Tom Coronel delights with second win of 2016, aims for a third in Japan
ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel racked up his second win of the 2016 World Touring Car Championship in Vila Real, also on a street circuit, and says after winning on the “most difficult circuit on our calendar”, he will be aiming for a record third win in a year at his second home in Japan.
Coronel’s win was also the second for the Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 of the year, and the Dutchman held firm from the reversed grid pole during the opening race ahead of his former ROAL team-mate Tom Chilton’s Citroën to take the victory, moving up to tenth in the drivers’ championship in the process.
“It’s the most difficult track of our calendar so it’s always good and challenging for a driver if you go to a circuit where you know it’s more risky and there are a few corners where they really, really, really challenging you and your car,” said Coronel.
“I knew I had good chance here. I’ve always said Morocco, Vila Real and Japan should be good to me, and until now everything came out so I’m really happy.”
Coronel’s only challenge came from the Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée of Tom Chilton, which was carrying an additional 70kg of compensation weight over the Chevrolet, meaning it was struggling in the high speed parts of the circuit to keep up with the RML-developed car.
“In my race I was a little bit under pressure from Chilton, I was a little bit faster in the high speed stuff and finally I could take the points where he could out-brake me with a little distance, oo to be honest it was for me a reasonably easy drive.”
