I am disappointed by the result in Curitiba
I am now back home in Guernsey after our first FIA World Touring Car Championship weekend of the year in Brazil and three weeks away from the family.
I am disappointed about the result. In race one I came fifth, and then in race two a collision with my old sparing partner Gabriele Tarquini just after the start saw me limp back to the pits to retire my BMW Team RBM car, while he went on to win the race. It was just the luck of the draw if you get a big hit to a front wheel you are going to be very lucky to survive without terminal damage.
Anyway first let’s get back to something positive. As usual going to Curitba was great. It is an amazing atmosphere there, helped by the fact it is the home town of my new team-mate, Augusto Farfus who did better than me with two sixth places.
The place really comes alive for the races and, as well as going to watch the cars, the fans also donate food which is given to the Instituto Pro-Cidadania de Curitiba who then distribute it to the poor people in Brazil. The deal is give two kilos of food and you get a free race ticket. Last year 43 tonnes were collected and let’s hope for more this year.
On the subject of charities, I also want to mention again six-year-old Afonso Couto, whose father always races in the WTCC race in Macau. It is amazing to see how the touring car world has taken his plight for a bone marrow transplant to their hearts. Several of the cars had the web site – www.saveafonso.com – as part of their livery. Also I know the Eurosport commentators were plugging this.
This year we have a change of commentator for Eurosport in the UK. With the withdrawal of Lada from the series my good mate James Thompson is without a drive and so has moved into the commentary box alongside Martin Haven. He has replaced John Clelland, who I know was pretty good at speaking his mind. Luckily I have a drive so am not sitting at home listening to Thommo, but I want to say good luck and from all reports back home he did a good job this weekend.
As I said above, the start to our season could have been better. In free practice the BMW 320si WTCC was the car to beat. It felt good round the track and both Augusto and I were pretty confident we could get good grid positions. Sadly this wasn’t the case, and it was obvious in qualifying that it wasn’t just SEAT who we needed to beat but also Chevrolet. I have to congratulate them on the job they did over the winter and also mention their new team manager, David Grace, who is a very good friend of mine from our hill climbing days. Suddenly they were up there and Yvan Muller, who has just swapped a SEAT for the Chevrolet this season, was on pole. Although the best I could do was fifth, I was only just over two tenths off his time, and a car going off when we were all going out for our last quick lap put an early end to the competitive part of qualifying.
Race one on Sunday was held in torrential rain and so the Safety Car led for the first two laps. It was the usual tiptoeing around to make sure you didn’t go off and I managed to move up one place from sixth on the grid thanks to Jordi Gene skidding off in his SEAT. However, by the end the track was almost dry and we were all trying to find the damp patches on the track to keep our wet weather tyres cool. Chevrolet also signalled they were very much a force to be reckoned with as they were the first three cars over the finish line.
Race two from the second row of the grid was one I knew could be good for us and I was confident of a podium. However, as I said above, a bang with Gabriele in the run up to the first corner put paid to that and it was an early bath for me.
Next on the agenda is a bit of a wait for the next WTCC race as over the Brazilian weekend we heard the race due for the 11th April in Puebla, Mexico, had been cancelled. It is a shame as I rather enjoyed the latin feel of Mexico. We are not sure what the next move for the organisers will be, but if there is no replacement, which I suppose at short notice is unlikely, our next race will not be until the 2nd May in Marrakech.
Luckily for me I have some more work with BMW and I am very excited that my next outing is in the BMW M3 in the States for the Rahal Letterman BMW team. I raced at Petit Le Mans in Road Atlanta for them last year, but dreadful weather conditions meant the race was cancelled at half distance. This time it is the Sebring 12 Hours that is on my schedule. I have never done this race before and I can’t wait. The stories that come from this Florida race are legendary. It seems there are thousands of spectators and many of them young students on their Spring Break. I hear they all come with their parents’ old furniture and set up camp in the middle of the track and party over the weekend. I may even pop over and join them!
As usual I shall be letting you all know what I am up to via Twitter, so please follow me on http://twitter.com/andypriaulx