Photo: TCR South America

Nelson Piquet Jr. claims last gasp pole position at Termas de Rio Hondo

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Honda driver Nelson Piquet Jr. claimed a last-minute pole position at Termas de Rio Hondo, host of the fourth round of the 2025 TCR South America season, ahead of his team-mate Leonel Pernía.

The entire field struggled to get the tyres into temperature due to the cooler conditions during the qualifying session, with half of the Q1 gone for the drivers to break the 1:48 barrier and get into pole position lap times.

Peugeot’s Pedro Cardoso made the most of the conditions to lead the Q1 session ahead of the championship leader, Honda’s Leonel Pernía.

The closing stages of the Q2 were hampered by Paladini Racing’s Exequiel Bastidas (Toyota Corolla TCR) stopping by the side of the track at the penultimate corner, which didn’t stop Nelson Piquet Jr. from beating team-mate Leonel Pernía for the pole position with at the very end of the session, two-tenths ahead of the Honda driver.

Cardoso qualified in third place, six-tenths off the pace, ahead of Lynk & Co driver Fabián Yannantuoni.

Honda’s Mariano Pernía also improved in the last moments to climb up to fifth place, seven-tenths behind the pole sitter, with Juan Ángel Rosso (Lynk & Co) right behind.

Raphael Reis (Cupra) and Peugeot’s Luís Ramírez were next, with Genaro Rasetto (Peugeot), in ninth. Cupra’s Fabricio Pezzini completed the top ten, 1.5 seconds off the pace.

“We were very close many times. This is the only circuit in the championship where I have driven before, and I want to thank my team for the work and this result,” said Piquet Jr.

The TCR South America field returns to the track on Sunday morning for Race 1 at 09:00 local time (14:00 CEST).