World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx has revealed that he will wear a black armband at Puebla this weekend out of respect for David Leslie and Richard Lloyd, who died in an air crash yesterday.
Priaulx enjoyed his first full season of racing in the BTCC in the same year that Leslie made his return to the championship in 2002, with the Scot having then spent recent seasons commentating on Priaulx's championship winning performances in the WTCC for series broadcaster
Eurosport.
The
BMW Team UK man had also planned to do an event in memory of the late Will Hoy alongside Lloyd and he admitted he saddened to receive news of the incident in Kent that also cost three other people their lives.
"I was immensely saddened to hear yesterday's news that two of the gentlemen of our sport had lost their lives in a tragic plane crash," he said. "I knew both well and counted them among my friends, as well as being people who I admired enormously.
"I grew up watching David racing and he was a source of inspiration to me. He proved that good guys can win championships by being hard but fair racers. When he turned his hand to commentating, and was the voice of the
FIA WTCC, I was equally impressed with his expertise and I know his comments were always well respected in our paddocks.
"Richard very successfully made the transition from racing driver to race team owner. I met him through our mutual friend Will Hoy and kept in constant touch with him, only recently talking about an event we planned to do in Will's name. I know from David how much Richard was respected in his managerial role, and one day would have loved to race for him.
"I know there will be an air of sadness in the WTCC paddock this weekend in Puebla, Mexico. I shall be thinking of the families of both these great guys - David's wife, Jane, and her two sons and Richard's wife, Philippa, and her three daughters - and will be wearing a black armband as a mark of respect."
Leslie's fellow
Eurosport commentator Martin Haven also took time to pay respects to the man who sat alongside him in the commentary box.
"His technical knowledge was second to none and his ability to instinctively analyse a situation was unerringly accurate," he said. "It's a rare thing in a sport such as motor racing not to make enemies and it says everything about David that he simply had none.
"In life, as in racing, he believed in fair play and treated everyone with courtesy and exemplary good manners."
