Photo: WTCC Media

Coronel eyes chance with reversed grid race

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With Chevrolet topping the times in Qualifying 1, the team will start from their combined lowest positions on the grid all season in the reversed grid second race. Which will give a few drivers their best shot of victory so far, including pole sitter Tom Coronel.

The ROAL Motorsport BMW driver was tenth fastest in Q1, which means he will provisionally start from pole position as long as the car’s able to return to Parc Fermé conditions at the end of race one.

“Q1 was exciting because Tarquini was the first one to get the chequered, then me I believe, and then all others came (across the line) and it was about who was the last one on the circuit,” said Coronel to TouringCarTimes.

As the other drivers crossed the line on the drying circuit, the top ten continuously changed even after the chequered flag had waved, but eventually the coveted position of tenth in the first qualifying session went to Coronel, giving him pole position for the standing start of race two.

“It was too quiet on the radio, I said ‘come on boys, where am I?, tell me where I am?’ and they didn’t say anything, and then they said ‘phew, you’re P10′”.

“In Q2 I just braked much too early in the first corner, you could see my first sector was too slow,” said Coronel. The Dutchman was then called into Scrutineering which lost him time and left him with one final run in the session, which will see him line-up eighth on the grid for race one between the two rival BMWs of Franz Engstler and Javier Villa.

“Please don’t let it rain tomorrow,” Coronel added.

With pole position in race two, and with the top placed RML Chevrolet that of Alain Menu in eighth, race two at Donington Park would appear to be the best chance since Zolder of a non-Chevrolet victory.

“They have to overtake first six cars and they know this circuit very well,” said Coronel. “And I know that they’re clever. I just hope that everybody will fight them, and if everybody fights them then there is a small possibility – a very small one, but hey, there are people who buy lottery tickets and they have less chance than me.”