Priaulx heads home having closed the gap

By Gareth Le Prevost

Andy Priaulx in action at Estoril at the weekend. (Picture by FIA WTCC)

ANDY PRIAULX came away from the mid-season FIA World Touring Car Championship races with a sixth and a third place for BMW Team UK.

In two hard fought races at the Estoril track in Portugal, the Guernsey driver was the first BMW 320si WTCC driver past the chequered flag and so heads for his home race at Brands Hatch in two weeks fourth in the championship, but just 15 points behind the leader Gabriele Tarquini.

‘I am happy I got the most out of the car that was possible,’ Priaulx said. ‘We had a couple of tough races and I would have loved to take a win away from here, but I have closed the gap to the points’ leader.‘Next on the calendar is Brands Hatch, so that is a weekend to really look forward to. A home race is special and I am determined to go there and enjoy myself.’

In race one, Sweden’s Rickard Rydell clocked up his first win of the season for Seat, but the cheers of the crowd were certainly reserved for the winner of race two, Portugal’s own hero, Tiago Monteiro.

It was Monteiro’s second win of the season, but he is still way behind his Seat teammates in the points’ table.

Priaulx had qualified sixth fastest in Saturday’s session, a position that was improved by one ahead of the first race when Alain Menu was sent to the back of the grid from third for having an empty fire extinguisher on board his Chevrolet.

‘This was the best the car could do, so in my view the perfect lap for me. The car was good, the strategy was good and everything was cool, calm and collected within the team,’ said the Guernsey driver of his qualifying session.

There was no magic formula for Priaulx round the track, but he did admit the last thing he did before getting into his car for the 30-minute session was to cut his toe nails.

Race one yesterday saw Rob Huff get ahead of the Sarnian, who settled for sixth in a dramatic race which saw Tarquini finish out of the points for the first time.

The next round saw Priaulx involved in an intense battle with Yvan Muller, but, try as he might, the Guernseyman could not find a way past the Frenchman.

He took third only a few tenths of a second behind the Seat.

Article posted on 14th July, 2008 - 2.30pm