Andy Priaulx
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Andrew Priaulx (born Guernsey, 8 August 1976) is a racing driver, European Touring Car Champion, and double World Touring Car Champion
Priaulx has competed in many types of motorsport, beginning in karting at the minimum age of eight. After a brief flirtation with powerboat racing, he started hillclimbing while still a teenager. It was quickly apparent that he had great natural ability, and few people were surprised when he took the British Hillclimb Championship title in 1995.
After this, he made the switch to circuit racing, where after a relatively low-key couple of years in Formula Renault and British Formula 3 he eventually demonstrated his skills were transferrable by switching to the Renault Spyder championship in 1998, completely dominating it in 1999. His career stalled somewhat when he returned to British Formula 3 in 2000-01. He had some success at this level, but despite finishing sixth in the championship in 2001 was unable to progress further up the single-seater ladder.
| Andy Priaulx | |
|---|---|
| BTCC record | |
| Nationality | |
| Teams | egg:sport, Honda |
| Drivers championships | 0 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Podium finishes | 5 |
| Poles | 5 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| Debut season | 2001 |
| First win | 2002 |
| Best championship position | 5th (2002) |
| Final season (2002) position | 5th (116 points) |
| edit | |
In 2001 he had a pair of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) drives for the Egg Vauxhall team, standing in for the suspended Phil Bennett. He stunned the regulars by taking pole position, demonstrating that his future appeared to lie in that direction.
The following year he was signed by the Honda works BTCC team for their 2002 campaign. He won three races, and the following season was signed by BMW for their European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) effort. He was in contention for the title until late in the year, eventually finishing third. Priaulx also occasionally guested in Australian V8 Supercar racing, competing at the Bathurst 1000km in 2002 and 2003, and also the Sandown 500km in 2003.
2004 at last saw Priaulx win a major circuit racing championship, as he became ETCC champion after a season-long battle with Dirk Müller. Both men obtained the same number of points, but Priaulx had won five races as against Müller's three, and this was sufficient to hand the Guernseyman the title.
Priaulx repeated his 2004 success in 2005 and 2006, clinching the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC, essentially the same series, with two races outside Europe in 2005 and three in 2006) at the final round in Macau. In 2005, he won the crown with two second place finishes when his nearest rivals, Dirk Müller and Fabrizio Giovanardi both failed to score. The following year, a win in the opening race left him needing to finish fifth in the final event – which he did to beat Jörg Müller by a single point.
| Preceded by Gabriele Tarquini |
European Touring Car Championship champion 2004 |
Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by Roberto Ravaglia (1987) |
World Touring Car Championship champion 2005-2006 |
Succeeded by incumbent |