PMO Racing’s Pedro Cardoso scored a controversial victory in the first TCR South America race at Mercedes in Uruguay, only to have the win taken away from him after the race due to a time penalty.
Cardoso had qualified his Peugeot in second on Saturday, and at the start of the race he held second behind the leading CUPRA.
The race had to go behind the safety car on lap two, after series newcomer Diego Noceti lost the back of his Toyota at the second corner, losing grip in conditions which were exceptionally cold at only five degrees, spinning off into the infield barriers.
Racing resumed on lap three and the action continued: Fabián Yannantuoni hit third-placed Norberto Fontana, allowing Leonel Pernía into fourth.
When Yannantuoni made further contact with Pernía’s Peugeot, he spun down to 12th as Fontana and Pernía held on to third and fourth respectively.
Going onto lap six, Cardoso made his move for the lead at Turn 8, tapping the back of Reis’ car and assuming the lead.
The Brazilian went on to extend his advantage at the front and took the chequered flag over four seconds ahead of Reis in second.
However, Cardoso was later handed a post-race five-second penalty for the contact with Reis, dropping him to second.
Pernía was third, after he seemingly made contact with Fontana on lap seven, sending the Argentine off the circuit and dropping to seventh.
Squadra Martino’s Juan Manuel Casella took fourth as the leading Honda, ahead of team-mate Rodrigo Baptista in fifth.
Toyota’s Matías Rossi was sixth, having had to start from the very back of the grid due to a pre-race engine change, ahead of Fontana.
Enrique Maglione followed his Squadra Martino team-mate in eighth, with the top ten completed by W2 Pro GP’s Galid Osman and Yannantuoni. Osman had made a reasonable start, but lost several places in avoidance of Noceti on the opening lap.
Juan Ángel Rosso suffered from a huge dent to his championship aspirations when he had to stop his Toyota on lap ten with some emanating from his engine, having been running in seventh prior to that.
PMO Racing’s Rafael Suzuki failed to take the start due to an engine issue.
Race two gets underway at 12:38 local time (16:38 BST, 17:38 CEST).
Revised race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 77 |  |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 19 | 26:33.460 | 1:19.523 | 1 | |
| 2 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 19 | 0.725 | 1:19.437 | 2 | |
| 3 | 44 |  |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 19 | 1.975 | 1:19.712 | 9 | |
| 4 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 19 | 4.198 | 1:19.867 | 8 | |
| 5 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 19 | 5.058 | 1:20.195 | 7 | |
| 6 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 19 | 6.424 | 1:20.171 | 15 | |
| 7 | 47 | |
Norberto FONTANA | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 19 | 15.438 | 1:20.059 | 3 | |
| 8 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 19 | 15.921 | 1:20.122 | 13 | |
| 9 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 19 | 16.322 | 1:20.050 | 5 | |
| 10 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 19 | 38.524 | 1:21.647 | 4 | |
| 11 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 19 | 46.546 | 1:21.819 | 12 | |
| 12 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 19 | 1:02.428 | 1:21.843 | 14 | |
| R | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 18 | DNF | 1:20.870 | 16 | |
| R | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 9 | DNF | 1:21.701 | 11 | |
| R | 61 | |
Diego NOCETI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 1 | DNF | N/A | 10 | |
| NS | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 6 |