TCR South America contingent shrinks for TCR World Tour’s Argentinian round
Argentina’s La Pedrera circuit is the next stop for the TCR World Tour, with it accompanying TCR South America action for the second weekend in a row.
Last time out in Uruguay there were a record 30 cars and the trip across the border to Argentina will feature 25 entries.
Nine of those are the World Tour full-timers, with Cyan Racing bringing four Lynk & Co cars, BRC Racing running two Hyundais and Comtoyou Racing fielding two Audis. Following the last round at El Pinar, Cyan’s Yann Ehrlacher leads BRC’s Norbert Michelisz and Mikel Azcona by 20 and 30 points respectively.
Néstor Girolami was run by Estonian team ALM Motorsport for the European leg of the World Tour in a Honda Civic Type R TCR, and Argentinian team Squadra Martino has taken on the responsibility of running him in one of those cars for the South American leg.
While the top nine in the World Tour standings will be taking part, of the 16 TCR South America drivers entered this weekend there are fewer from the top of the championship.
The top five are all present, with Squadra Martino’s home talent Ignacio Montenegro currently leading team-mate Juan Manuel Casella by 41 points. Toyota Team Argentina’s Bernardo Llaver is a further 15 points behind, with W2 Pro GP’s Raphael Reis fourth in the standings in a Cupra Leon Copetición.
There is then a big gap to his team-mate Galid Osman, while PMO Motorsport’s Rafael Suzuki will not be able to advance from sixth in the standings as he will be absent from La Pedrera and instead racing in Brazil’s Stock Car series.
Paladini Racing drivers fill two of the next three places in the standings, with Juan Ángel Rosso racing this weekend but part-time team-mate Fabricio Pezzini skipping the action despite being ninth in the points table.
Suzuki has been replaced by Matías Milla, who will partner up with Frederick Balbi who rounds out the top 10 in the standings.
It’s the first time an intercontinental touring car series has gone to South America since the World Touring Car Championship went to Argentina’s Rio Hondo track in 2017 (having been there annually since 2013), and before that it raced at Curitiba in Brazil from 2006 to 2012.
Brazil’s Cobra Racing Team continues with Diego Nunes and Adalberto Baptista, who are 17th and 20th in the South America standings, while PMO Racing are absent entirely after running a number of drivers through this year.
A half-hour practice session on Friday will kick off the action at La Pedrera, with a second practice session taking place first thing on Saturday morning. Qualifying is little over two hours after that, and the day concludes with Race 1. Teams then wait until Sunday afternoon for Race 2.
This weekend is a significant landmark for global touring car series, as it is the first time one has visited South America twice in a single season.
