The engineer behind Coronel: Pietro Speronello

Tom Coronel has started the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship season strong and one of the men behind his success is his race engineer Pietro Speronello. TouringCarTimes met up with the ROAL Motorsport engineer to understand exactly what’s going on behind the scenes of a WTCC race.

TcT: Tom Coronel proved to be competitive in the season opener at Curitiba: How much did your work influence the results?

Well, typically, in the motorsport world people say that you only need the engineer when you lose, as we tend to get the blame when things go wrong and the drivers are praised when the team delivers good results. Anyway, with the new car and the new engine there is a lot of setup work behind success.

Nevertheless we still have a lot of work to do. We didn’t do many laps before Curitiba, as we only tested the car once in Vallelunga before shipping the car for the first race of the season. We also had a few damp sessions in Brazil, which affected the development of the car. Anyway, we str already in a good shape, all in all, the driver is happy and we know the areas in which we have to improve and we will have to test our ideas during the season.

TcT: Chevrolet have had an intense test programme before the first race. Will you be able to test the car further during the season?

I think everybody knows the difference between us and Chevrolet, so obviously we will not have the chance to test much. Our advantage is that we already start with great development work done by BMW Motorsport, especially with the engine, which is at least on par with the Chevrolet engine, if not more powerful. Obviously they have done so much testing with their works driver that Muller, Huff and Menu know the car very well. Coronel hasn’t had much track time, so we’re still getting to grips with the car. We’re an independent team, so we will not be able to do nowhere near the tests they have done.

TcT: Being an independent team is a new situation for ROAL, as the team has had a long history as a works team. How do you relate to that?

It’s just a new challenge and those are the best to face. We’re sure we can perform well and this new situation makes the whole project even more interesting.

TcT: Do you think you will be the real challengers to the Chevrolet, a team looking very strong in Brazil?

I think we can challenge the Chevrolets very closely, but I’ve also seen the good performance [Kristian] Poulsen has delivered and I think he will be a strong opponent as well. I was not impressed much by his qualifying pace, but more by his race pace. In Curitiba we had problems during qualifying, which makes it difficult to compare our performance with those delivered by Poulsen. I also expect a lot by other BMW competitors. Many people say Michelisz is a very good driver, I wasn’t on track last year and I couldn’t see him live but I am very curious to see what he will be able to do in a BMW. I also expect a lot from Villa and it will be very interesting to see his development as a touring car driver. I guess we will understand more about our competitors in the next few races.

TcT: Can you tell us more about what your job is like?

An engineer is first of all in charge for all the technical setup of the car and the choices to be made. All the technical parameters, like which springs to use, are under the engineer’s responsibility. Another very important aspect of an engineer’s work is the coordination of the mechanics’ work on the car. We also are in charge of what the driver has to do on track, it’s a kind of driver management work. We talk to the driver, analyze all the data and try to develop the car.

Tom Coronel currently is fourth in the WTCC standings, seven points shy of championship leader Rob Huff.