Andy Priaulx semi-finalist in Race of Champions
Andy Priaulx reached the semi-finals in the 2011 Race of Champions at Düsseldorf, just losing out to seven-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb.
The three-time World Touring Car Champion scored the highest in his group in the first round, and progressed to the quarter-finals, beating Belgian Indycar star Bertrand Baguette.
Priaulx dropped out when facing Citroen World Rally driver Sébastien Loeb in the semi-finals, who went on to suffer a shock defeat at the hands of the Portuguese wild card, Filipe Albuquerque.
Andy Priaulx had been instrumental in securing Team Great Britain the runners-up spot in the RoC Nations Cup on Saturday, where he defeated Sebastian Vettel in both encounters against the Formula 1 champion, but lost out to Michael Schumacher in the final heat.
Priaulx’s Nations Cup team-mate, 2010 BTCC champion Jason Plato, also had a strong day in the Nations Cup. Plato twice defeated four-time F1 champion Alain Prost on the Saturday, but couldn’t replicate the performance on Sunday, losing out to Prost as well as Michael Schumacher in a tough draw, and fell out in the first round.
“Sébastien Loeb is a tough guy to race against,” said Priaulx.
“You can never be too confident in this event because it’s instant knockout so one small mistake and you’re out. But I tried to just have fun and push hard. I’ve had a great time anyway. To race against Michael Schumacher yesterday was a great honour and then today to go against Mick Doohan, who is a great hero of mine, made it a great weekend anyway.”
Jason Plato said:
“I didn’t drive very well today if I’m honest. The party we had last night in the hotel was probably too good! It was great to race against Alain Prost, who was a hero to me when I was a kid, but he beat me and beat me well actually. Yes we all want to be competitive but it is a great event and it is a pleasure just to be here to compete against these fantastic names. It was an honour to be invited here and I’d love to be back again next year.”
