPTISTA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	17	+ 3 LAPS	1:15.346	10
12	27			Rodrigo ARAMENDIA	Squadra Martino Uruguay	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	13	DNF	1:11.777	7
13	35			Pedro AIZZA	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	12	DNF	1:11.461	6
14	112			Mariano BERALDI	Crown Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–

Race two

The second Squadra Martino Honda of Fabio Casagrande had the pole position for the partially reversed-grid second race, but Sapag moved into the lead at the rolling start, as Casagrande was soon swamped and down to the mid-pack.

Aizza was quickly into second, and the leading duo held station thereafter in a race which again lacked a fight at the front.

Going onto the second lap, Farina’s Peugeot was turned around by Rosso on the start-finish straight, as some drivers seemingly didn’t see the boards notifying them of a safety car intervention.

Racing resumed after just one lap behind the safety car, and Maglione was soon putting aizza under intense pressure for second, although he couldn’t make the move stick.

In the end Sapag would claim his first win in TCR South America by over five seconds from Aizza, with Reis completing the podium, having been down in seventh, just behind Rosso, when the race resumed from the early neutralisation.

Reis had got by Casagrande for sixth when the Honda driver was also passed by Rosso on lap seven, with the Brazilian then quickly also passing Rosso for fifth.

When Feldmann made contact with Farina on lap 17, having passed team-mate Reis a few laps earlier, it allowed Reis to nip past both and into fourth, whilst also dropping Farina by Pezzini’s Lynk & Co and down to seventh.

Reis finally got past Maglione for third at the final hairpin three laps from the finish, completing the podium.

Maglione held fourth, ahead of Pezzini in fifth, who passed Feldmann for the place in the final laps, leaving the W2 Pro GP driver to take sixth, ahead of Rosso in seventh.

A spin for the Alfa Romeo of Aramendia on the exit of Turn 1, and another after he recovered a few corners later, ended his race early.

Pezzini still leads the drivers’ standings with 337 points, ahead of Reis (310), Rosso (307), Sapag (278) and Aizza (209).

The next event takes place at Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina on 27 – 28 August.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	33			José Manuel SAPAG	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	25	30:43.087	1:11.043	2
2	35			Pedro AIZZA	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	25	5.319	1:11.434	5
3	77			Raphael REIS	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	25	6.095	1:10.997	9
4	15			Enrique MAGLIONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	25	7.180	1:11.340	6
5	7			Fabricio PEZZINI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	25	9.624	1:11.520	13
6	17			Alceu FELDMANN	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	25	10.006	1:11.039	3
7	26			Juan Ángel ROSSO	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	25	14.799	1:11.734	10
8	87			Franco FARINA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	25	15.240	1:11.323	7
9	81			Fernando RAMA	Squadra Martino Uruguay	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	25	20.572	1:11.709	12
10	34			Fabio CASAGRANDE	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	25	27.993	1:11.853	1
11	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	25	37.441	1:11.531	8
R	10			Adalberto BAPTISTA	Cobra Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	DNF	1:13.031	11
R	27			Rodrigo ARAMENDIA	Squadra Martino Uruguay	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	0	DNF	N/A	4
NS	112			Mariano BERALDI	Crown Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–