ANDY PRIAULX will be burdened by the maximum ballast in Spain this weekend, despite trailing by 19 points in the World Touring Car Championship standings.

Although they still have to claim their first victory of the season, the BMW 320si cars are the fastest WTCC machines so far, according to the calculation determining the compensation weight for the next event.

The compensation weight for Valencia was calculated taking into account the lap times set in the three previous events – Mexico, Morocco and France.

The BMW emerged as the reference model and will receive a 40kg ballast for the races in Spain, while the Chevrolet Cruze (0.4sec. slower) will be laden with 30 extra kilos and the Seat Tdi (0.5sec. slower) with 20.

All the other cars – Lada 110, Seat Leon TFSI and Alessandro Zanardi’s BMW 320si (the only one equipped with a sequential gearbox) – will have 20kg deducted from their minimum weight.

It means that the Guernseyman, who is currently sixth in the standings on 26 points, will be worse off than championship leader Yvan Muller, who has 45, in terms of ballast.