Galid Osman wins incident-packed Race 2 at Velocitta

W2 Pro GP driver Galid Osman (Cupra) drove a recovery race at Velocitta to claim the victory in TCR South America Race 2.

Guilherme Reischl (Peugeot 308TCR) took the lead from the reverse grid pole position, followed by Fabio Casagrande (Honda Civic Type R TCR) and Bernardo Llaver (Toyota Corolla TCR).

Disaster struck championship leader Ignacio Montenegro who was slow off the blocks at the start and whose Honda Civic Type R TCR stopped on track on lap two due to a technical issue, with the safety car being called into action.

The race was relaunched on lap five, with Llaver coming under pressure from Osman. The Brazilian driver overtook for third place at Turn 1 on lap seven, with Llaver returning the favour a corner later, as Fabián Yannantuoni (Toyota Corolla TCR from Paladini Racing) also made contact with the pair.

Casagrande started losing ground in second place, falling into the grasps of Llaver and Osman who overtook him on lap eight, with Yannantuoni also overtaking the Squadra Martino driver. The Honda driver then came side-by-side with Pedro Cardoso (Hyundai Elantra N TCR), who also managed to pass. This saw Juan Ángel Rosso (Toyota Corolla TCR) taking advantage to overtake Casagrande for sixth place.

The action continued with Osman overtaking Llaver for second place on lap ten. Yannantuoni also tried to overtake the Argentinian, but made contact and was forced onto the grass, losing three positions.

Yannantuoni would retire to the pits at the end of lap 12.

Osman continued moving forward, closing the gap to Reischl with nine minutes still to go on the clock. And the Cupra driver made the move for the lead on lap 13, as Reischl went into the pits for a tyre change.

The safety car came into action for the second time on lap 14 as Montenegro, who had returned to the track, again stopped on the tarmac.

The race was relaunched on lap 16, with Osman ahead of Rosso and Cardoso. Race 1 winner Raphael Reis (Cupra Leon Competición) limped back to the pits with damage to his rear right tyre after an incident with Enrique Maglione (Honda Civic Type R TCR).

Osman claimed the victory at the chequered flag with Cardoso and Rosso completing the podium. Llaver was fourth, followed by Jose Manuel Sapag (Toyota Corolla TCR).

Marcos Regadas, driving a Lynk & Co 03 TCR for PMO Motorsport, was sixth, followed by his team-mate Rafael Suzuki in seventh.

Casagrande finished in eighth place, ahead of Diego Nunes (Toyota Corolla TCR) and Juan Manuel Casella.

“We tried to win this morning in race 1 and we could manage it now, the race was hard,” said Osman after the race. “We now have a fresh boost ahead of the next race in Cascavel.”

Montenegro leads the championship with 435 points, but his zero at Velocitta puts Llaver just nine points behind ahead of the season finale, taking place at Cascavel (Brazil) on December 1-3.