Photo: TCR South America

Matías Rossi takes commanding victory at San Juan Villicum

By

Toyota Team Argentina’s Matías Rossi controlled the first race of the weekend at San Juan Villicum, host of the seventh round of the 2024 TCR South America season.

Rossi kept the lead from pole position at the start, ahead of Juan Manuel Casella of Squadra Martino and team-mate Matías Cravero (Honda). Casella went wide on lap one, with Cravero taking advantage to take second place.

Further behind, Leonel Pernía (Peugeot 308TCR) recovered ground, overtaking PMO Racing team-mate Rafael Suzuki for fourth place on lap two.

The three leaders opened a small gap over their pursuers, with Pernía trying to break from Suzuki to chase the leading group. Cravero, taking advantage of his lower compensation weight, attacked Rossi for the lead on lap three, with the Toyota driver managing to stay ahead.

The safety car was deployed on lap six due to Fabián Yannantuoni (Toyota Corolla TCR) stopping on the track.

The race was relaunched on lap eight, with Rossi keeping the lead ahead of Casella, who overtook Cravero.

Squadra Martino Racing’s Luis Ramírez and Fabio Casagrande tangled on lap nine, with Casagrande spinning, but both managed to continue in the race on their own power. Ramírez received a ten-second time penalty for the incident.

Rossi continued controlling the race, with Casella right on his tail.

Rossi claimed the victory, with Casella and Cravero completing the podium. Pernía was fourth, ahead of Suzuki.

The W2 GP Pro drivers Raphael Reis and Galid Osman (Cupra Leon VZ) came next, with Juan Angel Rosso (Toyota Corolla TCR) in eighth place.

Pedro Cardoso (Peugeot) and Thiago Vivacqua (Toyota), completed the top ten.

“It wasn’t easy, it was a fighting race,” said Rossi after the race. “We saw since the practice that we could have better pace than the Hondas, but we still had to fight. We’ve been close to the win many times, but it finally came together for us, and in Buenos Aires, out of all places.”

Cardoso leads the standings with 330 points, 26 ahead of Reis and 66 over Rosso, with Casella in fourth place, 70 points adrift.

The TCR South America field returns to the track at 12:38 local time (17:38 CEST) for Race 2.