2023 El Pinar TCR World Tour round

2023 El Pinar TCR World Tour round

Race details
Round 5 of 9 in the 2023 World Touring Car Championship at Autódromo Víctor Borrat Fabini in El Pinar, Uruguay.
Date	18–20 August, 2023
Location	El Pinar, Uruguay
Course	Autódromo Víctor Borrat Fabini 3.120 kilometres (1.939 mi)
Race One
Laps 20 Pole position Driver Santiago Urrutia Cyan Racing Time 1:19.800 Podium First Santiago Urrutia Cyan Racing Second Thed Björk Cyan Racing Third Frédéric Vervisch Comtoyou Racing Fastest Lap Driver Santiago Urrutia Cyan Racing Time 1:20.774
Race Two
Laps 21 Podium First Ma Qinghua Cyan Racing Second Mikel Azcona BRC Racing Team Third Yann Ehrlacher Cyan Racing Fastest Lap Driver Mikel Azcona BRC Racing Team Time 1:20.797

The 2023 El Pinar TCR World Tour round was the fifth round of 2023 TCR World Tour. It was held on 18–20 August 2023 at the Autódromo Víctor Borrat Fabini in El Pinar, Uruguay. The event was also the sixth round of 2023 TCR South America Touring Car Championship. Santiago Urrutia scored pole position for Cyan Racing Lynk&Co. Urrutia managed to keep his lead, winning the first race. Urrutia's teammate Ma Qing Hua won the second race after leading from the start, scoring his first win of the season.

Entry list

A total of 30 cars have been entered, including entries from TCR World Tour and TCR South America.

Team	Car	No.	Drivers
Paladini Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	1	Fabricio Pezzini
Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	2	Juan Ángel Rosso
Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	5	Fabián Yannantuoni
PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	8	Rafael Suzuki
Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	10	Adalberto Baptista
Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	13	Carlos Silva
Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	15	Enrique Maglione
Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	17	Bernardo Llaver
Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	23	Ignacio Montenegro
PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	24	Frederick Balbi
W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	28	Galid Osman
Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	33	José Manuel Sapag
Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	34	Fabio Casagrande
PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	35	Gonzalo Reilly
PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	36	Damián Fineschi
Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	43	Pedro Cardoso
Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	60	Juan Manuel Casella
Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	70	Diego Nunes
W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	77	Raphael Reis
Bratton Tito Bessone Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	86	Esteban Guerrieri
Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	90	Michell Bonnin
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	105	Norbert Michelisz
Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	111	Thed Björk
Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	112	Santiago Urrutia
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	122	Frédéric Vervisch
Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	129	Néstor Girolami
Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	155	Ma Qing Hua
Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	168	Yann Ehrlacher
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	179	Robert Huff
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	196	Mikel Azcona
Source:

Results

Qualifying

Due to the circuit being short and 30 cars entered, the Q1 qualifying session was separated into 2 groups. Top 6 drivers from each group were eligible to compete in Q2 session.

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Car	Group	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Points
1	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	B	1:20.300	1:19.800	15
2	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	B	1:19.917	1:19.885	10
3	129	Néstor Girolami	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	A	1:20.810	1:20.118	8
4	105	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	B	1:20.361	1:20.200	6
5	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	A	1:20.875	1:20.457	4
6	179	Robert Huff	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	B	1:20.852	1:20.457	2
7	60	Juan Manuel Casella	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	A	1:20.810	1:20.733
8	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	A	1:20.545	1:20.846
9	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	A	1:20.443	1:20.922
10	155	Ma Qing Hua	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	A	1:20.871	1:21.162
11	23	Ignacio Montenegro	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	B	1:21.389	1:21.209
12	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Bratton Tito Bessone Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	B	1:21.054	1:21.356
13	2	Juan Ángel Rosso	Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	A	1:21.365	-
14	28	Galid Osman	W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	B	1:21.405	-
15	8	Rafael Suzuki	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	A	1:21.563	-
16	77	Raphael Reis	W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	A	1:21.716	-
17	24	Frederick Balbi	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	B	1:21.834	-
18	17	Bernardo Llaver	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	B	1:21.854	-
19	43	Pedro Cardoso	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	B	1:22.004	-
20	15	Enrique Maglione	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	B	1:22.170	-
21	5	Fabián Yannantuoni	Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	A	1:22.186	-
22	1	Fabricio Pezzini	Paladini Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	B	1:22.456	-
23	70	Diego Nunes	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	A	1:22.574	-
24	33	José Manuel Sapag	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	B	1:22.819	-
25	34	Fabio Casagrande	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	B	1:23.278	-
26	35	Gonzalo Reilly	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	B	1:23.403	-
27	13	Carlos Silva	Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	A	1:24.112	-
28	10	Adalberto Baptista	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	A	1:25.177	-
29	36	Damián Fineschi	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	A	No time set	-
30	90	Michell Bonnin	Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	A	No time set	-
Source:

Race 1

Santiago Urrutia managed to keep his lead after the start, with teammate Thed Björk right behind him. Fabricio Pezzini and Carlos Silva made contact at the back of the field, resulting in the latter retiring. Girolami overtook Björk in the early part of the race, but later made dropped behind both Björk and Frédéric Vervisch, where he would remain for the rest of the race. Raphael Reis pulled into the pit lane on lap 4 with smoke coming under the hood of his Cupra, leading to his retirement. Enrique Maglione retired on the same lap due to damage done to the front of his Honda. Yann Ehrlacher eventually caught the group and attempted to attack Michelisz for 5th place, but unsuccessfully and both of them lost time doing so. This allowed Girolami a chance to attack Vervisch for 3rd place with no threat from behind, but the Honda driver made a mistake and compromised his chances for a podium finish. Fabián Yannantuoni came into the pit lane to retire with possible suspension damage following an accident. Björk started to close in on Urrutia, but remained 2nd, allowing his teammate to take a victory on home soil. Further down the order, Esteban Guerrieri passed Juan Ángel Rosso for 12th place on the final straight, with just 0.019 seconds separating them at the finish line. Ignacio Montenegro claimed the win in TCR South America, finishing 10th overall.

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	20	27:29.487	1	30
2	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	20	+0.479	2	25
3	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	20	+3.131	5	22
4	129	Néstor Girolami	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	20	+3.544	3	20
5	105	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	+4.184	4	18
6	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	20	+5.633	9	16
7	179	Robert Huff	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	20	+14.938	6	14
8	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	+16.420	8	12
9	155	Ma Qing Hua	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	20	+20.037	10	10
10	23	Ignacio Montenegro	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	20	+21.409	11	8
11	60	Juan Manuel Casella	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	20	+22.408	7	6
12	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Bratton Tito Bessone Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	20	+23.985	12	4
13	2	Juan Ángel Rosso	Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	20	+24.004	13	3
14	17	Bernardo Llaver	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	20	+25.995	18	2
15	8	Rafael Suzuki	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	+29.452	15	1
16	28	Galid Osman	W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	20	+34.223	14
17	24	Frederick Balbi	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	+35.108	16
18	43	Pedro Cardoso	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	+41.317	20
19	33	José Manuel Sapag	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	20	+48.163	26
20	70	Diego Nunes	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	20	+48.534	21
21	1	Fabricio Pezzini	Paladini Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	20	+1:01.778	24
22	35	Gonzalo Reilly	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	20	+1:02.672	28
23	10	Adalberto Baptista	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	19	+1 lap	25
24	34	Fabio Casagrande	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	18	+2 laps	27
25	5	Fabián Yannantuoni	Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	13	Accident damage	19
26	15	Enrique Maglione	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	4	Accident damage	22
27	77	Raphael Reis	W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	4	Mechanical	17
28	13	Carlos Silva	Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	1	Accident	23
Fastest lap: Santiago Urrutia, lap time 1:20.774 / Source:

Race 2

The top 10 from qualifying is reversed for the race 2 grid.

Ma Qing Hua kept his lead after the start. Azcona collided with Ehrlacher right after the start, claiming 2nd place. Enrique Maglione received a drive-through penalty for driving a damaged car, as seemingly it wasn't fixed after his Race 1 accident. Safety car was brought out on lap 7, due to one of the drivers knocking over a tyre barrier. Race was resumed on lap 10, with Ma Qing Hua remaining in the lead, followed by Azcona, Ehrlacher and both Comtoyou drivers. Ignacio Montenegro retired due a wheel coming loose on his Honda on lap 13. Michelisz, Girolami and Björk were fighting for 6th place, but made several contacts on lap 15, with Girolami and Michelisz both overtaken by Urrutia. The Safety Car came out right after, because Gonzalo Reilly stopped his Peugeot on track. Ma Qing Hua made a perfect restart yet again, staying ahead of Azcona for the final two laps and claiming a victory. During an interview, he claimed the race was a highlight of his career, because he a became a first Chinese driver to win a world championship event driving a Chinese car.

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	155	Ma Qing Hua	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	21	32:14.778	1	30
2	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	21	+0.685	3	25
3	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	21	+2.344	2	22
4	179	Robert Huff	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	21	+3.160	5	20
5	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	21	+3.587	6	18
6	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	21	+4.925	10	16
7	105	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	21	+5.469	7	14
8	129	Néstor Girolami	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	21	+6.082	8	12
9	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing Lynk&Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	21	+9.3041	9	10
10	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Bratton Tito Bessone Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+10.594	12	8
11	2	Juan Ángel Rosso	Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+12.351	13	6
12	8	Rafael Suzuki	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	21	+12.933	15	4
13	60	Juan Manuel Casella	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	21	+13.432	4	3
14	24	Frederick Balbi	PMO Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	21	+13.721	16	2
15	77	Raphael Reis	W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	21	+14.466	17	1
16	17	Bernardo Llaver	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+14.694	18
17	28	Galid Osman	W2 ProGP	CUPRA Leon Competicion TCR	21	+14.924	14
18	70	Diego Nunes	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+15.676	20
19	1	Fabricio Pezzini	Paladini Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	21	+17.043	21
20	5	Fabián Yannantuoni	Paladini Racing	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+19.039	19
21	33	José Manuel Sapag	Toyota Team Argentina	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+20.303	23
22	43	Pedro Cardoso	Scuderia Chiarelli	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	21	+21.404	26
23	34	Fabio Casagrande	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	21	+23.794	24
24	10	Adalberto Baptista	Cobra Racing Team	Toyota GR Corolla Sport TCR	21	+26.131	22
25	13	Carlos Silva	Alfa Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	21	+27.204	27
26	15	Enrique Maglione	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	18	+3 laps	28
27	35	Gonzalo Reilly	PMO Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	Retired	25
28	23	Ignacio Montenegro	Squadra Martino	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	13	Lost wheel	11
Fastest lap: Mikel Azcona, lap time 1:20.797 / Source:

• ^1 – Thed Björk received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Norbert Michelisz. As a result, he dropped from 6th place to 9th.

Standings after the round

Drivers' championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points	Change
1	Yann Ehrlacher	235
2	Norbert Michelisz	215
3	Mikel Azcona	205
4	Robert Huff	197
5	Thed Björk	190	1

Teams' championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points	Change
1	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	546
2	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	430
3	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	401
4	ALM Motorsport	182
5	Comtoyou Racing	148