Tom Coronel

Tom Coronel (2011)

Tom Romeo Coronel (born April 5, 1972 in Naarden ) is a Dutch automobile racing driver .

He comes from a motorsport-loving family. His father, Tom Coronel Sr., was also a racing car driver, as was his twin brother Tim Alfa Coronel (the combination of the twins' second names makes Alfa Romeo ). His greatest successes are winning the Japanese Formula 3 Championship in 1997, the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 (also known as the Marlboro Masters ) competition at Zandvoort in the same year, and the Formula Nippon Championship in 1999.

Career

Beginnings

Coronel began his automobile racing career in 1990 in the Dutch Citroën AX Cup , after proving himself to be very talented at a local racing school. After his debut year, he was able to win the cup in 1991 with four wins and 105 points. He also won an international Citroën AX in Barcelona that same year. In 1992 he was promoted to the Dutch touring car championship, he drove a BMW 320i . He managed to become champion straight away, defeating his teammate and older brother Raymond Coronel. In the same year he also took part in the Dutch Formula Ford Championship as a driver for the Fresh team. At the end of 1992 he decided to initially focus on formula racing cars.

He stayed in Formula Ford in 1993 with Team Fresh and managed to become world champion with three race wins. Furthermore, he also drove in the Belgian championship, where he reached second place in the same year behind the Belgian Geoffroy Horion, who in turn was second in the Dutch championship behind Coronel. He also took part in the German championship in the same year, where he achieved several podium positions. He finished the year in ninth place at the Formula Ford Festival.

In 1994 Coronel made his debut for the Dutch Van Amersfoort Racing Team in the Euro Series of the Formula Opel Lotus. Although he was quite successful with eight first places on the grid and two wins, it wasn't enough to become European champion. Instead, Marco Campos secured the title . Together with Donny Crevels, he secured the title of best motorsport nation for the Netherlands and was voted Dutch Driver of the Year . This gave him the financial means to drive in the German Formula 3 the following year . He drove with Ralf Schumacher in the WTS team, which Michael Schumacher and Jos Verstappen already looked after. A Dallara chassis, which was driven by an Opel engine, was used as the car. With 74 points overall in sixteen races, he finished seventh in the overall standings.

Success in Japan

In 1996 Coronel decided to compete in the Japanese Formula 3 for Team TOM. He won the run in Sugo and finished third in the championship at the end of the season. In the following year he was clearly superior to his competitors and was able to win six of the seven races in which he participated. In 1997 he became Japanese Formula 3 champion.

In 1998 Coronel rose to higher classes in motorsport. He stayed in Japan and took part in the Satoru Nakajima team in both Formula Nippon and the Japanese GT championship . His first year in Formula Nippon was just a year of learning. Therefore, he achieved relatively poor results. He did much better in the Japanese GT Championship. Together with his teammate Kōji Yamanishi , Coronel still had championship chances on a Honda NSX in the last race. However, the team dropped out in the introductory round.

Coronel drove again in 1999 in Formula Nippon and in the Japanese GT championship. In Formula Nippon, he was a strong contender for the title. He took his first Formula Nippon victory at Fuji Speedway and prevailed against his rival Satoshi Motoyama in the battle for the title . In contrast, Coronel drove in the Japanese GT championship with no chances of winning the title. In the same year he gave the team Racing for Holland of Jan Lammers also his debut at the 24-hour race at Le Mans . With his team-mate Peter Kox , he was able to keep up with the works teams for a long time, but had to give up the race after 213 laps due to technical problems.

Formula 1 test drive

After its successes in Japan, Coronel received some attention and focused on finding a place in a Formula 1 racing car . He did a test drive for Arrows , but Jos Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa were ultimately preferred to him. So it happened that at the beginning of the 2000 season he was not given a seat in a cockpit. Only later in the season did he take part in races again. He started again at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and took part with Mike Hezemans in some races of the FIA GT Championship .

Return to racing

In 2001 Coronel wanted to drive a full season again. He signed a contract with the BMW factory team and took part in the Dutch touring car championship. At the same time he was also contacted by Lister to take part in the FIA GT Championship . Coronel was able to win in both series. In Stefan Johansson's team he also contested the Le Mans 24-hour race, which the team had to give up in the first part of the race.

In 2002 Coronel switched to the European Touring Car Championship . In the Carly Motors team he was able to achieve three podium finishes. Coronel also crossed the finish line at the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time and finished eighth. In 2003, he won the private driver classification for Carly Motors in the European Touring Car Championship with Duncan Huisman . In the same year Coronel also made a short-term comeback in the Japanese GT championship. He won a race in the old Honda NSX. At Le Mans, Coronel crossed the finish line again, this time in a Spyker C8 . In 2004, he and Paulien Zwart again won the private driver classification of the European Touring Car Championship. Coronel returned to his former team Racing for Holland for Le Mans . He had strong teammates at Le Mans in 2004 with Justin Wilson and Ralph Firman , but the team could not reach the goal. Back at Spyker, Coronel contested the Le Mans 24-hour race in 2005 and 2006, which he was unable to finish in either of the two competitions

World Touring Car Championship

Coronel in his 2008 Okayama victory

The European Touring Car Championship became the World Touring Car Championship in 2005 and Coronel changed his team. He joined the GR Asia team , which competed with Seat Toledo . He had a strong year and only lost the privateer championship in the last race. With the new Seat Leon , he took back the title in 2006 . In 2007 he was less successful, also due to the fact that he was not allowed to take part in the private driver classification. Coronel also took part in the last run of the BTCC in Thruxton . At 24 Hours Nürburgring Coronel drove the Dodge Viper GTS-R of Zakspeed and came second.

The 2008 season was Coronel's most successful season to date in the World Touring Car Championship. He was already able to achieve a podium place in Oschersleben . In Okayama , after a strong drive, he took his first career victory in the World Touring Car Championship. He has been driving the Chevrolet Cruze for ROAL Motorsport since the 2014 season. Coronel is now one of the most popular racing drivers in the racing series.

Dakar participation

With his brother Tim , who already took part in the Dakar Rally in 2007 , Tom Coronel started the Dakar Rally for the first time in 2009 , which led through Argentina and Chile. The brothers reached the finish line in their bowler after more than 9,000 kilometers in 70th place.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1999	Talkline Racing for Holland	Lola B98 / 10	Jan Lammers	Peter Kox	failure	Engine failure
2000	Racing for Holland	Lola B2K / 10	Jan Lammers	Peter Kox	failure	Tire damage
2001	Johansson Motorsport	Audi R8	Stefan Johansson	Patrick Lemarié	failure	Electrics
2002	Racing for Holland BV	Dome S101	Jan Lammers	Val Hillebrand	Rank 8
2003	ST Team Orange Spyker	Spyker C8 Double-12R	Norman Simon	Hans Hugenholtz Junior	not classified
2004	Racing for Holland	Dome S101	Justin Wilson	Ralph Firman	failure	ignition
2005	Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	Peter van Merksteijn	Donny Crevels	failure	Engine failure
2006	Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	Peter Dumbreck	Donny Crevels	failure	Engine failure
2009	Snora's Spyker Squadron	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R	Jaroslav Janiš	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Rank 25
2010	Spyker Squadron	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R	Peter Dumbreck	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Rank 27

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2005	Spyker Squadron	Spyker C-8 Spyder GT2 R	Marc Goossens	Donny Crevels	failure	mechanics

Web links

Commons : Tom Coronel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The official homepage of Tom Coronel (Dutch)
• Interview with Tom Coronel on motorsport-magazin.com (German)