Coronel brothers very satisfied with Dakar Rally: "A fast stage"

Tim and Tom Coronel are doing good business in the Dakar Rally. For the fourth stage in a row, the twin brothers finished around 30th place. During the third stage, the brothers finished only 25 minutes behind stage winner Carlos Sainz Sr. and they are now in twentieth place in the general classification.

On the website of Coronel, the brothers look back on the third stage. "Tim is getting more and more into race mode," Tom said. During the third stage the brothers were faster than big names like Sébastien Loeb, Cyril Despres and Bernhard ten Brinke. In fact, it went so well that Tim refused to make a video entry along the way. "Not today, brother!"

Because the pace was so good, Tim did not want to stop and he was right. The brothers put down another good result with the thirtieth place. Due to the rain the stage was shortened to 255 kilometres over a very varied course.

Tim, who is behind the wheel, says that the confidence in the car is growing more and more. "The driving was great. We were also a bit lucky that we were behind a fast driver in the dunes, so we didn't have to take as many risks ourselves and could keep a high pace."

That same driver eventually crashed out with a puncture, although for a while the brothers feared they had tyre problems of their own. "We smelled smoked rubber and Tim was afraid it was us, but I was one hundred percent sure it wasn't ours. That was right: it was the driver in front of us. It was a tough day for the tyres."