Photo: BMW Motorsport

Why the DTM will miss Andy Priaulx

Andy Priaulx is a driver who has featured heavily on this site; it’d be impossible to run a touring car site without him. Just look his ETCC and WTCC track record.

Over the last year since I’ve been covering the DTM, I’ve got to know Andy quite well and he’d be the first to admit that the two seasons haven’t lived up to expectations. Best finishes of sixth and a top qualifying position of third don’t tell the whole story.

Since the 2012 regulation change when the DTM moved to the uniform space-frame chassis cars, how a driver goes about his craft has shifted. DTM cars have always been one of the most powerful tin-tops out there, but as the cars over the last few years have become more aero dependant, the margin for small mistakes (either from driver or team) have become even less. If we look at the grid, 22 drivers are generally covered by around a second, second and a half in qualifying.

The DTM cars then, are basically now prototypes. They have no real relevance to the road car apart from the silhouette shape.

Therefore, like a prototype, the harder the driver pushes, the more the aerodynamics work. If the driver for whatever reason doesn’t have the confidence to do so in qualifying or the race, the lap time won’t happen.

If you look at any on-boards of Priaulx in the DTM, he makes very little steering inputs. Compare this to say, an Ekström-style driver, who hustles the car about, then the difference in time and eventual race or qualifying result is apparent.

Amongst many other reasons which revolve around marketing (why do any of the manufacturers need to target the UK consumer? Ask yourself), these could be just some the reasons why Priaulx is switching to BMW’s GT programme.

Like the BMW 320i E46 and 320si E90, with which Priaulx became one of the most successful drivers in touring car history, the Z4 GT3 which he’ll be driving in the US is similar. It’s based on a road-car, has a steel chassis and is less aero-dependent than the M3 DTM which he has been driving for the last two seasons.

Also, don’t forget that Priaulx is also an established GT driver and a very good one at that. He doesn’t need to get average results in a DTM car and basically make up the numbers for BMW to sell a few more X5s in a market it already has cracked.

Given his impressive GT track record with BMW, second overall in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup with an M3 GT3 in 2010 and a third place finish at the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours, then it makes sense for him to go stateside.

Most importantly, it’ll prolong his career by another five or six years at least which can only be a good thing.

I feel Priaulx’s reputation is still very strong despite few tricky years. He’s still one of the finest touring car drivers we’ve ever seen, so in reality, nothing has changed. Look at Allan McNish, or Marcel Fässler, for example. They had a tough time in the DTM, but who remembers that?

From a personal point of view, however, whilst I feel Andy is making the right decision to go to the US, his departure from the DTM will leave a big void.

Throughout the year, he has always been a friend to TouringCarTimes; always happy to give a word when given the outcome of qualifying or the race, he shouldn’t have been smiling. He’s always been very supportive of the site, and that friendliness will be missed come next May.

I’d like to finish this piece with a short story from the Hockenheim season ender.

After BMW had locked out Q4 with four M3s occupying the top four grid slots, Priaulx wound up third on the grid behind former Schnitzer team-mates Dirk Werner and pole-sitter, Bruno Spengler.

Come race-day, when Priaulx made a clean start on a slippery track and was running in second behind then-race leader Bruno Spengler, the entire press room – and remember, this is a German dominated space, with a handful of Brits, Russians, Italians, Spaniards and whoever else – broke into shouts of “come on, Andy!”

Men stood up and shouted at the T.V. screens which were placed above us around the entrance to the room. Men got very excited and I genuinely can’t think of a single person in that room who didn’t want Andy to win what would turn out to be his final DTM race.

Whilst he eventually finished sixth, every journalist in that room was relieved. It showed the world just a glimpse of what could have been in the DTM. It reminded the world just what Andy Priaulx is capable of.

And you know what? Next year, I think he’ll continue to do so.

Good luck, buddy. You’ll be missed.