Fabián Yannantuoni claims his first win of 2025 at Termas de Río Hondo

Lynk & Co driver Fabián Yannantuoni scored his first victory of the season in the second TCR South America race of the weekend at Termas de Río Hondo, after disaster stuck for Cupra driver Fabricio Pezzini.

Reverse grid pole sitter Pezzini was slow off the blocks, with Luís Ramírez and Genaro Rasetto taking the top two places.

But Ramírez soon made a mistake and spun off the track at Turn 2, handing the lead back to Pezzini ahead of Yannantuoni and his Paladini Racing team-mate Juan Ángel Rosso, with Rasetto dropping down to fourth place.

Race 1 winner Pedro Cardoso (Peugeot) also made the most of the first lap incidents, climbing up to fifth position on the first lap from tenth on the grid. Cardoso was, however, under attack from the Honda YPF Racing drivers, with Leonel and Mariano Pernía overtaking the Peugeot driver. Nelson Piquet Jr. followed past up into seventh place on lap two.

Rasetto came under fire from the Honda trio on lap five, with Leonel Pernía overtaking for fourth place at the same time as Piquet Jr went past Mariano Pernía for sixth position.

Further back, W2 Pro GP driver Raphael Reis overtook Cardoso for eighth position. Reis soon caught up with Mariano Pernía, who dropped behind and lost contact with his team-mates on lap six.

Piquet Jr. overtook Rasetto for fifth position on lap eight at the same time as Reis went past Mariano Pernía for seventh. Two laps later, the Cupra driver would also overtake Rasetto for sixth.

Pezzini complained of having vibrations from his front splitter on lap 12 as Rosso retired to the pits with smoke coming out from under the bonnet of his Lynk & Co.

Reis received a drive-through penalty, falling down to 12th place on lap 13.

Pezzini’s issues continued with loose front bodywork as Yannantuoni closed the gap to the leader to under a second with two laps to go.

The Cupra driver’s hood lifted on the last lap which enabled Yannantuoni to overtake for the lead. Pezzini continued to drive with limited visibility, also losing positions to Leonel Pernía and Piquet Jr.

Yannantuoni won as the chequered flag fell ahead of Leonel Pernía and Piquet Jr., with Pezzini crossing the line in fourth position.

Mariano Pernía was fifth ahead of Cardoso and Rasetto, with Honda driver Tiago Pernía in eighth position. Reis and Adrián Chiriano (Honda) completed the top ten.

“I’m very happy, this is a track that I really love and treats me well,” said Yannantuoni after the race. “The start was key for us, as I was able to climb to second place. I had more pace than Pezzini, but we had more weight. At the end he had a problem and I’m glad for the team, they’ve done a great job and we finally got a good result.”

After the fourth round of the season, Leonel Pernía leads the championship with 283 points, 44 ahead of Cardoso and 94 over Piquet Jr.

The next round of the TCR South America season takes place on the 13-15th of June at the Mercedes Autodrome in Argentina.