Coronel: “A rule that nobody had looked at”

Privateer SEAT driver Tom Coronel had a mixed weekend. It started nicely as the Dutchman qualified third overall, out pacing the closest SEAT with over one second.
“Street circuits are my kind of track and it showed already in the first meters. I was always in the top five and in qualifying I even was on provisional pole for a long time,” said Coronel.

But the joy was not to last for long as Coronel had his fastest time removed due to him exceeding the maximum rev limit on downshifts.

“A rule that nobody had looked at in the past, was now checked very strictly. This cost me three places on the grid,” said Coronel.

Coronel finished ninth in the race after having problems with an overheating engine.

“Right after the start of the first race Larini hit me about five times in the back, which made me hit Priaulx.

This caused the radiator to break and engine temperatures run op to 120 degrees Celcius. At that moment I was still leading the privateers battle, so I went for the Independents win,” said Coronel.

Privateer rival Félix Porteiro was closing quickly on Coronel in the closing stages of the race which eventually resulted in a collision.

“He pushed me wide in a right hander causing not only himself, but also fellow Independent Engstler to get by in the final lap of the race. With this the chance of starting the second race from the front row was also gone.

This was really useless. Porteiro was disqualified for his move and the only winner was Engstler who benefitted from it all,” said Coronel.

The team then had to change the engine for the second race.

“The crew did a fabulous job so our damage in time was limited. It has to be said that we were helped a bit by the incidents on the track right after the start, but it was still an impressive job.

We decided to change the engine in order to prevent a penalty in the next race. The race itself was far from easy. The throttle got stuck, so I was forced to change my driving tactics,” said Coronel.

A rather disappointed Coronel summarized the weekend:

“There was definitely more in it for us, but due to several circumstances it did not work out. Let’s hope our bad luck stops here,” said Coronel.