Photo: WTCC Media

Two podiums for Tom Coronel at Valencia

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Tom Coronel took two podium finishes at Valencia in the ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC and jumps to third in the drivers’ standings, just three points behind Alain Menu, but was critical of the stewards decision to warn him in race one.

The Dutchman was lucky to start from row two in race one after breaking a driveshaft at the start of the first qualifying session, with the Italian team just able to fix it in time for Coronel to complete one flying run at the end of Q1 and get into Q2, where he’d go on to be the only BMW to set a lap time in the 1:42s all weekend and qualify third.

In race one, Coronel was fighting with Gabriele Tarquini’s SEAT for second position whilst Yvan Muller pulled away in the lead in the Chevrolet Cruze, before getting a warning after tapping Tarquini’s rear in on Lap 9.

“Gabriele’s clever enough to slow down in the middle of the corners so that on purpose I’m touching him and then I got a warning,” said Coronel. “And I thought why do I get a warning? Because I didn’t push him offline or unbalanced, because I wanted to do that one lap later! But I never got the chance because they’d warned me before.”

Coronel also added to TouringCarTimes;
“I think the organisation is not being clever, this is touring racing, this is not the DTM or Formula 1, somebody has to make the show and if nobody is allowed to do anything then they should not choose these types of circuits.”

In race two, after starting eighth on the grid, Coronel was up to fourth by the end of the first lap. The ROAL driver managed to conserve his tyres before being able to take advantage of Stefano D’Aste and Franz Engstler slipping on fluid at Turn 10 on Lap 10 to move up to second and close in on Alain Menu, but despite a close fight was unable to pass him for the lead.

With a third and second in the races and third in qualifying, Coronel actually scored more points than anyone else over the Valencia weekend and moves up to third in the Championship standings.