Coronel punished for clash with Villa

Tom Coronel was found guilty by the stewards of causing an avoidable collision with Javier Villa, after the two made contact whilst battling for the lead in Valencia.

The ROAL Motorsport driver had taken the lead after a good start from the front row and after a disastrous start for pole sitter Franz Engstler, and had led for the first nine laps of the race, but on the tenth lap the Dutchman had a coming together with Proteam Racing Javier Villa as the 23-year-old tried to pass for the race lead.

“I was a little bit slow in the first corner, so I knew at the hairpin I had to stay on the inside and it was completely under control,” said Coronel after the race.

“Then there was a young spanish guy who was a little bit out of oxygen in the car, and he was just pushing me in the rear two or three times. Then we were just side by side and he just didn’t give me any space. He knew I was on the inside and he just drove and he just closed the door. Of course, it’s good to take risks but he was a little bit over the limit.”

Villa’s BMW 320 TC ended up in the gravel trap at Turn 4 and out of the race, and promoted Yvan Muller into the lead of the race where he went on to take his 20th WTCC victory.

“In the first part of the race he (Coronel) was quick, but after a few laps he started to go very slowly,” said Villa to TouringCarTimes.

“In Turn 3, I went inside, he (went to the other side), he has the video, and in this moment when I braked he braked too late and touched me. If I wasn’t in that place, he couldn’t have stopped the car for the corner.”

The stewards deemed Coronel at fault for the incident, and gave him a 10 second penalty for the incident, which dropped him down to seventh place, as well as a ten place grid drop suspended for the next race.

After the DNF, the Spaniard’s second place in class from race one moves him up to fourth in the trophy standings, 18 points adrift of Kristian Poulsen, and one point behind third placed Franz Engstler.

“There’s many races left, I’m happy with the work we did this weekend,” said Villa. “I think that the BMW’s very strong. In the first race it was stronger than the SEAT, and maybe in the second race quickest on the whole track – so with this experience, with a private team, we can go quicker than the official drivers and we can relax and look forward to the next one.”