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Another podium finish for BMW driver Tom Coronel in FIA WTCC races Portugal

The seventh race weekend of the FIA World Touring Car Championship took place at the relatively new Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, an undulating race track with a length of 4.654 kilometres. For Tom Coronel, qualifying went better than expected with a fifth and a sixth place on the starting grid for the two races. In the first race, a fifth place finish seemed within reach for the 40-year old Dutch driver with the ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC, until Alain Menu overtook the Dutchman on lap six with his 'Michel Vaillant'-Chevrolet Cruze. For Coronel, it was a matter of finishing the race and bringing sixth place home after that. Later on, he reported that it felt as if he had a parachute attached to the rear of his car. Inspection by ROAL Motorsport and BMW technicians revealed that the problems were caused by a faultive sensor. The problem was solved before the start of the second race, which explained Coronel's rocked start. He moved up from sixth on the grid to second place. To prevent other drivers from closing up quickly, Tom allowed the quicker SEAT driver Oriola to get in front of him in order to pull away together. With his third place finish, Coronel maintains his fourth position in the WTCC drivers' standings. 

After the race, Tom Coronel said: "It wasn't easy. After all, we had 40 kg of extra weight on board and we tried to get the maximum out of it all the time. Because of the weight, the car tends to oversteer more quickly and optimising the times is difficult like that. Seventh or eighth place seemed to be the maximum we could achieve. However, with slipstreams from other drivers in qualifying, we managed to claim a fifth starting grid position for the first race. Honestly, we didn't expect that. In the race, it felt like I had a parachute behind my car. I lacked speed, but couldn't really explain it. When Alain Menu was behind me with the Vaillant-Chevrolet, he was past me in no time. I couldn't close up, I just lacked the speed. Sixth place was all I could do. Between the races, the ROAL Motorsport and BMW technicians discovered a sensor as the reason for the problems. They managed to solve it and I had a totally different car for the second race as a result. Weber stalled at the start, I had to move around him and after that, I was third right away and soon after that even second. A fantastic start! I had a nice battle with Oriola in the SEAT. He was quicker and we both lost in my efforts to remain in front of him, so I let him past once again in order to pull clear from the rest of the field together. Another third place, and with Tarquini having retired from the second race, I am still fourth in the drivers' standings as well. I have said it before: this really is the maximum we can achieve, behind the three cars of the Chevrolet works-team."     

A video of Tom's race weekend in Portimao is available HERE.

Result Race 1

1.Yvan Muller (Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T) 11 laps in 21:20.620
2. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT Leon WTCC) +0.336
3. Rob Huff (Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T) +0.951
4. Norbert Michelisz (BMW 320 TC) +6.699
5. Alain Menu (Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T) +13.669
6.Tom Coronel (ROAL MOTORSPORT BMW 320 TC) +17.053.

Result Race 2:

1. Alain Menu (Michel Vaillant - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T) 11 laps in 21:34.180
2. Pepe Oriola (SEAT Leon WTCC) +3.200
3. Tom Coronel (ROAL MOTORSPORT BMW 320 TC) +5.160
4. Rob Huff (Chevrolet Cruze 1.6) +6.961
5. Yvan Muller (Chevrolet Cruze) +8.280
6. Alberto Cerqui (ROAL Motorsport 320 TC) +8.626

Drivers' standings after 14 of 24 rounds:

1.Yvan Muller 245 points
2. Robert Huff 227
3. Alain Menu 208
4. Tom Coronel 142
5. Gabriele Tarquini 134.

In the 2012 FIA WTCC season, Tom Coronel is being supported by: McGregor, TW Steel -big in oversized watches-, AkzoNobel stickerfix^tm , De Wild signing, Loading Systems, Boretti, Intrax, Holiday Cars, Saarloos, Hanscan and Beelen.