ANDY PRIAULX won his fourth race of the World Touring Car Championship season yesterday to establish a three-point lead at the top of the drivers’ standings. After finishing race one in Curitiba, Brazil, in eighth place, the reverse-grid system meant he began the second in pole position.

The Sarnian led from start to finish to claim the win and 11 points from his weekend.

‘It was a long, long race,’ said Priaulx of round 10, which saw the safety car out on several occasions. The race even finished under safety car conditions.

Carrying 65kg of success ballast, Priaulx was understandablyhappy to qualify seventh for race one on an unfamiliar and challenging circuit.

‘Qualifying seventh is like qualifying on pole when you look at how tight the times are, considering that I am one of the heaviest cars and take into account it is not a favourable track for BMW,’ he said after the session.

In race one, Priaulx lost a place to Gianni Morbidelli at the restart after the safety car had been out for two laps.

However, in maintaining eighth position, it worked to his advantage in the second race.

‘All the top 12 to 15 cars are about the same speed and with 65kg, I needed to use the reverse grid to help me,’ Priaulx said.

The Guernseyman went to Brazil as joint leader of the championship with Yvan Muller, but the latter failed to collect any points at the meeting.

Priaulx, who reiterated his belief that the title would not be decided before the final race of the season in Macau, now has 44 points, with his closest challenger being James Thompson.