Squadra Martino’s Rodrigo Baptista and Palandini Racing’s Fabián Yannantuoni won the TCR South America races at Cascavel in Brazil last weekend.
In a pair of lively races at the Brazilian circuit, it ended up being Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso who assumed the championship lead after a solid weekend of a fourth and second in the two races respectively.
Prior to the event, several drivers changed cars. W2 Pro GP’s Galid Osman switched from a CUPRA Leon Competición to the newer CUPRA Leon VZ, whilst Marcos Regadas moved from a Lynk & Co to a Peugeot. Diego Gutierrez also joined the grid at Paladini Racing, which parted company with Fabricio Pezzini after the opening round of the year.
Race one
The front row men made a strong get away when the lights went out, with Baptista leading Osman into the first corner. Behind them, Juan Manuel Casella from the second row of the grid, made a poor start and dropped immediately to 11th, having started from fourth.
W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis aggressively defended fourth into Turn 1, pushing the Toyota of Rosso onto the grass. The move would later earn him a five-second time penalty.
As Baptista made a break in the lead, Osman had to defend from the Toyota of Matías Rossi in third, who found himself sandwiched by new CUPRAs after Raphael Reis had gained a place at the start through Casella’s poor launch from the line.
The race then stabilised for the next nine laps, with Baptista stretching his legs to build up a lead over Osman of over three seconds.
On the ninth lap, Regadas went off in his PMO Racing Peugeot, having suffered from a front-right puncture, kissing the barrier gently but losing the ninth place he was defending from the charging Casella.
A lap later, Casella dived inside the Paladini Racing Toyota of Fabián Yannantuoni at the penultimate corner, with the Honda driver quickly breaking free in eighth.
By lap 17, Toyota’s Rossi was struggling for pace, defending hard from the CUPRA of Reis and the chasing Peugeots of Pedro Cardoso and Leonel Pernía.
Reis made a strong pass into Turn 1 that time around, feigning to the outside before darting to the inside at the last possible second.
The battling Peugeots quickly wanted to get by in the next corners, but Cardoso and Pernía tangled, sending the latter wide onto the grass and dropping him to eighth behind Rosso and Casella.
That would quickly turn out to be seventh, as Rossi pulled into the pits at the end of the lap with a puncture, to rejoin a lap down.
Little changed in the closing laps, as Baptista scored his first win since the inaugural season in 2021 ahead of Osman. Reis was third on the road, but after his five second time penalty he dropped to seventh, meaning Cardoso completed the podium.
Rosso was fourth, with Casella putting in an impressive drive to recover to fifth, ahead of Reis and series newcomer but tin-top veteran Pernía in seventh.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 3 |  |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 26:39.422 | 1:05.871 | 1 | |
| 2 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 24 | 1.989 | 1:06.004 | 2 | |
| 3 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 5.330 | 1:06.176 | 6 | |
| 4 | 16 |  |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 6.282 | 1:06.455 | 7 | |
| 5 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 24 | 7.062 | 1:06.187 | 4 | |
| 6 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 24 | 7.327 | 1:06.101 | 5 | |
| 7 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 9.253 | 1:06.239 | 8 | |
| 8 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 16.605 | 1:06.396 | 10 | |
| 9 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 18.592 | 1:06.642 | 11 | |
| 10 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 26.077 | 1:06.771 | 13 | |
| 11 | 47 | |
Norberto FONTANA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 29.758 | 1:07.008 | 14 | |
| 12 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 24 | 46.363 | 1:07.139 | 15 | |
| 13 | 73 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 51.526 | 1:07.915 | 16 | |
| 14 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:06.845 | 12 | |
| 15 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:06.031 | 3 | |
| R | 27 | |
Marcos REGADAS | PMO Full Time Sports | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:06.392 | 9 |
Race two
Race two saw Yannantuoni line up on pole position, having qualified in tenth on Saturday, with Regadas alongside on the front row of the grid.
Yannantuoni made a clean getaway, whilst behind him Regadas aggressively defended from team-mate Pernía, which allowed Rosso into second, and Cardoso to breeze around the outside of his squabbling team-mates.
But Pernía, now ahead of Regadas, hit Cardoso on the exit of the opening corner, sending the Peugeot sliding in a cloud of smoke and dropping him to ninth by the end of the lap.
In the dramas, Toyota’s Rossi moved up to fourth just behind Pernía, as the Paladini Toyotas began to break free at the front.
The race calmed down for the following half dozen laps, until lap seven when Casella made a dive alongside Regadas for fifth.
Regadas was able to do a switchback on Casella on the exit of the first corner going into lap eight, but there was slight contact and Casella’s Honda was sent bouncing across the grass on the exit, losing him a trio of positions.
Reis sought to capitalise on the incident and went to dive inside Regadas a couple of corners later, but the Brazilian put a wheel on the grass on the inside and hit Regadas’ Peugeot into a spin and losing him half a dozen places. Reis received a drive-through penalty for the contact later in the race.
Slowed on the exit, Reis was then passed by team-mate Osman and Cardoso, but found himself in the middle of the duo. Contact with Osman pitched the CUPRA into Cardoso and Reis was sandwiched in the middle, receiving double contact.
Osman and Cardoso were out of the race on the spot, prompting the safety car to come out on lap nine and stay out for three laps.
When racing resumed, little changed in the top positions, with Yannantuoni going on to record his second win in the series ahead of team-mate Rosso, the first 1-2 result for the team in the series.
Pernía completed the podium in his début weekend in TCR, ahead of Rossi in fourth. Casella held fifth, whilst race one winner Baptista was sixth after gaining four places in the lap eight carnage.
In the drivers’ championship, Rosso leads the way with 78 points despite being yet to claim his first win in 2024, ahead of Reis (74), Baptista (72), Cardoso (70) and Yannantuoni (63).
The next race takes place at Velo Cittá in Brazil on 15 – 16 June.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 31:15.314 | 1:06.332 | 1 | |
| 2 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 0.786 | 1:06.471 | 4 | |
| 3 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 1.239 | 1:06.249 | 3 | |
| 4 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 2.512 | 1:06.338 | 8 | |
| 5 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 24 | 2.892 | 1:06.139 | 7 | |
| 6 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 5.626 | 1:06.453 | 10 | |
| 7 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 6.811 | 1:06.734 | 11 | |
| 8 | 47 | |
Norberto FONTANA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 10.054 | 1:07.129 | 14 | |
| 9 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 10.498 | 1:07.092 | 13 | |
| 10 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 10.984 | 1:07.099 | 12 | |
| 11 | 27 | |
Marcos REGADAS | PMO Full Time Sports | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 15.945 | 1:06.255 | 2 | |
| 12 | 73 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 29.724 | 1:08.129 | 16 | |
| 13 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:06.399 | 6 | |
| 14 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 20 | + 4 LAPS | 1:07.889 | 15 | |
| R | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:06.361 | 9 | |
| R | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:06.369 | 5 |