Tom Coronel has ruled himself out of the remainder of the World Touring Car Championship weekend in Portugal, after the ROAL Motorsport driver crashed into a fire rescue vehicle in first practice.
Coronel lost control of his Chevrolet Cruze after his left-front wheel came loose under braking for Turn 19 in first practice.
The Dutchman’s car skated off down an escape road, before firstly clouting a kerb on the exit of the roundabout and impacting hard into the side of a fire rescue vehicle which was parked by the circuit.
As a result of the heavy damaged sustained to the car, Coronel will take no further part in this weekend’s action, with his team instead focussing on repairing the car ahead of it being shipped to next month’s races in Argentina.
“The car is completely broken,” said Coronel. “Already at the braking point I just started to brake and then I felt that something like a tyre was completely exploded or something.
“We found out the problem – the bolts on the left-front wheel were completely snapped, so the wheel was coming out of the arch.
“I couldn’t stop the car and I was just trying to see where to go. I tried to take the longest route possible. The car has so much broken that the weekend is over for us.”
Coronel added that the team are now focussed on working to repair the car, with additional support coming from some of the other teams in the paddock.
“It’s a big challenge, but we are with ROAL Motorsport. From Portugal we will drive to Spain and Campos Racing are giving us their workshop so we will fix our car there; we already share data.
“It’s good help from the other teams as well, and we will repair the car there because the whole chassis is completely bent, even underneath the door. It’s a challenge.”
Video: Tom Coronel crashes in Vila Real practice