Photo: TCR South America

Raphael Reis scores pole position on home soil at Velocitta

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Raphael Reis of W2 Pro GP team claimed the pole position at Velocitta (Brazil), host of the ninth round of the 2023 TCR South America series.

The Brazilian Cupra driver established a best lap time of 1:32.918 after also having dominated the Q1 session, ahead of Rafael Suzuki of PMO Motorsport (Lynk & Co), just three hundredths off the pace.

Reis’ team-mate Galid Osman, also driving a Cupra, qualified in third place, two tenths behind his team-mate, with championship leader Ignacio Montenegro (Honda) right behind, four tenths behind the pole sitter.

Scuderia Chiarelli’s Pedro Cardoso (Hyundai Elantra N TCR) qualified in fifth place ahead of Juan Ángel Rosso, who was fastest of the Toyota Corolla TCR drivers of Paladini Racing. Bernardo Llaver of Toyota Team Argentina was seventh, a full second off the pace.

Fabio Casagrande of Squadra Martino was eighth, 1.2 seconds behind Reis, with Paladini Racing driver Fabián Yannantuoni next, just ten thousandths of a second from eighth place.

Guilherme Resichl, driving a Peugeot 308TCR for PMO Racing, completed the top ten.

The TCR South America field will return to the track on Sunday for Race 1, scheduled for 09:10 local time/14:10 CEST.