Squadra Martino’s Rodrigo Baptista took pole position on his return to the TCR South America series at Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina, as Raphael Reis was the leading title contender in second.
In a close qualifying session which saw the top seven covered by less than half a second, it was Brazilian Baptista who came out on top, having earlier also beaten Reis to the top time in the second practice session.
But it was Reis who had been quickest in Q1, the W2 Pro GP CUPRA driver posting a time of 1 minute 49.285 seconds in the first part of qualifying.
However, when Reis was unable to beat his time in hot conditions in Q2, it was his compatriot Baptista who went quickest with a lap of 1:49.171, 0.133 seconds quicker than Reis.
The majority of drivers elected not to put in many laps in Q2 due to cooling issues and to preserve their cars, resulting in the session having a feel of a qualifying ‘shootout’.
Juan Manuel Casella, second in the standings, put his newer Honda Civic FL5 in third, three tenths off his team-mate to close the points gap to leader Pedro Cardoso by a further five points, with Toyota’s Matías Rossi in fourth.
PMO Racing’s Rafael Suzuki was the leading Peugeot in fifth, ahead of team-mate Leonel Pernía in sixth.
Pernía’s son Tiago Pernía was seventh, making his TCR début this weekend with Squadra Martino in a Honda Civic FK7. The Argentine was the last driver within the half a second margin from pole.
Points leader Cardoso was only eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by W2’s Galid Osman and Paladini Racing’s Fabián Yannantuoni, the latter returning after missing the previous event.
Yannantuoni thus secured the reverse-grid pole for Sunday’s second race and will have Osman alongside him on the front row for that race.
Squadra Martino’s Matías Cravero was 11th, whilst the other Paladini Toyota of Juan Ángel Rosso was only 12th in his joint worst qualifying performance of the year.
With the field reduced to 15 cars this weekend, only three drivers were eliminated in Q1. Newcomer Bautista Damiani was 13th in his W2 CUPRA Leon Competición, with the field completed by Thiago Vivacqua’s Toyota and Enrique Maglione’s Honda. The latter, who is the sole Trophy driver this weekend, had an engine issue which means he will have a change of engine ahead of Sunday’s races, whilst Vivacqua will also undergo an engine change in his car.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 09:45 local time (12:45 GMT, 13:45 CET) on Sunday, followed by race two at 12:40 local time (15:40 GMT, 16:40 CET).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 3 |  |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:49.171 | – |
| 2 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 2 | 1:49.304 | 0.133 |
| 3 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | 1:49.480 | 0.309 |
| 4 | 17 |  |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:49.560 | 0.389 |
| 5 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:49.570 | 0.399 |
| 6 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:49.573 | 0.402 |
| 7 | 85 | |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:49.632 | 0.461 |
| 8 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:49.772 | 0.601 |
| 9 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 1 | 1:50.144 | 0.973 |
| 10 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:50.284 | 1.113 |
| 11 | 38 | |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:50.309 | 1.138 |
| 12 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:50.511 | 1.340 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 6 | 1:49.285 | – |
| 2 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 4 | 1:49.367 | 0.082 |
| 3 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 4 | 1:49.371 | 0.086 |
| 4 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:49.486 | 0.201 |
| 5 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:49.498 | 0.213 |
| 6 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 1:49.568 | 0.283 |
| 7 | 85 | |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:49.636 | 0.351 |
| 8 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 5 | 1:49.765 | 0.480 |
| 9 | 38 | |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:49.887 | 0.602 |
| 10 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 1:49.917 | 0.632 |
| 11 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 5 | 1:50.127 | 0.842 |
| 12 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 5 | 1:50.197 | 0.912 |
| 13 | 99 | |
Bautista DAMIANI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 4 | 1:50.218 | 0.933 |
| 14 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 5 | 1:50.395 | 1.110 |
| 15 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 1 | 2:12.412 | 23.127 |