In his latest column for Crash.net, World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx looks back at a busy few weeks heading to Brazil for the latest round of the season.
The last WTCC race in Oschersleben seems ages ago, but I suppose that is because of what I have been doing since then for
BMW, which includes driving the BMW Sauber
F1.06 for the first time.
Anyway before I get into that, back to my second home race of the season in Oschersleben, Germany. I was carrying 50ilos of ballast but thankfully at a circuit that is good for the BMW 320si. Qualifying was one of those lotteries with red flags and changeable conditions. However, it will take more than that to put me and the RBM team off our stroke. Our timing was perfect and the car was also, so I was able to snatch my second pole of the year.
I knew that once the race started the pressure would be on me, especially from Dirk Müller, as he was the closest BMW driver to me on the grid. I made a good start and concentrated on putting as much distance between myself and the SEATs behind me, but he did the same and so it was in the closing stages that I had a BMW in my mirrors and not a Spanish car. Luckily I was able to hang on and score my third win of the year.
Race two was not so perfect. A missed gear at the start and I dropped a couple of places and never recovered them. I was hoping to score a point or two, but this was not to be. The good thing is my main rivals didn’t do as well as I did so I am back leading the points table. However, things could not be tighter as I have 33 points, Yvan Muller also has 33, but I have more wins, while Dirk and James Thompson are both on 32 and Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini both on 31. I am sure we will still be fighting for the title when we get to Macau in November, and I certainly intend to be there in with a shout again.
