Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global

ROAL Motorsport Race of Austria event summary

ROAL Motorsport

Tom Coronel, BMW 320 TC, ROAL Motorsport

Tom Coronel, BMW 320 TC, ROAL Motorsport

FIA WTCC

Tom Coronel, BMW 320 TC, ROAL Motorsport
Tom Coronel, BMW 320 TC, ROAL Motorsport

Photo by: xpb.cc

Salzburgring: third podium of the season for Coronel, Cerqui into points

21/05/2012 - Tom Coronel and ROAL Motorsport obtained the third podium of the season in Salzburg's sixth round of the FIA WTCC 2012.

The Dutch driver set the ninth time in Q2 (1'28.124) on Saturday and in race one he put great care in not making any mistakes to save his BMW 320TC for the second race that saw him starting from the front row of the grid. In race one he obtained anyway a positive eighth place allowing him to get some fruitful points for the classification.

At the start of race two Coronel got the lead keeping it afterwards for the first few laps. The recover of the three Chevrolet was unstoppable on the Austrian circuit and forced the Dutchman to give the lead away in the mid stages of the race and to follow them in fourth. The sting was in the tail anyway when Alain Menu first and Yvan Muller then suffered a failure to the front left tyre. Coronel was second at the last corner, following the leader Huff very closely with the latter experiencing the same problem of his team mates. The ROAL's driver found himself closed between the grass on his left and Stefano d'Aste's BMW on his right as d'Aste seized the moment and took the two clinching the victory, while Coronel ended third.

Cerqui had a difficult start of race one instead as he was forced to a unscheduled pit stop at the end of lap one due to a contact with a rival damaging the front left tyre of his BMW 320TC. Back on track in last position, Cerqui started a lively recover taking him, thanks also to a safety car deployment, to the thirteenth final place, that meant sixth and points in the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy.

Wise race two for him: after a good start, Cerqui moved up into twelfth and, thanks to a flawless performance, he progressively gained the place of other drivers victim of Salzburgring's pitfalls. The seventh place under the chequered flag gave him further points for the absolute classification and four more points in the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy, where he ended fifteenth.

Coronel is currently fourth in the standings with 116 points, 5 clear of Gabriele Tarquini (Seat). In the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy Cerqui is seventh at 34, 4 short of Alex Macdowall (Chevrolet). ROAL Motorsport keeps the lead in the Yokohama Teams' Trophy with 94 points, 8 adrift of Tuenti Racing Team.

Roberto Ravaglia (ROAL Motorsport, Team Principal): "On a circuit not completely suiting the features of the 320TC the BMW obtained a victory. The results of both my drivers have been more than positive: Tom run a second race as protagonist and only a matter of luck prevented him from taking the victory. He comes back home from Salzburg with a strengthened fourth position in the standings. Alberto managed to lap on very competitive times in race two and he is progressively improving while acquiring the necessary experience".

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article bamboo engineering Race of Austria event summary
Next article Tarquini Takes Dominant Pole

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global