With a second place and a pair of victories from the three races at the Snetterton circuit, Red Bull Junior driver Rocco Coronel has further strengthened his lead in the British Ginetta Junior Championship standings. « An almost perfect weekend, » Coronel smiled after the event that concluded the first half of the season in the series.
After a break of about a month and a half since the previous round at Oulton Park, Coronel was happy to be back racing. « Of course, I haven’t been doing nothing, I’ve been training a lot and working for school, and in between I was with my father at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, which was also a very cool event, » he said. « But now it was nice to be able to drive again myself! »
During Thursday’s test sessions, Coronel and his R Racing teammates were not entirely satisfied. « We were lacking a bit of speed, so we had to find a solution. We tried a lot of different set-ups on the car and made some significant progress. On Friday, I was at the front in practice, we had the set-up right and the long runs went really well, much better than expected! I was super fast and super consistent, so it was a really good start to the weekend. »
Qualifying was scheduled for Saturday morning. « I made a mistake there, losing at least two tenths in the first corner, and a lap time was deleted because of track limits in the last corner. You always have to be careful with that. In the end, I started from third place twice, which meant I had to attack a little more. »
In the first race, Coronel fought for the lead and was in front for some time, but admitted that he made too many mistakes. « Mentally I had it right, but I left too much on the track. I also found the car a bit too unstable for my liking, which was confirmed by the data and the videos, » he analysed afterwards. Nevertheless, he played it smart and managed to pass his teammate Lindblom coming out of the final corner, securing second place by a thousandth of a second. « It was so close that they spent at least fifteen minutes looking at the finish photo. It was almost impossible to see, but I was just ahead with the bumper of my car, it was fun, » said Coronel. « There was some discussion on the podium about whether I was second or third, because it turned out there were two different live timings… So I initially received the trophy for third place, but later the race officials confirmed the results and we swapped the cups. »
On Sunday, Coronel did well with two victories. « I just felt good, drove well and didn’t make too many mistakes, » he said. « The first race on Sunday was difficult, there was a lot going on behind me and I was also pushed a few times by my teammates, so it wasn’t easy, but I managed to secure the victory. I found the last race of the weekend the most challenging. I had to defend myself quite a bit and I also lost some time in the early stages because I was battling with another driver, who started duelling with me instead of pulling away together ahead of the field, which was actually my plan. In the end, I just overtook him and managed to keep Green behind me. »
Coronel looks back on the weekend as a whole with satisfaction. « We’ve improved a few things on the car again, and I’m back in the rhythm after the break. I’m really looking forward to the next event at Zandvoort, which is of course my home round, so I’m really eager for that. » The event at Zandvoort will be a first, as the Ginetta Junior Championship has never raced there before. It will be the series’ first overseas round since two weekends at Croix-en-Ternois in France, in 2005 and 2006. The races will take place on 26 and 27 July during the Caterham Weekend, with free admission for the public. Ahead of his home races, Coronel now has a 110-point lead at the top of the drivers’ standings.