Tom Coronel endured a difficult weekend n the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) at the Ningbo International Speedpark in China, as the Boutsen Ginion Racing driver missed out on points in all three races.
Coronel qualified as the slowest of the Honda drivers on Saturday, almost two seconds off the pace as he struggled for performance in his Civic.
The Dutchman fought his way to 15th in Saturday’s race, partly due to a rate of attrition, but he also blamed a slow puncture for the difficulty in making progress.
“I had a pretty good start and went from 21st to about 15th when so many cars in front of me started hitting each other all over the place,” explained Coronel of his first race. “I passed Kevin Ceccon, which was a good move.
“It was tough to run at a constant pace and I had a few cars lining up behind me, but I was pretty confident I could keep them behind me.
“Then with a lap-and-a-half to go I had a slow puncture, which got worse over the rest of the race. I don’t know how I managed to finish, but I got it to the line.”
Sunday saw Coronel again the slowest of the five-car Honda contingent, with his grid position slightly worse than Saturday in 23rd for both races.
Again Coronel fought his way up to 15th for the second race, but race three then saw him only able to take 17th.
The results mean it is the third weekend this year that the 46-year-old has not scored any points, and leaves him down in 20th overall in the drivers’ championship standings.
“[It was] another tough day [on Sunday]. The car feels very good on the first couple of laps when the temperatures are still building up, and I’ve been able to overtake quite a lot of cars in that early phase, but as the race keeps going, it’s tough to stay with the pace of some of the others.
“I had some nice battles on-track but didn’t win any of them. We’re lacking a bit of top speed on the straights, so it was tough to defend against the other cars, and that makes the whole process a bit difficult.”