Urrutia beats Oriola to TCR South America pole in Rivera

Local hero Santiago Urrutia set pole position in Rivera, on his and the PMO Motorsport Lynk & Co car’s maiden appearance in TCR South America.
In the Q3 section of the Qualifying, Urrutia posted a fastest lap of 1:17.421, beating the current points leader Pepe Oriola and his W2 Racing Honda Civic Type R by 0.240 seconds.
The great day of Uruguayan racers was completed by Rodrigo Aramendia and Cyro Fontes. Aramendia set the third fastest lap of 1:18.507 in a Scuderia CJ Hyundai Elantra N, while Fontes qualified fourth at the wheel of one of the three Squadra Martino-run Honda Civic cars. His teammate Ayrton Chorne completed the top-five who had advanced to Q3.
Urrutia and Oriola had already topped the timesheet in Q2 with laps of 1:17.794 and 1:18.107 respectively, while Fontes was third fastest (1:18.241); Oriola’s teammate Rafael Reis missed the cut by only 26 thousandths, as he was classified sixth behind Chorne.
Adalberto Baptista (Cobra Racing Team, Audi RS 3 LMS) and PMO Motorsport principal Pablo Otero set the tenth and ninth fastest laps respectively and so will fill the front row of the reversed grid for Race 2. 
Two drivers were missing. Peruvian Rodrigo Pflucker fell ill and could not travel to Uruguay, while Rodrigo Baptista – the winner of the endurance race in Curitiba – missed the Qualifying due to a clutch problem and so will start both races from P13.
Live streaming of both races tomorrow at www.tcr-series.com; Race 1, at 08:40 and Race 2 at 10:35 and Race 2 at 11:45 local times (15:35 and 16:45 CEST).

Rivera – Qualifying 
1:17.421 Santiago Urrutia (PMO Motorsport, Lynk & Co 03)
1:17.661 Pepe Oriola (W2 Racing, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
1:18.507 Rodrigo Aramendia (Scuderia CJ, Hyundai Elantra N)
1:18.701 Cyro Fontes (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
1:18.876 Ayrton Chorne (Squadra Martino, Honda Civic Type R FK7)

Championship points
1. P. Oriola 79 pts; 2. R. Baptista 68; 3. R. Reis 60

Picture: TCR South America/Duda Bairros