Tom Coronel happy with podium finish

Tom Coronel repeated his best season result by claiming second in Race 2 at Beijing. The Dutchman had a very difficult first heat, as his ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze was hit at the start by several cars and, as a result of the damage, Coronel eventually elected to retire.

The second race was much smoother for the driver, as after the start from second the Dutchman was able to retain his position and defend fiercely from Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb. Towards the end of the race the Chevrolet closed the gap from eventual winner Rob Huff and his Lada Granta, but the Brit had the situation under control and Coronel was not able to attack before the chequered flag.

“At the start of the weekend, the car was good and we were somewhere between fourth and sixth place. Thus, I was the fastest Chevy driver and I had a good feeling,” admitted Coronel. “In the free practice sessions, things were totally different. I was all the way down in twelfth and then even in 14th place and we couldn’t get the set-up right, so things didn’t look good at all.”

Qualifying went better for the Dutchman however, despite a red flag forcing him to use an extra set of new tyres: “The situation was considerably better in qualifying, in which I ended up ninth. At such a short track, time differences are very small. One corner follows immediately after the previous one and there are very few opportunities for overtaking. On top of that, the red flags were out once, so that I had to use another set of fresh tyres. The fact that my ROAL team-mate Tom Chilton claimed pole position for the first race was a good thing for my team.”

Coronel went on to talk about Race 1, during which he struggled after making contact with several cars at the start:”My first start went reasonably well, but I was on the outside and everyone wanted to pass on the inside. I was hit several times and I opted to stay out of all the battles to keep my car undamaged for the second race. I only partly succeeded, because some drivers still hit me. I also hit a piece of rubber from one of the tyre stacks, which damaged the right front part of my car.”

After this small incident, the Dutchman elected to go back to the pits to get his car fixed ahead of the second race, as the ROAL Motorsport Cruze would start from second:”At that time, I was 13th, so I wouldn’t have scored any points, which made me decide to head for the pits to prevent any further damage and to have my car repaired. That all worked out very well, although we only had limited time.”

Coronel’s second race was much smoother, but the Dutch driver was not able to stay with Rob Huff due to an early battle with Loeb, which cost him time: “My start into the second race went well, but Loeb already put me under pressure going into the first corner. He wasn’t able to overtake me, but the battle allowed Rob Huff to pull clear from us.”

Towards the end of the race, Coronel figured he had a chance to attack for the lead, but was only able to catch the leading Lada without managing to even try an overtaking move: “Halfway through the race, I noticed that Huff was having tyre problems while Loeb came more and more under pressure from his team-mate Lopez. Thus, I was slightly more comfortable and I managed to close up on Huff with some clean laps. His margin was only just big enough to win the race, but the difference at the finish line was small.”

The ROAL Motorsport driver feels he was not able to explore the potential of the new parts developed by RML for the Chevrolet Cruze: “Some changes were made on the car, particularly on the front section. A revised front bumper was mounted to achieve more downforce on the front wheels, but at this short track, which was more like a go-kart circuit, I didn’t feel much of it.”

Coronel is now hoping for a similar weekend in Shanghai next week:”With this second place, I kept damage in the championship standings limited and I hope for two more results like this next weekend. That would be fantastic.”

Coronel is now sixth in the championship, tied on points with Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, with the works Civic of Gabriele Tarquini just eight points ahead of the Dutchman. Tom Chilton’s win means he closes in on his team-mate Coronel, as the Brit is now eighth in the championship, just one point shy of his fellow Chevrolet driver.