Coronel comes from a racing family: his twin brother Tim is also a racing driver, as is their father Tom Coronel Sr. The family owns two indoor karting venues in Huizen and Enschede in the Netherlands. As of September 2016 Tom had competed in over 1,000 races across his career.
Coronel began racing in 1990 in the Dutch Citroën AX Cup, winning the title the following year. He won the Dutch Touring Car Championship in 1992 driving a BMW 320i, beating his older brother and teammate Raymond Coronel. He also entered Dutch Formula Ford that year before shifting his focus entirely to single-seaters.
In Formula Ford he won the Dutch championship in 1993 and recorded podium finishes in German Formula Ford rounds. Moving to the Euroseries Formula Opel Lotus in 1994 with Van Amersfoort Racing, he took eight pole positions and two victories but narrowly missed the championship, losing out to Marco Campos. He was voted Dutch Driver of the Year that season.
For 1995 Coronel entered the German Formula Three championship with WTS Racing, a team that had previously produced champions Michael Schumacher and Jos Verstappen, and was teamed with Ralf Schumacher. He scored 74 points across sixteen races to finish seventh.
Moving to Japan for 1996, Coronel competed in Japanese Formula Three with team TOM'S, scoring his first win at Sugo and finishing third in the championship. In 1997, racing with TOM'S on Dallara-Toyota machinery, he dominated the Japanese F3 series, winning six of the seven rounds he entered. He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort, becoming the second Dutchman to win the event after Jos Verstappen.
Coronel stepped up to Formula Nippon in 1998 with team Nakajima Racing, owned by former Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima. His first season on the Reynard-Toyota combination was difficult, hampered by the team's inexperience with non-Japanese drivers, though he performed strongly in the Japanese GT Championship alongside Koji Yamanishi, finishing second overall after a breakdown in the final race.
In 1999 Coronel mounted a strong championship challenge in Formula Nippon. After reigning champion Satoshi Motoyama built an early lead, Coronel fought back, winning at Fuji Speedway and carrying a four-point advantage into the final round at Suzuka. In the closing race the two title contenders made contact on the first lap, and with no other title challengers in contention Coronel was declared champion, though the circumstances were disputed.
Following his Japanese success Coronel sought a Formula One seat, and his supporters launched an investment scheme through a company called The Racing Dutchman B.V. He tested for the Arrows team but lost the seat to Jos Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa. The investment plan collapsed when some participants failed to meet their commitments, leaving Coronel without a drive for the start of 2000.
He returned to racing in 2001, signing with the BMW works team for the Dutch Touring Car Championship and also competing in FIA GT races with the Lister team. He appeared at Le Mans for the second time that year with Stefan Johansson's outfit.
Coronel moved into the European Touring Car Championship in 2002 racing for Carly Motors alongside Peter Kox and Gianni Morbidelli. Despite being outpaced by the works teams, he collected three podium finishes. In 2003 and 2004 he and his teammates won the ETCC independents team trophy in consecutive seasons, with Coronel taking the independent drivers title in 2004.
When the ETCC became the World Touring Car Championship in 2005, Coronel joined Team GR Asia on SEAT machinery. He narrowly missed the Independents' Trophy in the final round that year, then won it outright in 2006 with the new SEAT León, also winning the independents title. He scored his first outright WTCC race victory at Okayama, Japan, in 2008 driving for the SUNRED SEAT Team, and won a second race at Suzuka in 2011 after joining ROAL Motorsport to drive BMW machinery. He won the Independents' Trophy again in 2009 with Sunred.
Coronel made his first of many Le Mans starts with Jan Lammers's Racing for Holland team in 1999. He subsequently raced at Le Mans multiple times with the Dutch Spyker Squadron and other teams. In 2009 he and his twin brother Tim entered the Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile in a Bowler Nemesis, covering more than 6,000 kilometres over fifteen stages and finishing seventieth overall. The Coronel brothers have continued to compete at Dakar in subsequent editions.