W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis comfortably claimed the opening pole position of the TCR South America season at the Autódromo Oscar Cabalén in Córdoba, topping both parts of the session by over half a second.
Reis, who finished third overall in the championship in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, put his CUPRA 0.636 seconds clear of second-placed Ignacio Montenegro, who was the leading Honda driver in his Squadra Martino Civic.
Reis’ new Brazilian team-mate, Galid Osman, had been second qucikest in the opening part of the session, but in Q2 he ultimately dropped to third, over eight tenths of a second behind Reis.
Bernardo Llaver was the leading Toyota driver in fourth, the Argentine over a second off the pace in Q2, ahead of old TC2000 rival Fabián Yannantuoni in fifth, who put his Paladini Racing Toyota just 0.011 seconds behind Llaver’s Toyota Team Argentina Corolla.
PMO Motorsport duo Fabricio Pezzini and Rafael Suzuki put their Lynk & Co 03s in sixth and seventh respectively, with reigning champion Pezzini having been within a second of the pace in fifth in Q1, but ultimately dropping to over a second adrift in Q2.
2022 runner-up Juan Ángel Rosso put his Paladini Toyota in eighth, with the top ten being completed by PMO Motorsport’s Walter Hernández and Squadra Martino’s Fabio Casagrande, the latter being the best of the ‘Trophy’ drivers.
Casagrande will also start from pole position for race two, having qualified in tenth to secure the top starting place for the partially reverse-grid race.
Uruguayans Frederick Balbi and Juan Manuel Casella qualified in 11th and 12th respectively, the PMO Motorsport and Squadra Martino drivers over two seconds off the Q2 pace.
In Q1, a series of TCR rookies failed to progress – Brazilian former Stock Car Pro driver Pedro Cardoso was 13th, whilst compatriot and rival in the Brazilian series Diego Nunes put the field’s sole Audi in 15th.
José Manuel Sapag, now with two seasons of TCR South America experience, was down in 14th in the second-slowest of the five Toyotas in the field.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 09:10 local time (13:10 BST, 14:10 CEST), followed by race two at 12:55 local time (16:55 BST, 17:55 CEST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 77 |  |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 3 | 1:33.400 | – |
| 2 | 23 |  |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:34.036 | 0.636 |
| 3 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 5 | 1:34.273 | 0.873 |
| 4 | 17 | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:34.565 | 1.165 |
| 5 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:34.576 | 1.176 |
| 6 | 1 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 1:34.669 | 1.269 |
| 7 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 1:34.726 | 1.326 |
| 8 | 2 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:34.863 | 1.463 |
| 9 | 27 | |
Walter HERNÁNDEZ | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:35.140 | 1.74 |
| 10 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:35.276 | 1.876 |
| 11 | 24 |  |
Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 1:35.725 | 2.325 |
| 12 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:35.839 | 2.439 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 7 | 1:33.900 | – |
| 2 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 6 | 1:34.449 | 0.549 |
| 3 | 17 | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 6 | 1:34.686 | 0.786 |
| 4 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 1:34.728 | 0.828 |
| 5 | 1 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:34.814 | 0.914 |
| 6 | 2 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:35.039 | 1.139 |
| 7 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:35.098 | 1.198 |
| 8 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:35.117 | 1.217 |
| 9 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:35.142 | 1.242 |
| 10 | 27 | |
Walter HERNÁNDEZ | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:35.224 | 1.324 |
| 11 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:35.536 | 1.636 |
| 12 | 24 | |
Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 1:35.593 | 1.693 |
| 13 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:35.637 | 1.737 |
| 14 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:35.643 | 1.743 |
| 15 | 70 | |
Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:35.948 | 2.048 |
| 16 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:36.095 | 2.195 |
| 17 | 69 | |
Gonzalo ALTERIO | Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 4 | 1:36.827 | 2.927 |
| 18 | 20 | |
Pablo OTERO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | 1:36.846 | 2.946 |
| 19 | 10 | |
Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 9 | 1:37.759 | 3.859 |
| 20 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 1:38.217 | 4.317 |
| 21 | 55 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:39.340 | 5.440 |
| 22 | 7 | |
Juan Pablo BESSONE | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |