Pedro Cardoso became the first Brazilian champion of TCR South America after a pole, victory and fourth in an eventful weekend of racing in Argentina.
Having closed in on erstwhile points leader Juan Manuel Casella in Saturday’s qualifying session by clinching pole, Cardoso then went on to take the series lead with a decisive victory in the opening race of the day on Sunday.
Race one
Cardoso held firm to take a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Toyota’s Matías Rossi, with PMO Racing team-mate Leonel Pernía completing the podium.
The safety car had to be called after the first lap of racing when Fabián Yannantuoni and Damián Fineschi made contact, resulting in Yannantuoni spinning out with a broken rear wheel on his Toyota.
Cardoso controlled the restart and saw off the challenge from Rossi, who bagged his fifth podium of the year 3.6 seconds behind.
W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis was fourth, ahead of the sole finishing Paladini Racing car of Juan Ángel Rosso in fifth.
Casella followed Fineschi home in seventh, the Squadra Martino driver seemingly lacking the pace to make progress in the field and prevent Cardoso from gaining the upper hand in the title showdown.
Series returnee Fabricio Pezzini was the only other non-finisher in the race, retiring at mid-distance with a rear puncture.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 43 |  |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 28:12.719 | 1:40.012 | 1 | |
| 2 | 17 |  |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 16 | 3.608 | 1:40.037 | 2 | |
| 3 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 4.151 | 1:40.244 | 3 | |
| 4 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 11.134 | 1:40.624 | 4 | |
| 5 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 16 | 14.612 | 1:40.835 | 7 | |
| 6 | 36 | |
Damián FINESCHI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 22.120 | 1:40.881 | 13 | |
| 7 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 23.417 | 1:40.919 | 8 | |
| 8 | 38 | |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 23.885 | 1:40.833 | 5 | |
| 9 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 24.492 | 1:40.717 | 6 | |
| 10 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 25.066 | 1:41.046 | 9 | |
| 11 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 16 | 25.384 | 1:41.570 | 14 | |
| 12 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 32.779 | 1:41.577 | 12 | |
| R | 13 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | DNF | 10 | ||
| R | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 |
Race two
The reverse-grid race got underway with Cardoso only needing to finish sixth to take the title, although Casella had the upper hand in terms of grid positions, starting from second.
The race got underway in the dry with rain looming and the field on slick tyres, but by the second lap the heavy rain had arrived and soon became torrential, resulting in drivers aquaplaning and falling off the circuit in quick succession.
Galid Osman had led the field away in the dry, but Pernía came out in the lead on the very wet third lap as Rosso and Osman touched, before the safety car was called as the cars limped to the pits to change to wet rubber.
Casella, meanwhile, had suffered from a poor opening lap, dropping two places at the start and then losing another place further around to end the opening lap in fifth.
Cardoso, likewise, also struggled early on in the second race, and by the second lap was running in a quartet of cars trying not to be last, along with Yannantuoni.
For the latter, being far back meant he was within reach of the pits as the heavy rain began, and Yannatuoni was one of the first to pit for wets, subsequently emerging in the lead when the racing got back underway on lap seven, after Fineschi had completed an extra lap to lead under the safety car due to limited capacity in the PMO pit to change all three of its cars at once.
Enrique Maglione and Fabricio Pezzini didn’t make the restart, though, as the duo had collided before pitting in the wet, with damage to the front-right corner of Pezzini’s CUPRA.
Racing resumed on a thoroughly wet circuit with Yannantuoni leading team-mate Rosso, but it was fourth-placed Rossi who was the one to watch, as he boldly took third from Casella at the fast Turn 1.
Casella’s title aspirations evaporated further as he dropped like a stone to eighth on the restart lap, with Cardoso crucially also getting by, now up to fifth.
Rossi, meanwhile, was now all over the back of Rosso for second on lap eight, which he took when Rosso fell off the circuit at Turn 3 and had to skip through the gravel, dropping to fourth.
Rossi then cut Yannantuoni’s 2.4 second lead within two laps, passing at the end of lap eleven to take the lead.
By the chequered flag, Rossi had built a lead of over six seconds ahead of Yannantuoni to claim his third win of the season, but Yannantuoni held on to second ahead of Osman.
Cardoso clinched the title by finishing in fourth, ahead of team-mate Pernía in fifth and Rosso, who had dropped to sixth.
By this stage, Cardoso was champion anyway, as Casella lost the right-rear wheel on his Honda on lap 11 and retired from the race.
Cardoso thus clinched the title with 466 points ahead of Casella (428) and Reis (428).
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 32:50.253 | 1:42.251 | 9 | |
| 2 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 6.672 | 1:55.904 | 12 | |
| 3 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 7.434 | 1:42.068 | 7 | |
| 4 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 9.919 | 1:43.424 | 10 | |
| 5 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 12.789 | 1:41.413 | 8 | |
| 6 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 13.451 | 1:41.474 | 3 | |
| 7 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 24.105 | 1:44.355 | 14 | |
| 8 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 29.546 | 1:42.557 | 5 | |
| 9 | 38 | |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 29.948 | 1:41.928 | 6 | |
| 10 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 33.815 | 1:41.652 | 1 | |
| 11 | 36 | |
Damián FINESCHI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | + 3 LAPS | 1:42.354 | 4 | |
| 12 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | + 4 LAPS | 1:42.351 | 2 | |
| R | 13 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 2 | DNF | N/A | 11 | |
| R | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 2 | DNF | N/A | 13 |