Photo: TCR South America

Pedro Cardoso takes final 2024 TCR South America pole at Rosario

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PMO Racing driver Pedro Cardoso claimed the pole position for the tenth and last round of the 2024 TCR South America season, taking place this weekend at Rosario in Argentina.

Tyre wear is a key issue at the Rosario circuit due to the banking at the beginning and end of the main straight. Thiago Vivacqua (Toyota Corolla TCR) went off the track in the initial stages of the Q1 session, but managed to recover back on track.

Cardoso stole the top spot just before the chequered flag ahead of Squadra Martino’s Rodrigo Baptista (Honda) Matías Rossi (Toyota).

Eleven contestants took to the track for the ten-minute Q2 session, with Galid Osman alone in the pits.

Cardoso was the first driver to set a reference lap time with 1:38.814, improving the best lap time of the Q1. He was followed by Leonel Pernía and Raphael Reis after the first attempt, with championship leader Casella only managing ninth after making a mistake on his first flying lap.

After everyone returned to the pits from their first attempt, Osman went for his single attempt in the Q2. The Brazilian driver set a lap time of 1:40.086 to take tenth place.

The rest of the field completed their second attempt, with Cardoso claiming the pole position with a margin of 0.111 seconds over Rossi and four tenths over Pernía.

Reis was fourth, followed by Cravero, Baptista and Fineschi. Rosso could only manage eighth place, followed by Casella and Osman who will start from the reversed grid pole for Race 2.

“It couldn’t be better,” said Cardoso after the qualifying session, having reduced the gap to Casella to just three points. “It’s a great start, I’m thinking about winning Race 1 tomorrow, and I’m very happy. I will try to get an advantage in the first race and then control where we are with Juan Manuel Casella.

“We have made some changes to the start system and we don’t have compensation weights in this round, so this is good. Tomorrow there could be some rain, so we will see,” added the Brazilian.

Casella still leads the championship with 405 points, with Cardoso just three points behind and Reis 31 points adrift.

The TCR South America field returns to the track on Sunday morning for Race 1 at 09:00 local time (13:00 CET).