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Tom Coronel remains in contention in FIA WTCC races at Shanghai

Shanghai, November 3rd, 2013 - The 4.6 kilometres long Shanghai International Circuit in China hosted the penultimate race meeting of the 2013 FIA WTCC. 41-year old Dutchman Tom Coronel had a strong start into the weekend, but just missed out on a top 12 result in qualifying. This would have enabled him to take part in the second qualifying heat.

A disappointing situation, and even more so as Volvo driver Björk, who was seventh, was dropped five places because his car was found to be underweight. For Coronel, driving ROAL Motorsport's BMW 320 TC, a pair of twelfth places on the starting grid was the outcome. In the first race, a damp affair with a safety car start, he didn't manage to improve that position, resulting into a twelfth place finish. A good start and a strong showing in the second race saw Tom Coronel then finish eighth. Thus, his eighth place in the FIA World Touring Car Championship drivers' standings was not in jeopardy. He now has a total of 147 points. There is one remaining FIA WTCC race meeting, held at the spectacular Macau street circuit from November 15th till 17th.

At the end of the weekend, Tom Coronel analysed: "It all started really well. We were among the front runners which gave me plenty of confidence for the remainder of the weekend. The differences were only small and I was somewhere around twelfth, 13th place in the thrilling qualifying session. This time, Thed Björk's Volvo C30 was also there and he was in contention for a top 12 result as well. He ended up seventh, but he wasn't eligible for Q2 due to the fact that his car was only admitted under national homologation. Instead of me being allowed in with my 13th place, the second heat started with eleven drivers. As a result, all my chances of a good starting grid position for race two were gone. Too bad, really, especially after the Volvo was also found to be underweight and was dropped five places. I was really annoyed, because there wasn't a thing we could do. Eventually, I came four hundredths of a second short, which means breaking some ten centimetres later. At the start of the first race, it was foggy and the track was damp. I had opted for slicks nevertheless and I stuck to that decision after the formation lap. That turned out to be the right choice and especially in the final stages of the race, I was able to close up to the drivers in front of me. Too bad that the race had been shortened by three laps, because I came closer and closer towards the end and still had something left to mount an attack. I was even alongside the two Hondas in the hairpin on the final lap. Fortunately, I ended up as the best-placed BMW driver once again. My start into the second race was great. I moved up a few places right away and I was behind Yvan Muller when, all of a sudden, Rickard Rydell was completely sideways in front of me. I had to brake to the max and then go for it once more. Having overtaken Barth and O'Young, I was involved in battles with Oriola and Nash and I was sixth, but Nash and Oriola came back. The differences at the finish were only minimal," Tom Coronel said.

Result Race 1: 1.Tom Chilton 12 laps in 26:28.234; 2. Yvan Muller +0.010; 3. James Nash +14.737; 4. Alex MacDowall +15.455; 5. Pepe Oriola (all Chevrolet Cruze) +16.441 and 12. Tom Coronel (ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC) +18.079.

Result Race 2: 1. Tiago Monteiro 10 laps in 19:26.090; 2. Gabriele Tarquini +1.178; 3. Norbert Michelisz (all Honda Civic WTCC) +4.143; 4. Rob Huff (SEAT Leon) +5.470; 5. Yvan Muller (Chevrolet Cruze) +5.739 and 8. Tom Coronel (ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC) +8.042.

Calendar 2013 FIA WTCC
15-17 November Macau

In the 2013 FIA WTCC season, Tom Coronel is being supported by:
McGregor, TW Steel -big in oversized watches-, Valvoline, DHL, AkzoNobel stickerfixtm , Equinix, Boretti, De Wild Multi Print Solutions, Intrax, Playseat, Super-B en Freem.