PMO Racing drivers Leonel Pernía and Rafael Suzuki won the TCR South America races at Velocittà in Brazil, with the weekend dominated by the Peugeot cars.
Race one
At the start, Pernía held the lead into the first corner, despite a challenge from the Honda of Rodrigo Baptista on the outside line.
W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis made a slow getaway due to a clutch issue, the Brazilian dropping to 14th.
Pernía soon started to break free, building an advantage of over a second on the first lap alone, as Baptista had to defend second from the Toyota of Matías Rossi.
It wasn’t long until Baptista made a mistake, going wide at Turn 7 and opening the door for Rossi and W2 Pro GP’s Galid Osman to get through into second and third respectively.
The race then had to be neutralised behind the safety car on lap five, after Fabián Yannantuoni crashed his Toyota into the barriers backwards at Turn 5.
After a couple of laps behind the safety car, racing continued on lap seven, and Pedro Cardoso, who had been fastest in qualifying but started from sixth after a grid penalty, immediately tried to get past Baptista, diving inside at Turn 9 only to receive contact from Baptista, sending the Peugeot into a slide and allowing Baptista to keep the place.
Baptista then had a late-race battle with Rafael Suzuki’s Peugeot, although the Honda driver managed to repass on the penultimate lap, before Suzuki dropped back a further five places on the final lap to take the chequered flag in tenth.
Pernía won the race in only his third start in the category, over three seconds clear of Rossi, with Osman completing the podium in his CUPRA.
Cardoso was fourth, after Baptista was given a post-race five-second penalty for the earlier contact, with that penalty also promoting Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso to fifth, leaving Baptista to take sixth.
Juan Manuel Casella was classified in seventh after his Squadra Martino team-mate, with Suzuki promoted to eighth following a post-race penalty for PMO Racing’s Marcos Regadas.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 44 |  |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 27:33.005 | 1:34.418 | 1 | |
| 2 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 16 | 3.251 | 1:34.626 | 3 | |
| 3 | 28 |  |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 3.960 | 1:34.756 | 4 | |
| 4 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 11.502 | 1:35.469 | 6 | |
| 5 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 16 | 13.164 | 1:35.784 | 7 | |
| 6 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 14.560 | 1:35.477 | 2 | |
| 7 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 18.306 | 1:36.141 | 9 | |
| 8 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 18.616 | 1:35.393 | 5 | |
| 9 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 24.192 | 1:35.004 | 8 | |
| 10 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 31.063 | 1:37.293 | 11 | |
| 11 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 32.459 | 1:37.225 | 12 | |
| 12 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 16 | 34.738 | 1:37.543 | 16 | |
| 13 | 73 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 16 | 37.368 | 1:37.750 | 14 | |
| 14 | 27 | |
Marcos REGADAS | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 43.288 | 1:35.575 | 10 | |
| 15 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 12 | + 4 LAPS | 1:35.915 | 13 | |
| R | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:37.389 | 15 |
Race two
Both front row men Regadas and Juan Manuel Casella made very poor starts, with Regadas stalling his Peugeot on the line. That allowed Suzuki and Rosso to leap into the top two positions, as Regadas dropped down to last and Casella slipped to third.
Reis then got inside Casella through the first corner, and Rossi went ride at the same time, allowing Reis to assume third, with the incident also allowing Baptista to slip into fourth.
Reis clearly had good pace in his CUPRA and dived inside Rosso’s Toyota for second on lap three, but by this stage Suzuki had extended an advantage of over two seconds at the front.
The race then calmed down for half a dozen laps, with Osman pressuring Baptista hard for fourth. On lap eight, he made a move at Turn 7, but locked his brakes and made contact with the Honda, dropping Baptista three places.
Baptista dropped back and ultimately retired two laps later. Osman went on to pass Rosso for third into the first corner seven laps later, but during the race was given a ten-second penalty for the incident with Osman.
Rosso just managed to hold on to what would become third, although the Paladini Racing driver was clearly a cork in the bottle, having fallen over 13 seconds away from the car in front, with Pernía in fourth only three tenths behind at the finish.
Pernía finished in fourth, the result moving him up to fourth overall in the drivers’ standings, ahead of Rossi in fifth.
Saturday’s fastest driver in qualifying, Cardoso, took sixth, ahead of Osman in seventh after his penalty was applied – despite the CUPRA driver being the second-fastest man on track late in the race, after Suzuki.
The top ten was completed by the recovering Regadas, Casella and Squadra Martino team-mate Enrique Maglione.
The results mean Rosso now holds the series lead with 130 points despite being yet to win a race in 2024, ahead of Cardoso (125) who is also yet to win a race, Reis (121) and Pernía (116).
The next round takes place at Interlagos, where the series joins with the FIA TCR World Tour on 19 – 21 July.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 32:22.455 | 1:35.608 | 3 | |
| 2 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 20 | 3.919 | 1:35.937 | 5 | |
| 3 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 17.494 | 1:36.302 | 4 | |
| 4 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 17.820 | 1:36.001 | 9 | |
| 5 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 20.815 | 1:35.961 | 7 | |
| 6 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 21.376 | 1:36.194 | 10 | |
| 7 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 20 | 24.234 | 1:35.862 | 6 | |
| 8 | 27 | |
Marcos REGADAS | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 20 | 27.124 | 1:35.786 | 1 | |
| 9 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 20 | 33.803 | 1:35.958 | 2 | |
| 10 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 41.724 | 1:37.113 | 13 | |
| 11 | 73 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 20 | 1:00.233 | 1:38.194 | 15 | |
| 12 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 20 | 1:01.283 | 1:38.332 | 11 | |
| 13 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | + 2 LAPS | 1:37.984 | 12 | |
| R | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 10 | DNF | 1:35.856 | 8 | |
| R | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:36.910 | 14 | |
| NS | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 16 |