Leonel Pernía continued PMO Racing’s winning run in the TCR South America series, taking victory in race two at Mercedes in Uruguay ahead of Squadra Martino’s Juan Manuel Casella.
Pedro Cardoso’s championship challenge was handed a boost even before the start with the news that title rival Juan Ángel Rosso would be unable to take the start due to the engine fire he suffered in race one.
It was Paladini Racing’s Diego Noceti who started the reverse-grid race from pole, but Pernía dispatched the Toyota racer at the start and led all laps of the race for his second win in the category.
Squadra Martino’s Rodrigo Baptista had held second for part of the first lap, but Casella reclaimed the place. Baptista ran in third until lap 13 when he ran wide and dropped to fifth, before then picking up a puncture and being forced to pit.
Cardoso, meanwhile, gained two places from eighth on the grid on the opening lap, and on lap five he followed Galid Osman past Fabián Yannantuoni for fifth.
When Osman almost hit Casella on lap 13, Cardoso was there to pounce and gained two places when Baptista dropped back, leaving him in third where he stayed to the chequered flag.
Osman brought his CUPRA home in fourth, ahead of Yannantuoni as the leading Toyota in fifth.
Race one winner Raphael Reis was sixth, moving him up to second in the standings as Carodso’s nearest challenger, albeit 34 points back.
Noceti came seventh, having dropped to seventh on the opening lap, before being hit by Norberto Fontana three laps later and dropping to 12th before staging a late-race recovery.
Toyota’s Matías Rossi was eighth, Squadra Martino’s Fabio Casagrande was ninth and W2 Pro GP’s Guilherme Reischl was tenth.
Having missed race one with engine issues, Rafael Suzuki did take the start this time and was 11th.
Aside from the non-starters, Fontana was the only driver to fail to make it to the end after pitting with issues on lap 19.
The next round takes place at San Juan Vilicum in Argentina on 13 – 15 September.
Race result
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 44 | Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 32:09.513 | 1:19.573 | 2 | ||
2 | 60 | Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 24 | 6.775 | 1:19.751 | 3 | ||
3 | 43 | Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 7.035 | 1:19.663 | 8 | ||
4 | 28 | Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 24 | 7.337 | 1:19.435 | 5 | ||
5 | 5 | Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 16.776 | 1:20.354 | 6 | ||
6 | 77 | Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 24 | 17.179 | 1:19.727 | 9 | ||
7 | 61 | Diego NOCETI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 30.371 | 1:20.495 | 1 | ||
8 | 17 | Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 37.244 | 1:20.332 | 10 | ||
9 | 34 | Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 38.815 | 1:20.884 | 12 | ||
10 | 37 | Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 24 | 47.172 | 1:21.270 | 14 | ||
11 | 8 | Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 48.215 | 1:20.230 | 15 | ||
12 | 3 | Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:19.714 | 4 | ||
13 | 15 | Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:20.351 | 13 | ||
14 | 47 | Norberto FONTANA | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | + 6 LAPS | 1:19.924 | 7 | ||
NS | 16 | Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 11 | ||
NS | 7 | Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |