Argentine youngster Jorge Barrio gave the new Toyota Corolla its first TCR win in the opening TCR South America race at Buenos Aires, whilst Raphael Reis scored his second win of the season in race two.
Barrio, 18, had earlier cemented his pace by scoring a strong first pole position on Saturday when he qualified a tenth of a second ahead of title contender Juan Ángel Rosso’s Honda.
At the start of race one, Barrio held the lead at the first corner, despite banging wheels lightly in some side-by-side action with Rosso.
But thereafter, the Toyota was relatively unchallenged and went on to claim a first win for the car by almost three seconds.
However, as Barrio is ineligible for championship points due to running under a temporary homologation, maximum points went to Rosso who took the chequered flag in second.
The podium was completed by PMO Motorsport’s Santiago Urrutia, although the Lynk & Co driver was ultimately far from the pace, finishing almost 20 seconds adrift of the race winner.
José Manuel Sapag had qualified in fourth but actually ran third on the first half of the opening lap, before making a mistake and allowing Urrutia into third, where he remained.
Later in the race, points leader Fabricio Pezzini overtook Sapag for fourth, with his Argentine compatriot and team-mate thus finishing in fifth.
The second Squadra Martino Honda of Fabio Casagrande was sixth, ahead of the PMO Racing Peugeot of Juan Manuel Casella in seventh.
Scuderia Chiarelli’s Pedro Aizza was eighth, with the top ten being completed by PMO’s Enrique Maglione and W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis, the latter having been spun by Ignacio Montenegro on the fourth lap whilst fighting for ninth, prompting a recovery drive from the CUPRA racer.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 32 |  |
Jorge BARRIO | Toyota Gazoo Racing Latin America | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 17 | 23:29.357 | 1:21.345 | 1 | |
| 2 | 26 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 2.997 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 96 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 19.670 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 7 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 24.878 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 33.562 | 4 | ||
| 6 | 34 |  |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 36.553 | 12 | ||
| 7 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 38.828 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 35 | |
Pedro AIZZA | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 38.951 | 8 | ||
| 9 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 41.848 | 11 | ||
| 10 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 17 | 44.842 | 10 | ||
| 11 | 22 | |
Gabriel LUSQUIÑOS | Cobra Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 1:00.450 | 9 | ||
| 12 | 11 | |
Roy BLOCK | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 1:13.578 | 13 | ||
| 13 | 87 | |
Franco FARINA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | + 1 LAP | 7 | ||
| EX | 29 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Crown Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 0 | EXC | 15 | ||
| NS | 17 | |
Alceu FELDMANN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | – | DNS | 14 | ||
| NS | 85 | |
Walter HERNÁNDEZ | Milanese Sport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | – | DNS | – |
For race two, the grid was partially reversed, with the pole position going to Reis, who had qualified in tenth on Saturday.
At the rolling start, Reis got away well with Gabriel Lusquiños in second also maintaining position at the start.
Further back, Pezzini made contact with the Peugeot of Casella at the first corner, spinning him off into the dirt, as the Lynk & Co driver continued in fifth.
Reis pulled away to win the race by over 12 seconds ahead of the Audi of Lusquiños, with Pezzini completing the podium, having passed Franco Farina’s Peugeot on lap two and later Aizza’s Hyundai on lap five.
Farina held on to finish in fourth after also passing Aizza, who dropped down the order later in the race after losing out in a fiercely-contested battle.
That meant Montenegro brought his Crown Racing Honda home in fifth, ahead of the Toyota of Barrio in sixth, leaving Aizza to take the finish in seventh.
Ahead of the final meeting at Villicum, Pezzini continues to lead the standings with 465 points, ahead of Rosso (398) and Reis (365). Although mathematically all three are still in title contention, in all likelihood it is only Rosso who has a chance of denying Pezzini the title.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 20 | 27:57.952 | 1:22.251 | 1 | |
| 2 | 22 | |
Gabriel LUSQUIÑOS | Cobra Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 20 | 12.967 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 7 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 20 | 16.084 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 87 | |
Franco FARINA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 16.714 | 4 | ||
| 5 | 29 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Crown Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 16.886 | 15 | ||
| 6 | 32 | |
Jorge BARRIO | Toyota Gazoo Racing Latin America | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 17.192 | 10 | ||
| 7 | 35 | |
Pedro AIZZA | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 20 | 29.684 | 3 | ||
| 8 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 37.383 | 12 | ||
| 9 | 26 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 41.585 | 9 | ||
| 10 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 45.886 | 6 | ||
| 11 | 11 | |
Roy BLOCK | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 1:25.622 | 13 | ||
| 12 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 18 | + 2 LAPS | 11 | ||
| R | 96 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | DNF | 8 | ||
| R | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 2 | DNF | 7 | ||
| NS | 17 | |
Alceu FELDMANN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | – | DNS | 14 | ||
| NS | 85 | |
Walter HERNÁNDEZ | Milanese Sport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | – | DNS | – |