ETCC: Magny-Cours: Tom Coronel race notes

Hard work rewarded with points at Magny Cours

After a hectic week in which his teammate and girlfriend Paulien Zwart got injured in a test session Tom Coronel competed in the third LG Super Racing Weekend

This time the battle took place at Magny Cours in the French district of Nevers. Making maximum use of his new tyres Tom Coronel seemed to cause a stir in the first race. With a perfectly set up Carly Motors BMW the Dutchman moved up from eleventh at the start to a solid fifth place. However a broken drive shaft made an end to this perfect race. Starting from the back of the grid for the second race Coronel managed to move up to eighth place in the end and thus scoring a championship point. More important for Tom was winning the privateer battle. Coronel managed to stay in the lead, despite not scoring in the first race of the day.

After the previous round Tom Coronel already announced that he wanted to score at Magny Cours. "Things were looking great for us. In free practise I set the sixth fastest time and in qualifying I was eleventh. I was mixing up with the factory drivers. The start was perfect. Really great. I was able to drive around some of the other drivers who were already braking for the first corner. At that moment I was behind Garcia and I just knew I could overtake him. The new tyres that I had saved from last weekend proved their value. I was having a good time until a broken drive shaft ruined my race. Really a big shame, because fourth place was really on the cards today", Coronel said

After the Carly Motors crew repaired the car Tom started his second race from last place on the grid. He shared this row with Frank Diefenbacher and the Dutchman intended to move up through the field with the Seat driver. "I had to let go on that idea pretty soon when Diefenbacher started to loose oil. I spun on it and had to start all over again. By using the same tactics as in the first race I managed to pass one after the other privateer driver. In the final lap I managed to overtake Stefano D 'Aste which brought me in the lead of the privateer class. That second race I finished in eighth place overall which was great. Especially when considering that I came from the back of the grid. These points are really valuable and I had to work hard to get them. I am really happy, mainly because I am still leading the Michelin Independents Trophy", Tom Coronel concludes.

The first race was won by Dirk Muller in a BMW. Fellow BMW driver Andy Priaulx won the second race of the day.

Tom Coronel is supported in the ETCC by: McGregor, Autocentrum Beelen, BBS, JBL and Apex.

<pre> Standings Michelin Independents Trophy after 6 races: 1. Tom Coronel 44 points 2. Stefano D'Aste 41 3. Alessandro Balzan 31 4. Salvatore Tavano 23

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