Matías Rossi claims his first pole position at San Juan Villicum
Toyota Team Argentina driver Matías Rossi took his first TCR South America pole position at San Juan Villicum, host of the seventh round of the 2024 season.
The session took place in sunny and dry conditions, albeit the track was slower than in the morning practice sessions.
Leonel Pernía (Peugeot) dominated the Q1 session, setting a best lap time of 1:44.807, ahead of Matias Rossi (Toyota Corolla TCR) and Rafael Suzuki (Peugeot 308TCR).
Juan Angel Rosso, also driving a Toyota, was fourth, ahead of Matías Cravero, the fastest Squadra Martino Honda driver.
“It was very hot, but we are making our way to competitiveness slowly, so we continue working,” Pernía said after the session.
The Q2 started with Rossi improving his Q1 lap time by half a second to 1:44.367.
Rossi’s lap was enough to claim the pole position, followed by Casella, 0.367 seconds behind, and Cravero, 0.399 seconds adrift. Pernía could only manage fourth place, 0.411 seconds behind Rossi, followed by Osman, 0.548 slower than the pole sitter.
Suzuki qualified in sixth place, 0.665 seconds behind Rossi, with Rosso next. Reis, Ramírez and Cardoso completed the top ten, with the Peugeot driver 1.140 seconds off the pace.
“We wanted to round this off, as we had a very solid car since the first practice,” said Rossi. “I want to thank all the team for their fantastic job, let’s see if we can carry this pace on tomorrow.”
The TCR South America field returns to the track on Sunday morning for Race 1 at 09:38 local time (14:38 CEST).
