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WTCC: Tom Coronel shocked by the condition of his crashed car

World Touring Car Championship veteran Tom Coronel admitted to being shocked by the condition of his car in the Paul Ricard paddock following his heavy accident at Marrakech last Sunday

The Dutchman will sit out the second round of the season in France owing to damage sustained in a violent start-line accident involving Honda racer Mehdi Bennani in Morocco.

"It's unbelievable," said Coronel, "I have just arrived here and I felt my stomach tighten when I saw the car. It is not right.

"The publicity we had after the crash has been amazing, but as a sportsman it is not what you want.

"There was a good possibility to score, and if it ends up like this it just hurts."

Immediately after the accident, Coronel feared that the extensive damage to his Cruze could threaten his season, but he is now optimistic that he will be back in action for round three in Hungary.

"The car will be sent to RML today," he added. "They have three days to repair it.

"It is short - very short - but everybody knows they are very strong. Everybody knows what they are capable of.

"As you can imagine, for Budapest we will not be 100 per cent ready, of course we will have small problems. We have lost a lot of mileage.

"I have to catch up slowly, because if you catch up too quickly you create problems."

Coronel, who will act as a commentator for Eurosport this weekend, admitted to taking comfort in the first-race pace of the Cruze in Marrakech.

"We knew it's best of the rest, that's why I picked it," he said. "At least I am in a better position this year than last year with the BMW.

"To be honest, everybody can drive this car. It is a well-built, easy car.

"I think for newcomers it is an easy car to score points in. RML just built an unbelievably good customer car."

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