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Mission accomplished as WTCR hopeful Coronel claims Dakar finish

Tom Coronel and twin brother Tim have finished the gruelling Dakar Rally in South America, reaching the end of the final stage in Córdoba, Argentina, yesterday just outside the top 30.

The Dutch pair completed the 9000-kilometre route in P35, sharing driving and co-driving duties in the Jefferies Racing entry they dubbed The Beast.

"It was more difficult than we expected with The Beast," said Tom Coronel (pictured left). "It let us down a few times but a lot of cars didn't finish. We finished, we did the job we had to do and we were enjoying it as well. But this is Dakar, they want to make it hard and 2018 was a tough one."

While the Coronels are set to return for another Dakar bid in 2019, Tom Coronel is expected to switch his focus to finalising his participation in the inaugural FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR), which gets underway in Morocco on 7 April.

Spanish rallying legend Carlos Sainz won the event with Nasser Al-Attiyah, who made a one-off FIA World Touring Car Championship appearance in 2015, claiming second place. Sébastien Loeb, a WTCC race winner in the past, was forced to withdraw following an injury to his co-driver Daniel Elena.

Zdroj: fiawtcc.com