BMW Drivers' ETCC title

Andy Priaulx's championship charge begins

The star of Brno was without doubt Andy Priaulx. He was the quickest BMW driver in qualifying and then went on to win race one and come second in race two just behind Dirk Müller. In many ways Andy's championship charge really began there in earnest as he found himself second in the points table just four behind Dirk.

A disastrous qualifying session at his home race in Donington did not deter Andy. He went on to win the second race and, with five points from race one, was able to leave there leading the championship. However, Spa proved to be a bad weekend for him, so a month later he found himself behind both Dirk and Jörg, who won the two races at the famous Belgian circuit. In many ways Imola was a race to forget for most of the BMW drivers.  Alfa were back on song and dominated the races, as this track did not suit the BMW cars. Dirk Müller was the only BMW driver to make a podium appearance for third in race two. For Andy and Jörg the on-track competition was so tough they both crashed out due to accidents that were no fault of their own. Meanwhile, Alex Zanardi had a heart-stopping accident that saw the race red-flagged after he smashed into the wall due to brake failure. Luckily Alex was able to walk away from the severely damaged car. Dirk Müller was still leading the Drivers' Championship going into Oschersleben, but Gabriele Tarquini, thanks to two race wins in Imola, was able to jump into second. It seemed that Oschersleben was going to be a decisive weekend for those chasing the titles. This was certainly the case as Andy Priaulx took his fifth win of the season and Gabriele Tarquini saw his challenge literally go up in smoke when his car stopped on the side of the track with flames coming from the engine compartment. However, Andy's joy didn't last long as Augusto Farfus Jr, who seemed to be involved in more than his fair share of accidents during the season, collided with him in race two, bringing his weekend to a close. Dirk had two podium finishes and left the circuit for the final rounds in Dubai with what looked like an unassailable lead of 12 points. BMW had their second consecutive Manufacturers' win to celebrate, but were also happy to congratulate the SEAT team who had won their first FIA ETCC race with Rickard Rydell driving.

Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx battle it out in the Dubai desert

In Dubai the heat was on. The temperature was in the mid-thirties, and
Jörg Müller and Andy Priaulx knew that Dirk Müller was in the driving seat as far as the drivers' title was concerned. However, it was the weekend when Andy Priaulx could do no wrong.

He took his first pole of the year while Jörg was ninth and Dirk tenth. Andy had proved that coming from the back was not impossible, but due to a collision with the privateer Alfa driver, Luca Rangoni, Dirk could not do this and had to pit twice for damage repairs. As the lights went out for the final race of 2004, Dirk had a four-point lead over Andy but had to start from the back of the grid. However, it was far from plain sailing as a red flag came out during the first lap, and in the carnage that followed Andy Priaulx and Jörg Müller ended up with damaged cars. Luckily they were able to take the re-start. Dirk drove as hard as he could and did a fantastic charge from the back to fifth. But he needed just one more place as Andy crossed the line second and Dirk fifth, leaving them tied on 111 points each. In these circumstances the number of wins decides the title, so Andy won as he had five against Dirk's three. The elusive first win just escaped BMW Team Italy-Spain, with a second place for Antonio Garcia in Hockenheim being the team's best result. While Antonio had a disappointing last race in Dubai, this was the highlight of the season for Alex. Not only did he start race two from the front row of the grid, but he also had his best finish of the season in sixth. Jörg Müller also notched up three race wins, so bringing the overall total for BMW drivers to 11. BMW drivers were on pole three times for race one (two for Jörg and one for Andy), set ten fastest laps and led for 124 laps while the Alfa Romeo drivers only led for 79 laps.

Andy started his career in karting in the Channel Islands as he was born on the small island of Guernsey. This was in1984 when he was 11 years old.
He then spent six years on two wheels in motocross, which culminated in his winning the 250cc CI Championship in 1990. He then decided to follow in
his father's footsteps and started hill climbing. On his way to the British hill climb championship title in 1995 he scored the maximum points possible.

It was in 1996 that he turned to single-seater racing in both Formula Renault and Formula 3, going on to win the Renault Spider Championship in 1998 with thirteen wins from 13 poles - a feat that has never been equalled.

Andy's Formula 3 career then continued until he turned to touring cars in 2001, when he was invited to drive for Vauxhall in the UK.

His touring car career really took off in 2002 in the British Touring Car Championship, where he scored Honda's debut win. His BMW career started in 2003 when he was offered the FIA ETCC drive for BMW Team Great Britain, and he impressed everyone by winning three races in his first year and fighting for the championship to the very last race. In 2004 Andy had his first drive for BMW Motorsport in the Spa 24 Hours, and when not in the driving seat he was busy giving education and training to young drivers in his role as Chief Instructor for the Formula BMW UK Championship.

Andy's car is run by the Belgian RBM team, which stands for Racing Bart Mampaey. Bart set up the team in 1994 and ran a car in the FIA ETCC for the first time in 2002 for BMW Team Belgium. His motor sport history goes back to the days when his father, Julian, ran the successful Juma racing team in the '70s and '80s. The team ran BMW cars in the European Touring Car Championship and won the Spa 24 Hours three times. Bart is following in his father's footsteps as his team won the Spa 24 Hours in 1998 and has now added this title to its tally. Bart still has very close ties to BMW in Belgium as his company prepares all the engines for their very successful MINI Challenge.