Andy Priaulx had a weekend of two halves in the WTCR Race of Netherlands. In the first race on Saturday he started third and finished fifth, but on Sunday he was 18th and 15th in the two races. On Saturday Andy had a great race in his Cyan Racing-prepared Lynk & Co 03 TCR, as he explained: “I had a really tight fight for pole position with my team mates Thed Björk and Yvan Muller. I had a tough race as I lost a little at the start to Mikel Azcona and then had to fight with Johnan Kristoffersson, but being a little low on power meant I had to eventually settle for fifth. However, it was really nice to race with someone so close and have no contact. It was a really fair fight. I was happy for Thed and Yvan, who gave the team its first one-two of the season, and we showed that with every race we are getting stronger.” Unfortunately Sunday was not as successful for the Guernsey driver. “The problem started when we made a change to the suspension in qualifying, ran out of time and didn’t make the final run. It was disappointing as at that time I was up at the top of the timesheets. No one was to blame, it was just one of those things as the track was getting quicker and quicker. After Saturday, starting 17th was disappointing,” he said. However, as usual Andy saw the positives from the weekend and said after Sunday’s final race: “I finished today with one point, but I feel quite positive. I had good race balance and good race pace and I think things are getting better. Also with the team winning two of the three races this weekend it shows we are going in the right direction. Now it is onwards and upwards.” The next FIA WTCR race on the 22nd/23rd June is on the iconic 25-kilometre Nürburgring Nordschleife. This is a track Andy knows well and where he won the classic 24-hour race in 2010.
Image from FIA WTCR.