Leonel Pernía wins final Termas Rio Hondo race as Pedro Cardoso reclaims points lead
Leonel Pernía won the final TCR South America race of the weekend at Termas Rio Hondo while his PMO Racing team-mate Pedro Cardoso finished third to reclaim the points lead ahead of the season finale.
Fabián Yannantuoni (Toyota) started from the reversed grid pole position but got a slow start which saw Galid Osman (Cupra) claiming to the lead.
Osman then fought for the lead with Cardoso (Peugeot), a scrap which allowed Leonel Pernía to pass them both into the lead.
The safety car was called into action after the first lap following a collision between Raphael Reis and Tiago Pernía. Both were able to rejoin the race at the back of the field and the safety car headed back in after a brief session.
Toyota driver Matías Rossi was handed a drive-through penalty for an incorrect starting procedure, a penalty which saw him drop out of the top five to finish eleventh.
Reis fought hard back up through the field after his incident at the beginning of the race, climbing as high as sixth before he made contact with Squadra Martino driver Rodrigo Baptista (Honda) which saw them both go off track. Reis was able to finish eighth while Baptista retired.
Leonel Pernía won the race one second ahead of Osman while Cardoso was a distant third, close to eleven seconds behind.
Race 1 winner and title contender Juan Manuel Casella finished fourth for Squadra Martino ahead of pole sitter Yannantuoni and Bautista Damiani (Cupra).
Cardoso’s podium finish has brought him back past Casella in the standings on 430 points, just two more than his title rival. But the drivers have to drop three of their lowest scores and that brings Cardoso into a lead of 20 points over Casella ahead of the Rosario season finale on December 1st.
