Reis and Barrio dominate Termas de Río Hondo endurance race

W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis and Jorge Barrio claimed a commanding victory in the TCR South America endurance race at Termas de Río Hondo, moving Reis up to third in the championship standings.

Having qualified their CUPRA on pole on Saturday, Reis and Barrio were never headed on Sunday. Barrio took to the wheel for the opening stint and quickly opened up a comfortable lead, allowing the team to pit and make its mandatory driver swap without losing the lead.

PMO Racing’s Facundo Marques and Damián Fineschi had qualified alongside on the front row, but had no answer to the leading CUPRAs pace, and took the chequered flag in second, just under seven seconds adrift at the conclusion of the hour-long race.

Gaston Iansa drove the first stint in the Team Toyota Argentina Toyota Corolla, moving up to second past Marques in the early stages, before switching to Bernardo Llaver, who brought the car home to complete the podium after losing second to Fineschi during the pit stop phase at the mid-point.

Juan Manuel Casella and Matías Milla were the leading Squadra Martino Honda pairing, finishing in fourth after gaining four places, three of them in the opening half of the race.

They got the jump on PMO Motorsport’s Rafael Suzuki and Matías Signorelli, moving into fourth when the race entered into the pitstop phase.

The biggest mover in the entire field was the CUPRA of Galid Osman and Felipe Lapenna – the duo moved up 13 places in the race, with Osman, who drove the opening stint, getting as high as tenth before handing over to Lapenna.

Ignacio Montenegro and Lucas Colombo Russell finished in seventh, but after starting in sixth a boisterous opening lap for the Squadra Martino driver saw him drop to 12^th, from where he had to fight back before handing over to Colombo Russell for the second half of the race.

Juan Pablo Bessone and Ever Franetovich brought their PMO Racing Peugeot home in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by the Scuderia Chiarelli Hyundai of Pedro Cardoso / Mathias de Valle and the Squadra Martino Honda of Uruguayan duo Enrique Maglione / Rodrigo Aramendia.

José Manuel Sapag retired from the race when his suspension broke at the final corner after just six laps, sending his Toyota spearing into the gravel and meaning Marcelo Ciarrocchi never got a turn behind the wheel.

Leandro Rama retired his Lynk & Co to the pits after just five laps, meaning PMO Motorsport Team Principal Pablo Otero didn’t get any mileage in the race either.

Reigning champion Fabricio Pezzini finished down in 19^th – Fabián Yannantuoni drove the early stint, and was running as high as sixth, but after switching to Pezzini the Toyota coasted out of the pits, losing time before Pezzini got it going again, ultimately finishing a lap down after the technical troubles.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GD
1	77			Raphael REIS		Jorge BARRIO	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	32	1:01:27.652	1
2	88			Damián FINESCHI		Facundo MARQUES	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	32	6.911	2
3	17			Bernardo LLAVER		Gaston IANSA	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	32	19.826	3
4	60			Juan Manuel CASELLA		Matías MILLA	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	32	21.182	8
5	8			Rafael SUZUKI		Matías SIGNORELLI	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	32	30.151	4
6	28			Galid OSMAN		Felipe LAPENNA	W2 Pro GP	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	32	32.662	19
7	23			Ignacio MONTENEGRO		Lucas COLOMBO RUSSELL	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	32	33.821	6
8	7			Juan Pablo BESSONE		Ever FRANETOVICH	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	32	39.687	11
9	43			Pedro CARDOSO		Mathias DE VALLE	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	32	45.321	13
10	15			Enrique MAGLIONE		Rodrigo ARAMENDIA	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	32	56.411	9
11	10			Adalberto BAPTISTA		Rodrigo BAPTISTA	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	32	59.413	15
12	87			Franco FARINA		Michell BONNIN	Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	32	1:06.138	18
13	69			Gonzalo ALTERIO		Carlos Javier MERLO	Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	32	1:32.443	21
14	24			Frederick BALBI		Matías RUSSO	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	32	1:42.889	5
15	34			Fabio CASAGRANDE		Franco COSCIA	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	32	1:47.163	17
16	55			Diego GUTIERREZ		Gustavo FERNIGRINI	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	32	1:51.661	22
17	70			Diego NUNES		Pedro NUNES	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	31	+ 1 LAP	14
18	37			Guilherme REISCHL		Ernesto BESSONE	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	31	+ 1 LAP	20
19	5			Fabián YANNANTUONI		Fabricio PEZZINI	Paladini Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	31	+ 1 LAP	10
20	2			Juan Ángel ROSSO		Luciano FARRONI	Paladini Racing	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	26	+ 6 LAPS	12
R	33			José Manuel SAPAG		Marcelo CIARROCCHI	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota Corolla GRS TCR	6	DNF	7
R	20			Pablo OTERO		Leandro RAMA	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	5	DNF	16