Matías Rossi recovers to win incident-packed Race 2 at San Juan Villicum
Matías Rossi of Toyota Team Argentina made the most of the incidents and safety car in Race 2 at San Juan Villicum to win and complete the hat trick in the seventh round of the 2024 TCR South America season.
Peugeot 308 TCR driver Pedro Cardoso started from the reversed grid pole position after a weekend of struggling with pace due to his 40 kilos of compensation weight.
Cardoso took the lead at the start ahead of Raphael Reis (Cupra Leon VZ) and Leonel Pernía (Peugeot).
There was plenty of action during the first lap, with Pernía recovering ground and overtaking Cardoso for the lead on the second lap. Soon after, Rafael Suzuki also challenged the pair, overtaking Cardoso and then taking the lead from Pernía.
Reis sat in fourth place as Race 1 winner Rossi climbed up to fifth ahead of Juan Angel Rosso and Juan Manuel Casella.
Series newcomer Luis Ramírez of Squadra Martino Racing started from second on the grid but dropped to seventh place due to several incidents during the opening stage of the race.
Rosso made a mistake and down the order on lap three, falling to tenth place.
Disaster struck Pernía on lap four, as his Peugeot 308TCR suddenly slowed down, with the entire pack overtaking the Argentinian.
Cardoso continued struggling for pace, with Rossi overtaking for second place on lap four and Casella also overtook the series leader.
Trouble wasn’t over for the PMO Racing team, with Reis and Thiago Vivacqua (Toyota) coming together with Cardoso on lap five. The safety car was deployed on the following lap as Cardoso and Vivacqua retired due to the sustained damage on the spot.
Pernía returned to the track a lap down after a quick check in the pits. Reis received a ten-second penalty for the incident.
Suzuki headed Rossi as the race resumed. The incident had allowed Galid Osman of W2 GP Pro to climb up to fourth place ahead of Rosso.
Suzuki started struggling with his tyres, with Rossi overtaking for the lead on lap 13. The PMO Racing driver would also lose to Casella.
Osman overtook Suzuki for third place on lap 14. Further back, Fabio Casagrande (Honda Civic FL5) spun off the track and out of the race.
Rossi claimed a full house with his second victory of the weekend, with Casella and Osman completing the podium.
Suzuki managed to hold off fourth place ahead of Rosso and Marcio Basso (Cupra).
Reis finished in seventh place despite his penalty, followed by Luis Ramírez, Enrique Maglione (Honda) and Matías Chas (Toyota Corolla TCR).
“This is a dream, we were not expecting to win this race,” said Rossi. “We had a great car, fights and move, but also had luck on our side. The safety car was key for us to be able to challenge for the lead.”
Cardoso is still in the championship lead with 332 points, but with just a 13-point advantage over Reis and 42 ahead of Casella. Rosso is fourth, 47 points behind the Brazilian.
The next round of the 2024 TCR South America season takes place at Buenos Aires on October 4-6.
