In his latest column for Crash.net, World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx looks back at his travels before and after the latest round of the WTCC season in Brazil.
It is great when you have a plan and it works. I went to Brazil with a plan. I knew, with 65 kilos, I would struggle in qualifying, but a top eight position in qualifying would see me in the right position for getting a few points in race one, and then a front of the grid position for race two.
Mind you, I have had plans before and they have not always worked – please don't mention Brands Hatch! Thankfully, this time it worked to perfection. I was seventh, and quickest
BMW driver in qualifying. Finished race one eighth, started race two on pole, won it and came away leading the championship.
The Curitiba trip, my first visit to Brazil, was after I also visited Canada for the first time - and what a great couple of weeks I had in these two countries.
First of all, back to Canada, where I went to have my second experience of driving the
F1 car in the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park. I thought we had some enthusiastic fans in
Silverstone, but it was nothing compared to what awaited us in Montreal. This time, we were right in the centre of the town and, over the three days, we had a record of 41,000 fans visit. They were amazing and really seemed to be having a lot of fun.
This time, I was joined by Jonathan Summerton, who I have met before as he was racing in the Formula BMW USA Championship. However, for the first time, we also had a bike to entertain the crowds, and this was a great hit. It was a BMW F 800 S ridden by former European stunt riding champion, Chris Pfeiffer. He was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed, not only watching him do some amazing stunts for the crowds, but also going out in the evenings with him and his wife.
![Andy Priaulx - BMW 320si [Pic credit: FIA WTCC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/240070.jpg)
