Andy Priaulx: “Five races were ruined by contact”

Andy Priaulx endured another tough weekend at Oschersleben and the British driver has failed to score any points in the last three DTM races. The triple World Champion paid the price of a first-corner contact at Oschersleben, his M3 was damaged after the accident which was triggered by Robert Wickens out-braking himself at the first corner.

Priaulx lamented the high amount of contacts which damaged his car this year, highlighting his frustration at not being able to finish races.
“This season we have learnt to accept that DTM is very close in the times, I missed out on Q3 this weekend in Oschersleben by 0.016secs. However, the closeness of contact is not something I can accept, five out of eight races I have not finished or been slowed through damage to my car no fault of my own. This weekend being the fifth of those eight following a qualifying session seeing me miss Q3 by such a small margin was tough but I got a good start passed a handful of cars then bang,” said Priaulx.

The BMW driver said he was confident before the race, but the accident prevented him from fighting for a possible points finish.
“I started the race in confident mood. My Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM was very much to my liking and I felt some points were definitely on. I sat on the grid and the moment the lights went out I was on the move. I was away so quickly that I had already got up to my BMW Team RBM team-mate, Augusto Farfus, and fellow BMW Motorsport driver, Martin Tomczyk, by the first corner. I reckon I could have been up to seventh, but then came the bang. I was crowded out onto the right hand side of the track and then felt a massive impact,” said Priaulx.

Priaulx continued for as much as he could before giving up, as the Brit was consistently a couple of seconds slower than the rest of the field due to his damage.
“It was obvious from then on that the car had suffered some serious damage. I dropped down to 14th. We soldered on as the more laps you can complete the more experience you can get. But eventually with about a dozen laps of the 51-lap race left I had to call it a day and was told to park it in the garage. I had been a sitting duck and was serving no useful purpose out on the track,” said Priaulx.

Priaulx remains hopeful of a good last part of the season, as the triple World Champion looks forward to going back to Valencia, a track he knows well from his European and World Touring Car Championship experience.
“Now I need to look forward to the final two races. I believe I can finish the season on a high. Valencia is a pretty unusual track with lots of ‘special’ characteristics. However, it is another one I know well so I am going to head there hoping to turn my fortunes round,” said Priaulx.