On the afternoon of this Friday (19), Néstor Girolami secured the pole position for TCR South America at the Autódromo Internacional de Mato Grosso, in Cuiabá. The driver made a lap considered perfect early in Q2. The pole position for TCR Brazil went to Raphael Reis.
Read more TCR: Race 1 is postponed after heavy rain in Cuiabá
Q1
The qualifying started with cloudy weather in the afternoon in Cuiabá. The cars went out on the track, getting into rhythm and warming up the tires.
The first laps were still during free practice time, with Néstor Girolami achieving 1min51s271 and leading the first 10 minutes.
Tiago Pernía went off track but managed to recover. Then, the times started to drop and Camilo Trappa took the lead with 1min50s675.
Qualified for Q2: Raphael Reis, Camilo Trappa, Tiago Pernía, Pedro Cardoso, Juan Ángel Rosso, Erick Schotten, Leonel Pernía, Néstor Girolami, Nelson Piquet Jr., Fabian Yannantuoni, Gabriel Moura, and Bruno Massa.
Eliminated were: Enzo Gianfratti, Gabryel Romano, Nicolás Fuca, Joaquín Cafaro, Fabricio Pezzini, Adrian Chiriano, Juan Manuel Casella, and Jorge Martelli.
Read more Raphael Reis leads the TCR Brazil before the final stage at Velocitta
Q2
The cars left the pits for the decisive 10 minutes of the session. The first attempts saw the leaders swapping positions, but Néstor Girolami established himself at the top with 1min50s089, 0.133 seconds ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr. Up to ninth position, the difference was less than a second.
However, with four minutes remaining, Erick Schotten’s car stopped at the exit of a corner. The red flag had to be deployed.
The session resumed with a few minutes left, with a frantic battle for pole position in a risky final lap. However, no one managed to beat Girolami’s time, who took pole. Reis was the closest, 0.008 seconds behind. Piquet Jr. will start third, while Tiago Pernía took fourth. Pedro Cardoso and Camilo Trappa followed closely. Fabian Yannantuoni, Juan Ángel Rosso, Erick Schotten, Gabriel Moura, and Bruno Massa completed the grid.
Due to the rains that hit Cuiabá on Friday night, Race 1 was moved to Saturday at 12 PM.
Classification – Bradesco TCR South America – Cuiabá
Néstor Girolami (Hyundai MSA) – 1:50.089
Raphael Reis (W2 Pro GP) – 1:50.177
Nelson Piquet Jr. (Honda Racing) – 1:50.205
Tiago Pernía (Honda Racing) – 1:50.242
Leonel Pernía (Honda Racing) – 1:50.448
Pedro Cardoso (G Racing Motorsport) – 1:50.586
Camilo Trappa (Hyundai MSA) – 1:50.588
Fabián Yannantuoni (Paladini Racing) – 1:50.949
Juan Ángel Rosso (Paladini Racing) – 1:50.991
Erick Schotten (W2 Pro GP) – 1:51.118
Gabriel Moura (Cobra Racing Team) – 1:51.438
Bruno Massa (G Racing Motorsport) – 2:17.687
Enzo Gianfratti (G Racing Motorsport) – 1:51.624
Gabryel Romano (Hyundai MSA) – 1:51.663
Nicolás Fuca (Paladini Racing) – 1:51.678
Joaquín Cafaro (Uruguay Racing Team) – 1:51.780
Fabricio Pezzini (Paladini Racing) – 1:52.273
Adrián Chiriano (Honda Racing) – 1:52.897
Juan Manuel Casella (Uruguay Racing Team) – 1:52.940
Jorge Martelli (Cobra Racing Team) – 1:53.210
Enrique Maglione (Uruguay Racing Team) – 1:54.252
Read more TCR South America: “Setting my pace was key,” says Girolami after victory in Cuiabá
