Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Tom Coronel has admitted it will be “difficult to defend” his lead from reverse-grid pole in race two of TCR Europe at the Red Bull Ring given the lack of top speed in his Honda.
The Dutch racer has been fighting around the top ten so far this weekend at the Spielberg circuit, and enjoyed tough battles in the opening race before contact with Mat’o Homola under braking for the Remus hairpin broke his steering column and forced him to retire.
For today’s reverse-grid encounter, Coronel starts from pole position, and told TouringCars.Net he hopes that means he can avoid a repeat of the race one contact, and feels confident of a strong result.
“I think we should be OK, we’re starting at the front, hopefully that means we’ll stay a little bit more out of trouble and then you can just run your own race,” said Coronel.
“It should be good, I’m confident. It’s not at all the fastest car, of course it will be difficult to defend.
“When you have so much experience you don’t think about what you’re going to do as much, you just see what happens in the first corner.”
Moving into the second half of the TCR Europe season, Coronel noted the benefit of dovetailing his commitment to the series with a full-season FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) campaign.
Despite running a Honda Civic Type R FK7 in TCR Europe and a CUPRA in WTCR, Coronel feels the mileage gained by competing in both series keeps him “sharp” and able to gain extra hundredths of a second.
“It’s a lot of driving, a lot, which is a good thing. It keeps you sharp. There’s obviously different tyres in the European and the Global championship,” explained Coronel.
“But if you make a lot of mileage, and you do a lot of racing, you take the last little few hundreds out of the car.
“Mileage is always good so that’s why I drive as much as possible.
“The cars are obviously completely different but so are the tyres. The racing, the instinct and finding the limit is the same. Let’s say it’s 95% the same.”
With a best WTCR result of sixth so far this year – and two tenth positions in TCR Europe in race two at Hockenheim and race one at Spa – Coronel is hoping the reverse-grid pole will mean he can bring home silverware from Austria.
“I need to bring a trophy home, it’s been some time since that happened. I’ve had some good opportunities and I’ve had some bad luck.
“So you just need sometimes your moment of fame, and this is my time this weekend.”