Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, the Formula Nippon championship in 1999, and the 2006 and 2009 World Touring Car Championship Independents' Trophy.

In 2014 Coronel stays with ROAL Motorsport,[2] but the team switched to Chevrolet Cruzes to be built by RML specially for the new TC1 technical regulations.

Even though he has no official factory backing, Tom is no longer considered an independent driver, due to his experience and results in the past.

His participation in a few German Formula Ford races resulted in a handful of podium finishes.

Coronel decided to search for success far from home, signing up to compete in the Japanese Formula 3 championship with team TOM'S for 1996.

He stayed with TOM'S for the next season, the team traded in their own chassis for a more competitive Dallara and used Toyota engines.

His lead was so comfortable that he could afford to miss two races to compete in the Macau Grand Prix and Marlboro Masters.

Earlier in the year he was taken out in the leading position at the Monaco Formula Three race, but he was successful for his home crowd in Zandvoort.

Starting from the fourth position he drove his way to the lead and followed through until the finish, becoming the second Dutchman to win the event after Jos Verstappen.

Coronel had a relatively poor season, due to some bad luck and the team having never previously worked with a non-Japanese driver.

Sharing a Honda NSX with Japanese driver Koji Yamanishi the title was in sight until the last race.

At first his main rival reigning champion Satoshi Motoyama build up an advantage over Coronel.

Tom made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jan Lammers' Racing for Holland.

After his Japanese successes Coronel had gained some attention and he decided to focus his energy on finding a Formula One seat.

Coronel tested once for the Arrows team,[3] but lost the chance for a seat in favour of Jos Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa.

Since Coronel had focused his full attention to Formula One, he found himself without a drive for the beginning of the 2000 racing season.

He also made a one-year return to the Japanese GT, winning one race in a now outdated Honda NSX.

Returning to Racing for Holland in 2004 he formed a high-profile line up with Justin Wilson and Ralph Firman.

In 2011 Tom changed teams to join ROAL Motorsport, formerly running the works-team BMW Italy-Spain.

Coronel stayed with ROAL Motorsport for 2012, this time as part of a two car effort with Alberto Cerqui joining him in the team.

[6] Tom and his twin brother Tim competed in the 2009 edition of the Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile (Buenos Aires–Valparaíso–Buenos Aires).

The brothers were driving a Bowler Nemesis for the dakarsport.com outfit and backed to Buenos Aires in 70th position overall after crossing two countries in 15 stages for a total of 6,000 km from January 3–18.