Ignacio Montenegro sealed the TCR South America title at Cascavel in Brazil, with the Squadra Martino driver securing enough points with seventh and eighth, as Rafael Suzuki and Diego Nunes shared the race victories.
On Saturday, Montenegro’s team-mate Juan Manuel Casella had given the new Honda Civic a first pole position in the series, with points leader Montenegro in sixth prior to being handed an engine change penalty which meant the points leader would have to start race one at the back of the grid.
When the lights went out, Casella made a poor start, and fellow front-row starter Suzuki seized the lead, ahead of the Toyota of Bernardo Llaver, with Casella down in seventh before the first corner.
Llaver and Galid Osman traded paint through the opening turn, with the CUPRA of Osman prevailing in second a couple of corners later.
Montenegro, meanwhile, was up to 14th by the end of the opening tour, and gaining places to give him a points score to prevent Llaver – his only other title rival – from denying him the title.
Suzuki began to extend an advantage of two seconds at the front, with Osman and Llaver lacking the pace to challenge the PMO Motorsport Lynk & Co driver.
Little changed until lap 12, when Nunes had to pit from tenth due to a technical issue.
Casella, who had been pressing Fabián Yannantuoni hard for fifth for several laps, then crashed at Turn 1 on lap 15, prompting a safety car intervention with eight minutes to go.
When the green flags came back out, there was only time for two more racing laps, and Suzuki went on to claim his second win of the season ahead of Osman and Llaver.
Juan Ángel Rosso, having gained two places at the start, had a quiet run to fourth, ahead of Paladini Racing team-mate Yannantuoni in fifth.
Raphael Reis brought his CUPRA home in sixth, having been close to Casella before he crashed out, ahead of Montenegro in seventh, the Honda racer putting in a determined drive to gain ten places and limit the loss of points in his championship charge.
The top ten was completed by Fabio Casagrande, the leading Trophy driver, Pedro Cardoso and Guilherme Reischl.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 8 |  |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 21 | 26:38.731 | 1:06.412 | 2 | |
| 2 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 21 | 1.097 | 1:06.603 | 4 | |
| 3 | 17 |  |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 21 | 3.201 | 1:06.652 | 3 | |
| 4 | 2 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 21 | 3.472 | 1:06.891 | 6 | |
| 5 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 21 | 3.744 | 1:07.081 | 5 | |
| 6 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 21 | 4.364 | 1:06.799 | 11 | |
| 7 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 21 | 5.278 | 1:06.950 | 17 | |
| 8 | 34 | T | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 21 | 7.000 | 1:07.721 | 9 |
| 9 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 21 | 7.623 | 1:07.283 | 8 | |
| 10 | 37 | T | |
Guilherme REISCHL | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 8.425 | 1:08.068 | 10 |
| 11 | 21 | T | |
Marcio BASSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 9.079 | 1:07.793 | 13 |
| 12 | 15 | T |  |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 21 | 9.603 | 1:07.747 | 14 |
| 13 | 10 | T | |
Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 21 | 9.968 | 1:08.227 | 15 |
| 14 | 55 | T | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 21 | 13.471 | 1:08.852 | 16 |
| 15 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 21 | 21.660 | 1:07.239 | 12 | |
| R | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | DSQ | 1:06.995 | 1 | |
| R | 70 | |
Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 11 | DSQ | 1:06.833 | 7 |
Both the TCR South America title and the TCR Brazil accolade were still up for grabs in race two. Casagrande started from the reverse-grid pole, but the Honda driver made a particularly poor start, allowing seven or eight cars through.
Cardoso seized the lead from the front row, with Nunes following hot on his heels. But the Hyundai driver’s lead would be short-lived, as he slowed with a technical issue on the second lap and had to pit.
That left Nunes in the lead from Rosso, Yannatuoni and Llaver, with Montenegro running in sixth after Cardoso’s demise. With Llaver needing to score more than 27 points more than Montenegro to take the title, it was looking unlikely the Toyota driver would be able to overturn the advantage.
Ultimately, it was not a thrilling race, with no further overtaking at the front of the field. Nunes went on to claim his maiden win in the series, with the Paladini Toyotas of Rosso and Yannantuoni completing the podium.
Llaver was fourth, ahead of the W2 Pro GP CUPRAs of Osman and Reis in fifth and sixth respectively.
Reis had gained seventh from Suzuki on lap 19, and a lap later both passed Montenegro, with Suzuki taking the finish in seventh.
Knowing it was enough for the title, Montenegro finished the race in eighth, with the top ten completed by the Toyota of José Manuel Sapag and Marcio Basso’s Peugeot.
Following his crash in the opening race, the damage to Casella’s Honda was too significant for him to take part in race two.
Montenegro ultimately won the TCR South America title with 468 points, 16 ahead of Llaver, whilst Reis was third overall on 392 points.
Osman prevailed in the overall TCR Brazil championship with 262 points, ahead of Montenegro (261) and Reis (259).
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 70 | |
Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 28 | 31:44.870 | 1:07.334 | 3 | |
| 2 | 2 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 28 | 2.757 | 1:07.400 | 4 | |
| 3 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 28 | 5.564 | 1:07.564 | 6 | |
| 4 | 17 | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 28 | 6.109 | 1:07.649 | 8 | |
| 5 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 28 | 8.083 | 1:07.724 | 7 | |
| 6 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 28 | 8.978 | 1:07.739 | 12 | |
| 7 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 28 | 9.422 | 1:07.699 | 9 | |
| 8 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 28 | 18.506 | 1:07.665 | 5 | |
| 9 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 28 | 26.956 | 1:08.089 | 13 | |
| 10 | 21 | T | |
Marcio BASSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 28 | 27.760 | 1:07.822 | 14 |
| 11 | 15 | T | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 28 | 28.801 | 1:08.020 | 15 |
| 12 | 34 | T | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 28 | 43.269 | 1:08.713 | 1 |
| 13 | 55 | T | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 28 | 59.512 | 1:09.352 | 17 |
| 14 | 37 | T | |
Guilherme REISCHL | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 27 | + 1 LAP | 1:10.136 | 11 |
| 15 | 10 | T | |
Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 25 | + 3 LAPS | 1:08.683 | 16 |
| R | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1 | DNF | 1:10.913 | 2 | |
| NS | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 10 |