2023 El Pinar TCR World Tour Round
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The 2023 El Pinar TCR World Tour round was the fifth round of
2023 TCR World Tour The 2023 Kumho TCR World Tour was the inaugural season of the TCR World Tour, a new international touring car racing competition for TCR cars. Effectively succeeding the WTCR series, it was also the ninth season of international TCR competitio ...
. It was held on 18–20 August 2023 at the
Autódromo Víctor Borrat Fabini Autodromo Víctor Borrat Fabini is a motor racing circuit in El Pinar, Uruguay, located from Montevideo. It was inaugurated on 14 October 1956. The circuit features various layout configurations. The circuit currently hosts TCR World Tour, TCR ...
in El Pinar,
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The event was also the sixth round of
2023 TCR South America Touring Car Championship The 2023 TCR South America Touring Car Championship was the third season of TCR South America Touring Car Championship. Calendar The championship is to begin in March 2023, with a maximum of 26 entries, ten rounds consisting of eighteen 35-minu ...
. 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 Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987 in Shanghai) is a Chinese people, Chinese racing driver currently competing in the 2022 World Touring Car Cup, World Touring Car Cup with Cyan Racing, Cyan Performance Lynk & Co. Ma became the first China, ...
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.


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.


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.


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. * – 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 ;Teams' championship standings


References

{{reflist 2023 in TCR Series El Pinar TCR