Motorsport Games: Coronel wins Touring Car gold for Netherlands after drama for Belgium

After triumphing in Sunday morning’s qualifying race, Team Belgium’s Giles Magnus led away from pole ahead of fellow Comtoyou Racing driver Coronel, but dramatically slowed on the pitstraight at the end of the opening lap after his Audi RS3 LMS suffered a suspected driveshaft issue.

Coronel moved to the front and started to pull clear as France’s Teddy Clairet fought hard to keep hold of second. Ireland’s Jack Young lost two places on the opening lap, but soon reclaimed third from Argentina’s Ignacio Montenegro with an aggressive move up the inside, bouncing over a kerb in the process.

Young got his elbows out once more, making contact with Clairet at the chicane before moving into second at Signes. A second slight touch between the pair allowed Spain’s Isidro Callejas Gomez to pass Clairet for third. The Frenchman’s race then got worse when he was forced to retire his Peugeot 308 with an issue.

Young halved a 2.5-second deficit to Coronel by the finish in his Honda Civic Type R FK7, but a 5s penalty for the earlier contact with Clairet handed Gomez second place. Montenegro came home in lonely fourth, with Latvia’s Valters Zviedris fifth.

Sweden’s Andreas Backman recovered from a driveshaft failure in the qualifying race to storm from 15th on the grid to sixth ahead of Hong Kong’s Andy Yan, who remained in seventh despite a 5s penalty for exceeding track limits.

Team United Kingdom’s Chris Smiley started 10th in the final, having made up five positions in the qualifying race. The reigning TCR UK champion swept around the outside of Australia’s Aaron Cameron at the chicane early on before resisting renewed pressure from behind to bring his Honda Civic home in eighth.

Venezuela's Sergio Lopez and Cameron were involved in late contact, finishing 10th and 11th respectively, with Canada’s Travis Hill capitalising to pip the pair to ninth. Brazil’s Rapha Reis was also involved in the squabble, but retired before the finish with a puncture.