Tom Coronel: ”I threw it away myself”

Tom Coronel had a tough FIA World Touring Car Championship season start in Argentina with technical problems and driver mistakes.
“I threw it away myself, especially in the second race. Too bad, because things were getting better and better as the weekend progressed,” said Coronel.

The Dutchman qualified ninth but had to pit from fourth position in the first race due to problems with a hose to the turbo charger.

The second race saw Coronel starting from second position thanks to the reversed grid. Coronel could not stop the Citroën drivers from getting past, but kept third position until he made a mistake.

”The Citroëns went past, but I still managed to keep the Hondas at bay. A little bit later, I made a mistake, ran into the grass next to the track and lost a certain top five finish there. Once again, the engine temperature rose and I went into the pits again. There, the crew removed the grass from the radiator and I rejoined the race, but the splitter and the undertray turned out to have been damaged as well, so there was no point in continuing,” said Coronel.

The ROAL Motorsport driver left Argentina with zero points, but is nonetheless confident for the rest of the season.

”Argentina is a beautiful country, but earlier this year in the Dakar rally and now in the FIA WTCC, I am not particularly lucky there. It was not the start of the season that we had hoped for, but at least we know that we can challenge for good positions,” said Coronel.