Tom Coronel happy with points after dismal qualifying

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel finished ninth and tenth in the two races at the Slovakiaring, making his way forward from 15th on the grid at a track which saw both Chevrolet and Honda struggle for performance against the might of Citroën and the ballast-free Ladas.

The Dutchman finished ninth in race one and tenth in race two, both times following the Honda Civic of Tiago Monteiro across the line from a safe distance, with the Portuguese driver similarly turning around a poor qualifying performance of 17th into a pair of points finished.

“At the moment, we really are in survival mode,” said Coronel. “This was another really tough weekend, during which we didn’t manage to stay in the midfield. The front runners really are too far off, but I definitely would like to be a little bit further up the ranks in qualifying.

“Once again, we tried everything, but we can’t get the set-up as it should be, while the other Chevrolets do have the speed. What I am missing is traction while accelerating out of the corners and that is the reason why I am also lacking speed on the straights. On top of that, we also have 50 kilograms extra handicap weight in the car, which doesn’t make things any easier either.”

In order to help get around the issues, a number of teams will be taking part in a test at the Paul Ricard circuit next week following the race before heading to Vila Real, which it’s now confirmed that ROAL Motorsport will also join.

“I am also happy that team manager Roberto Ravaglia informed us that we will be testing the day after the next round at Paul Ricard in order to improve the set-up. Now, we really have some work to do.”