Leonel Pernía and Juan Ángel Rosso claim Mercedes victories

Leonel Pernía and Juan Ángel Rosso claimed one victory each in the TCR South America races at Autódromo Municipal de Mercedes in Uruguay.

The Honda YPF Racing trio of Nelson Piquet Jr., Leonel Pernía and Tiago Pernía occupied the top three positions on the grid for the first race.

Leonel Pernía snatched the lead as the lights went out ahead of Piquet Jr. while Tiago Pernia stalled and dropped down the order.

The safety car headed out on track on lap eleven due to a tyre stack having been hit.

Team-mates Leonel Pernía and Piquet Jr. remained close in the fight for the lead during the last couple of laps, but it was Leonel Pernía who came out on top to win the race.

W2 Pro GP team-mates Fabricio Pezzini and Raphael Reis (Cupra) finished third and fourth ahead of Lynk & Co driver Juan Angel Rosso who overtook Peugeot driver Pedro Cardoso for fifth during the final couple of laps.

Luis Ramírez (Peugeot) started from the reversed Race 2 grid pole position but was immediately overtaken by PMO Racing team-mate Genaro Rasetto.

But the joy was short-lived for Rasetto who was handed a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, dropping him to ninth.

This handed the lead to Paladini Racing driver Rosso who had overtaken Ramírez for second on the second lap.

Cupra driver Reis closed in on Rosso towards the end of the race but lost his chance for a serious attempt on the lead as he made a mistake with two laps left.

Rosso won the race ahead of the W2 Pro GP duo of Reis and Pezzini while Race 1 winner Leonel Pernía climbed to finish fourth ahead of Fabián Yannantuoni (Lynk & Co) who made an even more impressive charge from the back of the grid to finish fifth.

Leonel Pernía heads the standings with a comfortable margin of 92 points over Cardoso who retired from the race due to engine issues.

The next race will be held at El Pinar in Uruguay on July 25-27.