PMO Racing’s Pedro Cardoso secured a crucial pole position in qualifying for the TCR South America finale at Rosario, bagging an additional ten points which closes him to within three points of the series lead.
Cardoso had left the previous round at Termas de Río Hondo as the points leader, but days after the event he and team-mate Leonel Pernía were excluded from the result of the second race, after a protest by W2 Pro GP about the Peugeot cars not being in conformance with the TCR launch control requirements.
The result was Cardoso lost his third-place finish, and fell to 13 points behind new leader Juan Manuel Casella.
The Brazilian then made big inroads into Casella’s points lead before a race had even taken place in the season finale, gaining an extra ten points for pole as the Squadra Martino driver could only manage ninth in qualifying – and no bonus points.
Cardoso had topped both parts of qualifying, ultimately going quickest with a lap of 1 minute 38.814 seconds, a tenth ahead of Toyota’s Matías Rossi.
Pernía was third, just under four tenths back, with Reis fourth for Sunday’s opening race.
Matías Cravero was the best of the Squadra Martino cars, putting his Civic FK7 in fifth, ahead of team-mate Rodrigo Baptista in sixth.
Damián Fineschi returns to the series for the first time this year with PMO Racing and qualified in seventh, ahead of Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Casella’s Civic FL5 and the leading CUPRA of Galid Osman.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 09:13 local time on Sunday (12:13 GMT, 13:13 CET).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 43 |  |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:38.814 | – |
| 2 | 17 |  |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:38.925 | 0.111 |
| 3 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2 | 1:39.200 | 0.386 |
| 4 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 3 | 1:39.358 | 0.544 |
| 5 | 38 | |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:39.505 | 0.691 |
| 6 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 2 | 1:39.508 | 0.694 |
| 7 | 36 | |
Damián FINESCHI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:39.528 | 0.714 |
| 8 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 2 | 1:39.608 | 0.794 |
| 9 | 60 |  |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | 1:39.783 | 0.969 |
| 10 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 2 | 1:39.786 | 0.972 |
| 11 | 13 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 3 | 1:39.872 | 1.058 |
| 12 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:40.447 | 1.633 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 1:39.167 | – |
| 2 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 2 | 1:39.452 | 0.285 |
| 3 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 1:39.456 | 0.289 |
| 4 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 5 | 1:39.528 | 0.361 |
| 5 | 38 | |
Matías CRAVERO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 1 | 1:39.585 | 0.418 |
| 6 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 4 | 1:39.635 | 0.468 |
| 7 | 36 | |
Damián FINESCHI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 1:39.778 | 0.611 |
| 8 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 5 | 1:39.852 | 0.685 |
| 9 | 44 | |
Leonel PERNÍA | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2 | 1:39.876 | 0.709 |
| 10 | 13 | |
Fabricio PEZZINI | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 6 | 1:39.970 | 0.803 |
| 11 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 5 | 1:40.153 | 0.986 |
| 12 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 4 | 1:40.476 | 1.309 |
| 13 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 6 | 1:41.663 | 2.496 |
| 14 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |