ANDY PRIAULX retained the world touring car championship in the most spectacular of fashions in Macau yesterday. The Sarnian’s chances looked next to nil when he qualified for race one in 12th place.
But in a remarkable race that saw him rise to the vital eighth spot and his main rivals Yvan Muller and Augusto Farfus Jr both pull out, Priaulx snatched pole position for the second race.
And he never looked back as he executed a perfect 22nd and final race of the season to claim his third world, fourth FIA championship in a row.
‘I felt I had to drive hard and I did,’ said Priaulx afterwards.
‘To be honest I never gave up. The season has been up and down for us - we’ve had some bad weekends.
‘There was a lot of energy for me not to win it this weekend and all of that energy has made me do it. I’m still the champion because when the chips were down, I’ve come through.
‘I’m just ecstatic.’
Ultimately, race one could not have gone any better for Priaulx.
Finding himself 12th on the grid for the opening contest, the Sarnian had a real job on his hands to get the eighth spot that he was gunning for.
In the opening lap, Alain Menu, who was on pole, lost out to Yvan Muller with BMW’s Farfus behind the pair in third.
In the tight Macau street circuit, Priaulx found himself struggling to make any inroads into the pack.
However, on lap four he did manage to replace Seat’s Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro for 11th spot.
A couple of laps later Menu grabbed back the lead from Muller, while Farfus piggybacked on Menu’s daring manoeuvre to take second and push Muller into third.
Then on the lap eight, just after the right-angled Lisboa corner Tarquini shunted into the back of Farfus to spin the Brazilian round and into the wall.
The drama heightened immediately after this as Muller retired when his fuel pump packed in.
The failure also ensured that the Frenchman missed the second race to crush his title hopes.
While all of this was going on, Priaulx who was stuck down the order, got the better of Dutch driver Duncan Huisman to cross the line in the vital eighth place.
Menu finished first, followed by Gabrielle Tarquini of Italy and Britain’s Rob Huff.
Starting out in front in race two, Priaulx knew that he had to hold onto his lead to retain the title.
The pressure was mounting as he sat in his BMW on the grid waiting for the red lights to disappear.
This pressure was doubled as the only driver able to beat him for the championship was his good friend James Thompson, who was third on the grid.
Alfa Romeo’s Thompson needed to win and for Priaulx not to finish in the points to claim the championship.
And the Briton certainly went for it as he sped past Nicola Larini right from the start to post a challenge on Priaulx.
He then almost caused a real upset on the first lap when he clipped the back of Priaulx on the Melco hairpin, but luckily for the Sarnian he managed to keep control.
Thompson kept the pressure up on Priaulx in the early laps but by the seventh this crumbled as the Sarnian built up more than a two-second lead and never looked back.
‘I drove my best in those first five laps,’ said Priaulx.
‘I kept off the walls and I pulled away from Thommo and that’s not easy.’
Thompson, on the other hand, started to have major problems as Larini was breathing down his neck. Eventually he succumbed to the Italian.
Larini made some ground on Priaulx but he never got close enough to mount a serious challenge as the Guernseyman took the chequered flag and an unprecedented third world touring car title on the bounce.
‘Maybe in 10 years I’ll look back and say that was my best one but at the moment it’s weird - it will make more sense in the next day or so.’
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