ROAL Motorsport sent to the back of the grid

The two BMW 320 TCs of Alberto Cerqui and Tom Coronel have been sent to the back of the grid after an error by the team which saw them breach parc fermé regulations.

Alberto Cerqui had qualified in 13th and Tom Coronel 19th, the worst result for Coronel this season, but now their troubles will be compounded with Cerqui and Coronel now starting 21st and 22nd in both of tomorrow’s races.

The team connected their laptops to the data loggers in the cars after Q1 when the cars were officially in parc fermé, and as a result their lap times from Q1 have been deleted.

Coronel was already downbeat after qualifying in 19th place, unable to resolve a set-up issue with his BMW 320 TC.

“This morning we tried different types of set-ups and it didn’t make any difference,” said Coronel to TouringCarTImes. “I already said I was not happy with the car at all, I was fighting the car too much…there was no consistency in myself and the car.”

“Normally if you put on new tyres in the first two laps you don’t have these kinds of problems because the tyres stick. Maybe the set-up is not perfect but then the tyre does the job for you then you have to find out further on what was wrong.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s races where Coronel will start from the back of the pack, the Dutchman believes it’ll be difficult with the lack of passing opportunities at the Hungaroring.

“You cannot overtake here,” said Coronel. “Last time I was behind Darryl O’Young and I couldn’t overtake him, so forget this weekend.”