MP Motorsport and Van Amersfoort Racing are two top-notch Dutch teams competing at a high level in international single-seaster racing. Rocco Coronel, the 15-year-old Dutch racing talent, is taking his first steps in single seaters racing with both teams. With Van Amersfoort Racing, he will compete in the first three events of the Formula Winter Series by Gedlich Racing, which starts in Estoril at the end of this week. After those three events, the Red Bull Junior driver will participate in the Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship and the Spanish Formula 4 Championship. He will drive both championships with MP Motorsport. « I can hardly wait to get back to racing. I also have exams in between, so it’s a busy schedule, but I’m really excited and very much looking forward to it, » says Rocco Coronel.
This week, Coronel has exams in Dutch, chemistry, English and mathematics. From Thursday onwards, he can focus his full attention on motorsport again, as the Formula Winter Series by Gedlich race series gets underway at the Estoril circuit in Portugal. After that, there are some training camps, followed by races meetings in Portimão and Valencia during the first two weekends of February. « The Formula Winter Series is a good series for getting some mileage under my belt and gaining racing experience. Others go to the Emirates, but I think I can learn a lot here, » says Coronel.
After that, Coronel will focus on the Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship, which starts on 20-22 February at the Autodrómo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, with the second round a week later at the Jarama circuit and the finale on 13-15 March at Motorland Aragón. In this series, he will be driving for MP Motorsport from the Dutch village of Westmaas, with whom he made his racing debut in single-seaters last autumn in Barcelona, just after his 15th birthday. With the Dutch team led by Sander Dorsman, Coronel will also participate in the Spanish Formula 4 championship, which consists of seven race weekends this year, from Valencia in mid-April to Barcelona in early November.
The Coronel family has close ties with both Van Amersfoort Racing and MP Motorsport. Father Tom Coronel raced for Van Amersfoort Racing in Formula Opel and drove countless demonstrations with the A1GP two-seater for MP Motorsport. Rocco Coronel is looking forward to his first full season with the Westmaas-based racing team: « MP is a household name, not only in the Netherlands, but throughout single-seater racing. In Spanish Formula 4, MP is one of the teams to beat. So there’s no better start to my formula career than to start for a Dutch team that I know through and through and that knows what winning is all about. »
MP Motorsport team principal Sander Dorsman is also positive about his new protégé: « Everyone at MP can’t wait to see what Rocco has in store for us in Formula 4 this coming season. We already got a taste of it with his wildcard race at Barcelona, where his podium finish came as no surprise to us. We look forward to welcoming Rocco into our racing family and teaching him everything he needs to know to perform at the highest level. »
Calendar Rocco Coronel
22 – 25 January – Formula Winter Series – Estoril
5 – 8 February – Formula Winter Series – Portimao
12 – 15 February – Formula Winter Series – Valencia
20 – 22 February – Spanish Winter Championship – Portimao
27 February – 1 March – Spanish Winter Championship – Jarama
13 – 15 March – Spanish Winter Championship – Aragon
10 – 12 April – Spanish F4 Championship – Valencia
5 – 7 June – Spanish F4 Championship – Portimao
19 – 21 July – Spanish F4 Championship – Aragon
7 – 9 August – Spanish F4 Championship – Madrid
25 – 27 September – Spanish F4 Championship – Jerez
9 – 11 October – Spanish F4 Championship – Navarra
6 – 8 Novemer – Spanish F4 Championship – Barcelona