W2 Pro GP’s Galid Osman claimed a masterful victory in the opening TCR South America race of the weekend in Buenos Aires, winning by just over a second from Squadra Martino’s Matías Cravero.
Osman, who is on triple duty this weekend as he is also racing in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro series and the Argentine TC2000 series at the circuit, had earlier qualified his CUPRA in ninth for Sunday’s race, which for the Saturday reverse-grid race gave him second alongside PMO Racing’s Marcos Regadas.
At the start, Regadas Peugeot was passed by both Osman’s CUPRA and Juan Ángel Rosso’s Toyota, with Osman assuming the lead.
Further back, Toyota’s Matías Rossi had to start the race from the pitlane due to an issue on the warmup lap.
Going through the first corner, Osman’s W2 team-mate Raphael Reis was tagged by PMO’s Leonel Pernía, spearing the CUPRA off onto the grass and dropping him to the back of the pack.
Pernía was himself hit by Fabio Casagrande under braking for Turn 2 a lap later, thrusting the Argentine further down into the midfield pack in 11th.
Cravero got up into second past rosso on lap seven, but ultimately didn’t have the pace to get close to Osman for a true challenge for the lead, and Osman went on to score his first win of the season ahead of the Honda racer.
Rosso completed the podium, a distant 13 seconds further back, whilst Juan Manuel Casella also got by Regadas on lap five.
Pedro Cardoso was sixth after a strong fightback drive in his Peugeot. The Brazilian had started from the back following a grid penalty for an engine change, combined with a penalty carried forward from the previous event.
By the end of the opening lap the series leader was battling on the fringes of the top ten, and he made steady progress in the closing laps of the race to secure a creditable fifth.
That was helped by other incident, including the demise of José María López. The triple World Champion had struggled with transmission issues in qualifying but had battled his way up to sixth, before he went wide on lap eight at Turn 2 and dropped to 12th.
Then, three laps from the finish, he came together with Reis, resulting in a non-finish for both drivers, as Reis limped back to the pits with broken steering.
Regadas thus took sixth, with Pernía recovering to seventh and Rafael Suzuki completing a quartet of PMO Peugeot drivers in eighth.
Mexican newcomer Jake Cosío was ninth, with the top ten completed by W2 Pro GP’s Marcio Basso.
Cardoso’s recovery driver ensures he continues to lead the standings with 355 points, ahead of Reis (324), Casella (319), Rosso (313) and Rossi (266) etc.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 10:39 local time (14:39 BST, 15:39 CEST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 28 |  |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 24 | 31:48.878 | 1:19.207 | 2 | |
| 2 | 38 |  |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 1.029 | 1:18.962 | 9 | |
| 3 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 14.582 | 1:19.794 | 4 | |
| 4 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 24 | 15.958 | 1:19.491 | 7 | |
| 5 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 16.010 | 1:19.550 | 17 | |
| 6 | 27 | |
Marcos REGADAS | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 16.622 | 1:19.835 | 1 | |
| 7 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 17.552 | 1:19.541 | 8 | |
| 8 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 24 | 33.878 | 1:19.469 | 3 | |
| 9 | 51 |  |
Jake COSÍO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 24 | 34.370 | 1:20.045 | 12 | |
| 10 | 2 | |
Marcio BASSO | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 24 | 1:13.389 | 1:21.311 | 15 | |
| 11 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:19.328 | 6 | |
| 12 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:22.032 | 10 | |
| 13 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:20.608 | 16 | |
| 14 | 73 | |
Diego GUTIERREZ | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 23 | + 1 LAP | 1:21.260 | 14 | |
| 15 | 42 | |
José María LÓPEZ | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 21 | + 3 LAPS | 1:19.753 | 13 | |
| 16 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 21 | + 3 LAPS | 1:18.969 | 5 | |
| 17 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 18 | + 6 LAPS | 1:20.064 | 11 | |
| R | 47 | |
Norberto FONTANA | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 9 | DNF | 1:19.926 | 18 |