Home hero Santiago Urrutia scored a lights-to-flag win in the opening TCR World Tour and TCR South America race at El Pinar in Uruguay, with Cyan Racing team-mate Thed Björk in second.
At the start Urrutia and Björk made good starts to assume the leading positions, as Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch jumped his Audi ahead of the Hyundai of BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz.
Heading into the final corner hairpin on the opening lap, Néstor Girolami made a late-breaking move for second on Björk, giving the Squadra Martino driver second for a brief period.
However, onto the next lap the Argentine found himself getting out of position and losing out to both Björk and Vervisch, as the slipped to fourth.
Those scuffles allowed Urrutia to break free, although in the final part of the race his advantage was down to half a second, as Vervisch came under pressure for the final podium place.
In the end, there were no further changes, as Urrutia scored a second win of the season, whilst Björk and Vervisch both bagged their fourth visits to the rostrum of the year.
Girolami brought his Honda home in fourth, ahead of Michelisz in fifth and Cyan’s Yann Ehrlacher in sixth, resulting in the latter’s championship lead being cut in half to eight points.
Ehrlacher had dropped behind the leading TCR South America entry of Juan Manuel Casella at the start, but after nine minutes of following the Honda he found a way through with a late move at the final hairpin.
Comtoyou’s Rob Huff and BRC’s Mikel Azcona both then made short work of following past Casella, taking the chequered flag in seventh and eighth respectively.
Ma Qing Hua was down to 12th at the start but fought back to ninth by the end, whilst Ignacio Montenegro completed the top ten and secured the ‘class victory’ for the full-season TCR South America regulars as a result.
There was a bigger blow to W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis, who not only saw his main title rival take top points, but the Brazilian retired from the race after four laps with smoke coming from his CUPRA. It means Montenegro’s series lead is now 65 points.
Enrique Maglione also retired his Squadra Martino Honda after four laps with front-end damage.
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 112 | WT |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 20 | 27:29.487 | 1:20.774 | 1 |
| 2 | 111 | WT |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 20 | 0.479 | 1:21.498 | 2 |
| 3 | 122 | WT |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 20 | 3.131 | 1:21.441 | 5 |
| 4 | 129 | WT |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 20 | 3.544 | 1:21.056 | 3 |
| 5 | 105 | WT |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 20 | 4.184 | 1:21.040 | 4 |
| 6 | 168 | WT |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 20 | 5.633 | 1:21.244 | 9 |
| 7 | 179 | WT |  |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 20 | 14.938 | 1:21.560 | 6 |
| 8 | 196 | WT |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 20 | 16.420 | 1:21.246 | 8 |
| 9 | 155 | WT |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 20 | 20.037 | 1:21.539 | 10 |
| 10 | 23 | SA | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 21.409 | 1:21.711 | 11 |
| 11 | 60 | SA | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 22.408 | 1:22.039 | 7 |
| 12 | 86 | SA | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | Bratton Tito Bessone Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 23.985 | 1:21.900 | 12 |
| 13 | 2 | SA | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 24.004 | 1:22.090 | 13 |
| 14 | 17 | SA | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 25.995 | 1:22.075 | 18 |
| 15 | 8 | SA |  |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 20 | 29.452 | 1:22.102 | 15 |
| 16 | 28 | SA | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 20 | 34.223 | 1:22.231 | 14 |
| 17 | 24 | SA | |
Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 20 | 35.108 | 1:22.362 | 16 |
| 18 | 43 | SA | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 20 | 41.317 | 1:22.846 | 20 |
| 19 | 33 | SA | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 48.163 | 1:23.371 | 26 |
| 20 | 70 | SA | |
Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 48.534 | 1:23.482 | 21 |
| 21 | 1 | SA | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | Paladini Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 20 | 1:01.778 | 1:23.231 | 24 |
| 22 | 35 | SA | |
Gonzalo REILLY | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 1:02.672 | 1:23.259 | 28 |
| 23 | 10 | T | |
Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 19 | + 1 LAP | 1:26.255 | 25 |
| 24 | 34 | T | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | + 2 LAPS | 1:24.941 | 27 |
| R | 5 | SA | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 13 | DNF | 1:22.940 | 19 |
| R | 15 | T | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:25.162 | 22 |
| R | 77 | SA | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:26.556 | 17 |
| R | 13 | T | |
Carlos SILVA | Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 1 | DNF | 1:51.405 | 23 |
| NS | 90 | SA | |
Michell BONNIN | Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |
| NS | 36 | SA | |
Damián FINESCHI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |