ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel has admitted that he “threw it away” in the opening two races of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Argentina, taking home no points from Sunday’s two races.
Having qualified in ninth on Saturday, resulting in a front-row grid position for the second of Sunday’s races, Coronel had reason to be optimistic. However in race one, having dropped to 11th by the end of the opening lap, Coronel was forced to pit for repairs to his Chevrolet after losing turbo power.
“In race one I had a poor start and lost some positions very early in the race,” explained the Dutchman. “I lost top speed and I had to turn into the pits. It turned out that there was no pressure in the hose from the turbocharger to the intercooler. Once the problem was repaired, I rejoined the race and everything worked fine again.”
Coronel started race two in second alongside LADA’s James Thompson, but lost out to Citroën duo Ma Qing Hua and Sébastien Loeb on the opening lap of the race to end the first lap in third.
On lap two Coronel ran wide whilst defending from Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini, collecting a radiator full of grass in the process. With engine temperatures rising, the Dutchman was forced to pit behind the safety car and dropped out of the points. As a result, Coronel retired from the race, and admits he was at fault for the lack of a result.
“I threw it away myself, especially in the second race,” said Coronel. “Too bad, because things were getting better and better as the weekend progressed.
“I had a great start into race two – there was a Honda alongside me, but he couldn’t get past. I led the field until I had massive oversteer in turn seven. The Citroëns benefited and went past, but I still managed to keep the Hondas at bay.
“A little bit later, I made a mistake, ran into the grass next to the track and lost a certain top five finish there. Once again, the engine temperature rose and I went into the pits again. There, the crew removed the grass from the radiator and I rejoined the race, but the splitter and the undertray turned out to have been damaged as well, so there was no point in continuing.
“Argentina is a beautiful country, but earlier this year in the Dakar rally and now in the FIA WTCC, I am not particularly lucky there. It was not the start of the season that we had hoped for, but at least we know that we can challenge for good positions.”