Not much luck at Suzuka for ROAL Motorsport

Not very lucky exit to Japan for team ROAL Motorsport in Suzuka's third-last round of the FIA WTCC 2012.

Tom Coronel, BMW 320 TC, ROAL Motorsport

Photo by: xpb.cc

Tom Coronel, seventh in qualifying, decided not to take excessive risks in race one to play all his cards in race two where he started fourth due to the grid inversion, and therefore crossed the finish line in sixth.

At the start of the second race the Dutch driver stalled his BMW 320TC on the grid. Eventually starting in last position, the features of the Japanese track allowed him very few chances to recover and the race ended for him with a fifteenth place.

Things did not go much better for Alberto Cerqui. Twentieth in qualifying, in the first stages of race one he recovered some positions but an excursion during an overtaking attempt forced him to the retirement in lap fifteen. In the second race the young Italian produced a good start that saw him gaining seven positions; the race did not offer particular twists afterwards and he crossed the finish line in fourteenth place.

Coronel is currently fifth in qualifying at 172 points, 48 shy of Gabriele Tarquini (Seat). In the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy Cerqui is seventh instead, while ROAL Motorsport is leading the Yokohama Teams' Trophy with 142 points, that is 6 clear of Tuenti Racing Team.

Roberto Ravaglia (ROAL Motorsport, Team Principal): "Considering the unfavourable starting position of race one, together with Tom the decision was made to put all our bets on race two, but things did not go as expected. Qualifying spoiled instead Cerqui's weekend on circuit where overtaking is very difficult".

FIA WTCC will be back on track next November 4 in Shanghai, China.

Source: ROAL Motorsport