Driver Profile: Andy Priaulx
Andy Priaulx is one of the world's most successful touring cars drivers, but has spent little of his career racing in Britain.
Born in Guernsey, he is the son of hillclimb veteran Graham Priaulx, and Andy's first taste of car racing came in the British Hillclimb Championship, which he won in 1995 driving a Pilbeam MP58.
He made his circuit racing debut in Formula Renault the following year, but it wasn't until he moved to the Renault Spider Cup in 1998 that he showed what he could achieve, dominating that series in his second season.
His touring car debut came in the BTCC in 2001, where he raced twice for the Egg Sport team in place of regular driver Phil Bennett who was serving a suspension.
Priaulx took pole position in both races, at Oulton Park, but was beaten to the wins by Jason Plato in both cases..
The following season he joined the BTCC full time with Honda, taking three wins at Knockhill and Donington Park and finishing fifth in the drivers' championship.
In 2003 he joined BMW, the marque with whom he's been associated ever since. His first season was in the European Touring car Championship, where he finished third, before winning that title in 2004.
The ETCC became the World Touring Car Championship in 2005, and Priaulx won it in not only its debut season, but also the next two years.
Most recently he has been racing in the German DTM touring car series, but his BMW M3 proved uncompetitive with a best race finish of sixth. He has also raced sportscars for BMW, twice entering the Le Mans 24 hours, as well as races in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and Le Mans Series.
This season he will also be racing in the European Le Mans Series, as well as selected races in the United Sportscar Championship.