Rocco Coronel clearly had the pace during the sixth and penultimate race weekend of the Formula 4 Spanish Championship at the Circuito de Navarra in Los Arcos. In the first two races of the weekend, the Dutch MP Motorsport driver finished second. He was also in contention for a podium place in the third race, but was tapped into a spin in the opening stages and dropped well down the order. He then made up 17 places to finish eighth. As a result, the TeamNL talent has kept his title hopes alive. « The most important thing is that we’ve made good progress, » said the Red Bull junior. His results also helped MP Motorsport secure the teams’ championship with one round to spare.
In the week leading up to the race weekend, testing took place on Tuesday, with Coronel consistently featuring in the top three. He continued this form during the official event, where Coronel got off to a flying start by setting the third-fastest time out of a total of 36 riders during Friday morning’s test, followed by sixth and fifth fastest times in the pair of free practice sessions later that day. « We had largely the same set-up as we had during the previous races at Jerez, because it just felt right, » he said.
In Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Coronel ended up third, which was therefore his starting position for the opening race, whilst in the ranking based on the second-fastest lap times – which determined the starting grid for the second race – he was classified second. « The drivers ahead of me were able to do an extra lap and so had the advantage of carrying less fuel and therefore a lighter car, but ultimately I was satisfied with the pace I had, » he commented.
The first race got underway behind the safety car because the start lights on the gantry over the main straight weren’t working properly. Once the race was waved clear, Coronel managed to hold onto third place. In the second half of the race, he put increasing pressure on the driver ahead of him, but took no unnecessary risks, particularly as the driver in front of him strayed outside the white lines marking the track on several occasions. Coronel crossed the finish line in third place, but was promoted to second because the driver who finished ahead of him received a time penalty totalling 15 seconds for repeatedly exceeding the track limits. « I could already see that he was frequently driving outside the track, so I assumed a penalty would follow; I did try to make some moves, but nothing too reckless, » said Coronel.
The second race, the shorter sprint race, also started behind the safety car. Coronel managed to hold on to second place. Following an incident on the third lap, there was a long neutralisation period and a red-flag stoppage, after which the race resumed behind the safety car and there were ultimately five minutes of green-flag racing remaining. During this time, Coronel defended his second position, which he subsequently held right to the finish line, securing his second podium finish of the weekend and his fifth of the season.
For Sunday’s qualifying session, Coronel, in consultation with the team, left the car’s set-up largely unchanged. With this set-up, he set the third-fastest time. This time, the race got off to a normal start, and Coronel managed to defend his position well. Later in the first lap, however, things went wrong: a rival experienced some oversteer on the kerb and made contact with Coronel’s car, tapping it into a spin. « I did a 360-degree spin – it was quite spectacular – but of course that meant I dropped back a long way, » Coronel reported afterwards. From 25th position, he began his charge up the field and had already made up nine places after one and a half laps. He then continued to move further up the field, eventually crossing the finish line in ninth place and, following a penalty imposed on the driver ahead of him, was classified eighth. « I scored points again and enjoyed a good race of catching up, » he said.
With just one race weekend remaining, from 6 to 8 November at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Coronel is third in the championship and still in with a chance of the title. « I’m not thinking too much about that; I’m just going to try to score as many points as possible again and we’ll see how the rest plays out, » he says matter-of-factly. Thanks to the combined results of Coronel and his team-mate Kasper Schormans, who won all three races at Navarra, MP Motorsport has already secured the team championship with one round to spare.
Standings championship : 1. Kasper Schormans 256 popints ; 2. Noah Monteiro 203pts ; 3. Rocco Coronel 181 pts ; 4. Boris Lyzen 170 pts ; 5. Andrej Petrovic 152 pts…