Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia was the quickest driver in the second TCR World Tour / TCR south America practice session at El Pinar in Uruguay, edging out team-mate Thed Björk by a tenth of a second.
It had been Björk who was fastest at the half-way stage of the half-hour session, but in the end it was Urrutia who topped the times, the Uruguayan having been second quickest earlier in the day in free practice one. Urrutia’s top time came despite him completing fewer laps than his team-mates, as Cyan Racing had to work on an engine issue to begin with.
Ma Qing Hua made it a Lynk & Co 1-2-3 at the top of the times in third, the Chinese racer a mere 0.009 seconds slower than Björk.
Squadra Martino’s Néstor Girolami was the best of the rest in fourth, putting his Honda just under half a second shy of the best time, ahead of the leading Comtoyou Racing Audi of Frédéric Vervisch in fifth.
TCR World Tour points leader Yann Ehrlacher was sixth, ahead of the BRC Racing Hyundai duo of first practice pace-setter Mikel Azcona and Norbert Michelisz in seventh and eighth respectively.
PMO Motorsport’s Rafael Suzuki was the leading TCR South America racer in ninth, nine tenths of a second off the pace in his older-spec Lynk & Co car.
Comtoyou’s Rob Huff completed the top ten as the slowest of the TCR World Tour regulars, the only other driver within a second of the pace.
Squadra Martino’s Juan Manuel Casella had been the top TCR South America driver in first practice, but the Uruguayan had to settle for second in class with 11th this time around. He was directly ahead of team-mate and compatriot Enrique Maglione in 12th.
Series newcomer Esteban Guerrieri was an impressive 13th in one of his only on-track sessions in the new Bratton Tito Bessone Team Toyota Corolla. In fact, Guerrieri was the leading Toyota driver, out of seven drivers racing the Argentine-developed cars.
Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 16:10 local time (20:10 BST, 21:10 CEST) and will see the field split into two groups, with the top six from each progressing into Q2.
Session results
POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
1 | 112 | Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:20.410 | – | |
2 | 111 | Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 1:20.518 | 0.108 | |
3 | 155 | MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 1:20.527 | 0.117 | |
4 | 129 | Néstor GIROLAMI | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:20.906 | 0.496 | |
5 | 122 | Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 1:20.913 | 0.503 | |
6 | 168 | Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 15 | 1:20.924 | 0.514 | |
7 | 196 | Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 1:21.092 | 0.682 | |
8 | 105 | Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 1:21.159 | 0.749 | |
9 | 8 | Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 1:21.332 | 0.922 | |
10 | 179 | Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 1:21.338 | 0.928 | |
11 | 60 | Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 1:21.662 | 1.252 | |
12 | 15 | Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 1:21.718 | 1.308 | |
13 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | Bratton Tito Bessone Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 11 | 1:21.757 | 1.347 | |
14 | 23 | Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 1:21.891 | 1.481 | |
15 | 28 | Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 16 | 1:21.914 | 1.504 | |
16 | 17 | Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 1:22.020 | 1.610 | |
17 | 77 | Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 17 | 1:22.031 | 1.621 | |
18 | 2 | Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 13 | 1:22.036 | 1.626 | |
19 | 43 | Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 1:22.270 | 1.860 | |
20 | 36 | Damián FINESCHI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:22.315 | 1.905 | |
21 | 24 | Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 1:22.713 | 2.303 | |
22 | 33 | José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 12 | 1:22.746 | 2.336 | |
23 | 70 | Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 6 | 1:23.054 | 2.644 | |
24 | 34 | Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 1:23.537 | 3.127 | |
25 | 13 | Carlos SILVA | Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 16 | 1:23.807 | 3.397 | |
26 | 35 | Gonzalo REILLY | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | 1:24.137 | 3.727 | |
27 | 10 | Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 15 | 1:25.062 | 4.652 | |
28 | 90 | Michell BONNIN | Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | 1:25.598 | 5.188 | |
29 | 5 | Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:25.641 | 5.231 | |
30 | 1 | Fabricio PEZZINI | Paladini Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |