Tom Coronel and Darryl O’Young will race for ROAL Motorsport in the 2013 World Touring Car Championship, in the teams’ BMW 320TC race cars.
Coronel heads into his third campaign with the team looking to improve on his fourth and fifth places finishes in the drivers’ Championship in the last two years.
“At the end of last year, Roberto Ravaglia made it clear that the team had every reason to continue our existing partnership,” explains the popular Dutchman.
“During the winter, they have tried everything to make the BMW lighter and better. We are now quite close to the minimum weight, which certainly will give us an advantage. With ROAL Motorsport, we are aiming at top three results in the races and in the championship. Of course, the opposition has been working hard, too, but I am very confident that we can be among the front runners.”
O’Young heads into his first campaign of racing a Rear Wheel Drive Touring Car, having raced Front Wheel Drive Chevrolet’s and SEAT’s for his previous seasons. He has experience of racing Rear Wheel Drive cars from his GT racing experiences.
His 2012 campaign was a mixed one, with some strong performances yet mixed with reliability issues in the Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon before switching back to the bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze for the final three events, which culminated in a double Yokohama Independents’ victory on the streets of Macau.
“I am excited to join ROAL Motorsport! I have admired Roberto and his team for many years in the WTCC, and to have an opportunity to work with them this season is perfect,” said O’Young.
“I have built a rear-wheel drive experience in GT racing, so I feel the BMW will suit me well. I’m looking forward to begin testing with the team, and I will work hard to deliver the best results. This will be my fourth WTCC season and by now I have the experience to fight for the Yokohama Trophy title.”
Roberto Ravaglia, ROAL Motorsport Team principal added:“We are very confident while looking forward to the new season. Tom is part of our family and we are pleased to welcome Darryl in the team. They are both experienced drivers; Tom has the potential to fight for top three in the Drivers’ Championship and Darryl for the Yokokama Trophy title.”
The team will take to the track for the first time at Vallelunga, Italy over the 21/22 February ahead of the season opener at Monza over the 23/24 March.