Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, the

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ...

championship in 1999, and the 2006 and 2009

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

Independents' Trophy. As of September 2016, Tom Coronel has driven over 1,000 races. He is currently still racing in the WTCC, where he won his first WTCC race in Okayama, Japan in 2008. After competing as an independent driver in a SEAT for many years Tom switched to BMW in 2011. In 2014 Coronel stays with ROAL Motorsport, but the team switched to

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, and ...

s to be built by RML specially for the new TC1 technical regulations. Even though he has no official factory backing, Tom is no longer considered an independent driver, due to his experience and results in the past. Tom has also been racing for the Dutch Spyker Squadron in the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

as well as the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

for many years. Furthermore, Tom is often invited to join one-off races like the 24 hours at the Nürburgring.

Biography

Early years

Born in

Naarden Naarden () is a city and former municipality in the Gooi region in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren since 2016. History Naarden was granted its city rights in 1300 (the only t ...

, Coronel started his racing career in 1990 racing in the Dutch

Citroën AX The Citroën AX is a supermini which was built by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1986 to 1998. It was launched at the 1986 Paris Motor Show to replace the Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA. Overview Development of this model started in ...

Cup, after being named the most talented driver in the local racing school. After a learning debut year, he started to become successful in 1991. With four victories and 105 points he won the title; he also won an international Citroën AX race in Barcelona. He moved up to the Dutch Touring Car Championship in 1992 competing in a BMW 320i. He was crowned champion that same year, beating his older brother and teammate Raymond Coronel. He also started to compete in the Dutch

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

championship, with team Fresh. At the end of 1992 he decided to focus his attention on single seater racing. He stayed with team Fresh in 1993 and again was a strong competitor. Victorious in three races, he won the Dutch Formula Ford championship that year. Also he came in second in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...

championship, behind the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

driver Geoffroy Horion (who lost the Dutch championship to Coronel). His participation in a few German Formula Ford races resulted in a handful of podium finishes. He finished ninth in that year's Formula Ford Festival.

European formula

In 1994 Coronel debuted in the Euroseries Formula Opel Lotus, racing for the Dutch Van Amersfoort Racing team. With eight

pole positions In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

and two victories he was successful, but lost the championship to

Marco Campos Marco Campos (24 February 1976 – 15 October 1995) was a Brazilian racing driver. He died in an accident in a Formula 3000 race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, making him the only driver to be fatally injured in the International Formula ...

. He won the nations cup for the Netherlands together with Donny Crevels and was elected 'Dutch Driver of the year'. This gave him the funds he needed to compete in the next year's German Formula Three championship. Racing for the WTS team (which delivered previous champions as

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...

and

Jos Verstappen Johannes Franciscus Verstappen (; born 4 March 1972) is a former (Formula One) racing driver. Verstappen was the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993. In Formula 1, Verstappen raced for seven different te ...

), he was teamed up with

Ralf Schumacher Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races. Schumacher began kart ...

. The team used a

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created ...

chassis which was powered by Opel engines. Scoring 74 points in sixteen races, he finished seventh in the championship results. He did not perform well in the international Formula Three classics, failing to finish in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

and Monaco and finishing fifth in the Marlboro Masters at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

Moving to the Far East

Coronel decided to search for success far from home, signing up to compete in the Japanese Formula 3 championship with team TOM'S for 1996. He scored his first victory at the Sugo circuit, and this along with five second places earned him the third spot in that year's championship. He came in second with the Italian Prema Power team at the annual Monaco Formula Three race. He stayed with TOM'S for the next season, the team traded in their own chassis for a more competitive Dallara and used

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

engines. Coronel dominated the championship, winning six out of the seven races he competed in. His lead was so comfortable that he could afford to miss two races to compete in the Macau Grand Prix and Marlboro Masters. Earlier in the year he was taken out in the leading position at the Monaco Formula Three race, but he was successful for his home crowd in Zandvoort. Starting from the fourth position he drove his way to the lead and followed through until the finish, becoming the second Dutchman to win the event after Jos Verstappen.

Formula Nippon

It was time for Coronel to move to the next level. He stayed in Japan in 1998 competing in the Formula Nippon and Japanese GT championship, both for team Nakajima owned by former

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver

Satoru Nakajima is a Japanese former racing driver. He is a five-time Japanese Top Formula champion, and was the first full-time Japanese Formula One driver. Accordingly, he is responsible for several firsts for Japanese drivers in Formula One, including bei ...

. Driving with a

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...

-Toyota combination, his first Formula Nippon season was expected to be a learning year. Coronel had a relatively poor season, due to some bad luck and the team having never previously worked with a non-Japanese driver. He performed much better in the GT championship. Sharing a

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

NSX with Japanese driver Koji Yamanishi the title was in sight until the last race. Eventually they finished second when the car broke down in the formation lap of the last race. No changes in Coronel's programme were seen for 1999. In Formula Nippon he proved to be a strong contender for the championship title. At first his main rival reigning champion

Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama (本山哲 - Motoyama Satoshi; born March 4, 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver and team manager. He is best known for racing in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGT ...

build up an advantage over Coronel. But during the year Coronel fought his way back to the front of the championship. Winning his first race at Fuji Speedway he led Motoyama with four points into the last race at Suzuka. Driving side by side a slow starting Coronel and Motoyama crashed into each other in the first corner of the race. Since there were no other competitors for the title Coronel was instantly (but controversially) champion. He was not as successful in the Japanese GT that year, having no chances on the title. Tom made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with

Jan Lammers Jan Lammers (Johannes Antonius Lammers, Zandvoort, 2 June 1956) is a racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing h ...

Racing for Holland Racing for Holland is a Dutch motor racing team started by Jan Lammers in 1999. The team is initially specialised in endurance races such as 24 hours of Le Mans and FIA sportscars series. The team also participated in the A1 Grand Prix as the A1 ...

. Teaming up with Lammers and

Peter Kox Peter Kox (born 23 February 1964 in Eindhoven) is a racing driver from the Netherlands. Kox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was sec ...

the team kept up with the factory teams, but had to stop after 213 laps due to technical failure.

Formula 1 test

After his Japanese successes Coronel had gained some attention and he decided to focus his energy on finding a

seat. In order to finance his Formula One ambitions, an investment plan was initiated. People could invest in Coronel by buying stocks in 'the Racing Dutchman B.V.'. When Coronel would become successful in Formula One, investors would be repaid. Eventually the plan failed because some of the investors failed to meet the agreements. Coronel tested once for the Arrows team, but lost the chance for a seat in favour of

and

Pedro de la Rosa Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming ...

. Since Coronel had focused his full attention to Formula One, he found himself without a drive for the beginning of the 2000 racing season. He drove the 24 hours of Le Mans for the second time with Racing for Holland and competed in some

FIA GT The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

races with Mike Hezemans.

Return to racing

With little racing distance covered the previous year, Coronel wanted to race a full season in 2001. He signed up for the works BMW team to compete in the Dutch Touring Car Championship. Just for the start of the season he was contacted by Lister to compete in the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

. Coronel agreed but had to miss some races since he already signed for BMW. He won races in both championships that year. Also he would compete with Stefan Johansson's team at Le Mans that year, but Johansson retired in the first part of the race. Coronel moved to the

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

(ETCC) in 2002, he participated for Carly Motors alongside

and

Gianni Morbidelli Gianni Morbidelli (born 13 January 1968) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the T ...

. They could not keep up with the works teams, but Coronel still harvested three podium finishes. He stayed with Carly in 2003 but had a 2002 spec chassis for most of the season and struggling to keep up. He and

Duncan Huisman Duncan Huisman (born 11 November 1971 in Doornspijk, Gelderland) is a Dutch racing driver. He won the Guia Race four times and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2005. He claimed three titles at the Dutch Touring Car Championship in 1997, 2000 and ...

won the independents trophy for Carly Motors. He also made a one-year return to the Japanese GT, winning one race in a now outdated Honda NSX. The 2004 ETCC season was very similar for him, although his teammate was now Paulien Zwart, his partner. They won the independents team trophy for the second consecutive year and Coronel won the independent drivers title. He finished his first Le Mans race with Racing for Holland in 2002, finishing eighth in the overall standings. He also made the finish in 2003, this time with a

Spyker Spyker or Spijker was a Dutch carriage, automobile and aircraft manufacturer, started in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker. Originally located in Hilversum, the company relocated to Trompenburg, Amsterdam in 1898. Notable produ ...

C8. Returning to Racing for Holland in 2004 he formed a high-profile line up with Justin Wilson and

Ralph Firman Ralph David Firman Jr. (born 20 May 1975) is a British-born former racing driver who raced under Irish citizenship (his mother Angela is from Ireland) and an Irish-issued racing licence. Earlier in his career he raced under a British licence. ...

. However they failed to finish the race. There were some rumours that he had signed a third driver deal with Minardi, but there was never a contract.

World Touring Car Championship

The European Touring Car Championship changed its format to a World Championship in 2005 and Coronel moved teams. He left Carly to join up with Team GR Asia, which used the

SEAT Toledo The SEAT Toledo is a small family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT, part of Volkswagen Group. The Toledo name was first introduced to the SEAT line up in May 1991 being named after a Spanish city with the same name, with the fourt ...

. Coronel had a strong year in which he just missed the Independents trophy in the last race. His luck changed for the better in 2006. With the all new SEAT León he did clinch the title, his second in three seasons. He continued his participation with team GR Asia in 2007, though less successful. For the final round of the 2007

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

at Thruxton, he raced for SEAT Sport UK to help them win the team's championship and the drivers championship for

Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He ...

. In both 2005 and 2006 he drove at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Spyker, but failed to finish in both attempts. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Coronel competed in the brand-new SUNRED SEAT Team in another León. He got his podium in Oschersleben and remains one of the most popular WTCC drivers. Autosport magazine voted him as one of the 10 best WTCC drivers. In the second race at the ''Race of Japan'', on the

Okayama International Circuit Okayama International Circuit (岡山国際サーキット), formerly known as TI Circuit Aida (TIサーキット英田) before 2005, is a private motorsport race track in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. TI was the abbreviation of "Tanak ...

, an absolutely stunning drive brought him his first victory in the WTCC. Tom Coronel 2014 WTCC Race of Japan (Race 1)

In 2009 he was eligible for the Independents' Trophy, which he won for Sunred. In 2010 he is driving a turbo diesel León for the new semi-works

SR-Sport Sunred (short for ''Sun Race Engineering Development S.L.'') is a Spanish-based auto racing team and constructor. They are best known for competing in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing History While in the past Sunred had participated in ...

team, which is run by Sunred. Tom finished the season 8th, his highest ever. In 2011 Tom changed teams to join

ROAL Motorsport ROAL Motorsport (previously known as Ravaglia Motorsport) is an Italian auto racing team, which operated the BMW Team Italy-Spain team in the World Touring Car Championship, and currently competes as BMW Team Italia in the Italian GT Championshi ...

, formerly running the works-team BMW Italy-Spain. Tom won the second race at Suzuka, Japan, his second WTCC overall victory. Coronel stayed with ROAL Motorsport for 2012, this time as part of a two car effort with

Alberto Cerqui Alberto Cerqui (born 20 June 1992, in Brescia) is an Italian racing driver. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship. Career Single seaters After winning titles in karting, Cerqui graduated to single-seater racing in 2009, racing in ...

joining him in the team.

Dakar Rally

Tom and his twin brother Tim competed in the 2009 edition of the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

(

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

–

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

–Buenos Aires). This was Tom's first edition of Dakar, whereas brother Tim already competed in 2007 and was lined up for the 2008 edition which got cancelled at the last moment. The brothers were driving a

Bowler Nemesis The Bowler Nemesis is an off-road racing vehicle designed, manufactured and sold by Bowler Off-Road. The Nemesis is intended to be used in endurance rally raid events such as the Dakar Rally and Rallye des Pharaons. Design and construction The N ...

for the dakarsport.com outfit and backed to Buenos Aires in 70th position overall after crossing two countries in 15 stages for a total of 6,000 km from January 3–18. In 2015 Tom will compete in the Dakar again. This time solo driving in a buggy.

Other activities

The Coronel family owns two indoor go-karting tracks in

Huizen Huizen () is a municipality and a village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. The name "Huizen" is Dutch for "houses" and this usage has been linked to the belief that the first stone houses, instead of the more common sod houses ...

and Enschede. Tom co-hosts an automotive programme with Tim called RTL Autowereld (English RTL Carworld) and was a regular guest on the Dutch Formula One broadcast until RTL decided not to go on with the studio shows, in favour of more "on track" time during the broadcast. Coronel is in a relationship with racing driver Paulien Zwart and they have a daughter and a son together. The pair were teammates at Carly Motors in the 2004 European Touring Car Championship season. Pauline is the daughter of

Ascari Cars Ascari Cars Ltd. was a British automobile manufacturer based in Banbury, England, and founded by Klaas Zwart. Zwart was the former chairman and majority owner of oil and gas company Petroline, which designed and manufactured its own downhole ...

owner

Klaas Zwart Klaas is a Dutch male given and surname. It is the Dutch short form of Nicholas, a Greek name ultimately meaning ''victory of the people''. A traditionally common name in the Netherlands, its popularity declined some 20-fold since 1950.

, who also raced for Carly in 2004.

Racing record