Tom Coronel was declared winner of the "Driver of the Year" award from Dutch motorsport magazine Top Gear.
Coronel was selected because he won the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s Independents’ Trophy despite having lost support from SEAT Dutch importer before the two final race meetings in Japan and Macau.
With a brilliant mix of obstinacy and results, Coronel managed to gather a pool of sponsors willing to back him until the end of the season. And this enabled him to win Race 1 in Okayama and Macau at the wheel of the SUNRED-run SEAT León, securing the title with a 13-point margin ahead of Proteam Motorsport’s Félix Porteiro.