Final FIA TCR World Tour season half heats up in Uruguay

The final season half of the FIA TCR World Tour will heat up this weekend in Uruguay with just three rounds remaining of 2024, as a joint field with TCR South America makes it 29 cars on the grid.

Norbert Michelisz handled a heavy car well during the previous round at Interlagos in Brazil, winning the final reversed grid race of the weekend despite intense pressure from Lynk & Co’s Ma Qing Hua.

And the Hungarian driver will once again carry 30 kilos of compensation weight this weekend.

“Race 2 at Interlagos was honestly one of my best races but it means we start in El Pinar with 30 kilograms of compensation weight,” said Michelisz.

“This situation plus the strong competition we’ll face from the TCR South America competitors means it won’t be an easy weekend and we can expect two tough races. Therefore, the target has to be to finish both races with good points. And I’m confident for this.”

GOAT Racing Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri has emerged as the main title challenger after a solid Brazilian weekend, cutting Michelisz’s lead from 22 points ahead of Interlagos to 15 ahead of this weekend.

The Argentinian driver will however carry most weight of all FIA TCR World Tour drivers this weekend with 40 kilos.

“We could have slowed down to drop to P5 and let Santi finish ahead and take the 40kg to Uruguay, swapping two points for 10kg, but the call from the team was to take the points, as Michelisz, the one we’re fighting, also has 30kg so it was not worth it,” said Guerrieri.

“Hopefully it turns out to be the right decision at the end of the championship – so we go heavy to Uruguay, but with a big bag of points from this event, which was the goal. I’m really happy!”

2017 WTCC champion Thed Björk has, perhaps to the surprise of some, emerged as the best placed Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver in third place overall, 37 points from the lead.

The Swede, who will carry 20 kilos this weekend, seems to have found a lot more speed in the last two rounds with one win, a second place and two top six finishes.

“I’ve found a great feeling in the car for the past couple of races and if we can keep that up, the remaining race weekends should be great fun. We were strong in Uruguay last year, but the championship is really tough this year and everyone is working really hard together to keep fighting at the top,” said Thed Björk.

Yann Ehrlacher suffered from a Race 2 incident in Brazil, dropping from second to fourth, but trails team-mate Björk by just three points and will race without compensation weight at El Pinar.

Mikel Azcona also had a tough weekend in Brazil, suffering a lot more from the compensation weight compared to BRC team-mate Michelisz and could only manage eighth and ninth. The Spaniard is currently placed fifth overall, 48 points from the lead.

El Pinar means the home race of Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver Santiago Urrutia who claimed pole, fastest lap and the Race 1 win here last year.

The Uruguayan driver, who will carry 30 kilos this weekend, has had a mixed season with consistency as well as a disqualification from the US race weekend, following a heated post-race incident with Guerrieri.

The TCR South America title fight is extremely close heading to Uruguay, as Cupra driver Raphael Reis heads Juan Angle Rosso (Toyota) by a single point and Pedro Cardoso (Peugeot) is third, three points further adrift.

The race weekend in Uruguay starts on Saturday with practice and qualifying, followed by two races on Sunday.

El Pinar schedule

Times in UYT (CEST -5)

Saturday – 2/8
09:00 – Free Practice 1
12:30 – Free Practice 2
15:05 – Qualifying

Sunday – 3/8
10:10 – Race 1
15:25 – Race 2

El Pinar entry list

3 – Rodrigo Baptista (BRA) – Squadra Martino – Honda Civic FL5 TCR
5 – Fabián Yannantuoni (ARG) – Paladini Racing – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
7 – Thiago Vivacqua (BRA) – Cobra Racing Team – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
8 – Rafael Suzuki (BRA) – PMO Racing – Peugeot 308TCR
15 – Enrique Maglione (URU) – Squadra Martino – Honda Civic FK7 TCR
16 – Juan Ángel Rosso (ARG) – Paladini Racing – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
17 – Matías Rossi (ARG) – Toyota Team Argentina – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
18 – Carlos Silva (URU) – Paladini Racing – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
27 – Marcos Regadas (BRA) – PMO Racing – Peugeot 308TCR
28 – Galid Osman (BRA) – W2 Pro GP – Cupra Leon VZ TCR
34 – Fabio Casagrande (BRA) – Squadra Martino – Honda Civic FK7 TCR
37 – Guilherme Reischl (BRA) – W2 Pro GP – Cupra Leon VZ TCR
43 – Pedro Cardoso (BRA) – PMO Racing – Peugeot 308TCR
44 – Leonel Pernía (ARG) – PMO Racing – Peugeot 308TCR
47 – Norberto Fontana (BRA) – Team Cobra Racing – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
60 – Juan Manuel Casella (URU) – Squadra Martino – Honda Civic FL5 TCR
62 – Dušan Borković (SRB) – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic FL5 TCR
73 – Diego Gutiérrez (ARG) – Paladini Racing – Toyota Corolla GRS TCR
77 – Raphael Reis (BRA) – W2 Pro GP – Cupra Leon VZ TCR
105 – Norbert Michelisz (HUN) – BRC Hyundai N – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
111 – Thed Björk (SWE) – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR
112 – Santiago Urrutia (URU) – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR
127 – John Filippi (FRA) – Volcano Motorsport – Audi RS 3 LMS
129 – Néstor Girolami (ARG) – BRC Hyundai N – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
155 – Ma Qing Hua (CHN) – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR
168 – Yann Ehrlacher (FRA) – Lynk & Co Cyan Racing – Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR
186 – Esteban Guerrieri (ARG) – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic FL5 TCR
196 – Mikel Azcona (ESP) BRC – Hyundai N – Hyundai Elantra N TCR
199 – Marco Butti (ITA) – GOAT Racing – Honda Civic FL5 TCR