Priol andy

Andy is one of Graham and Judy Prioli’s two children. He has a sister, Fiona.

Early years

Priol began his sports career at the age of 13, with karting competitions. Later he took part in various regional motocross and hill climbing championships (becoming the Channel Channel champion and the British racer of the year in this type of motor sport). In 1996, Andy moved into formula motor racing, having spent several races in the national championship in Formula Renault cars; and in a year he already signs a contract with one of the British F3 teams. Such a quick arrival in such competitions does not bring any special results and the Heroesian has to take a step back in his career: in 1998-99 he gained experience in working with equipment and fighting on the track in the winter F-Palmer Audi championship and in the British monocup Renault Spider . The move justifies itself; in 1999 he is the strongest in this body championship and in 2000 he returns to F3 .

In 2000-01, Priol participates in various class races around the world. The results are better than a few years ago, but he does not succeed in becoming a prize winner of any championship. But it turns out well to hold one of the international starts F3: Andy finishes second in the race in South Korea , behind only Jonathan Koshe .

There is no funding for a thorough transition to more serious classes of championships on cars with open wheels, and the Hero returns to body racing. In 2001, Andy arranged for several races in the factory team Vauxhall - Team Egg Sport - and in the very first races he manages to justify the chance given to him: having won the qualification, he finishes in second position in the debut race.

In 2002, the Heroesian performs in the series already on the full schedule, having signed a contract with the Arena Motorsport team , which had factory support for the Honda brand. Andy has a stable season, wins qualification three times and finishes the championship in fifth place.

European and World Touring

The successes of the young pilot attract the interest of the sports division of BMW and Priol goes into one of their teams in ETCC . Lapping to the new technology takes place almost instantly and already in the debut season, Andy fights for victories in races and becomes the bronze medalist of the championship. A year later, Prile managed to interrupt the three-year hegemony of the pilots of N.Technology in the individual competition and to win the European title. The victory went to him in a serious struggle with Gabriele Tarquini and Dirk Muller . The Italian and the German at some point had an advantage in the championship, but at the last stages could not argue with Priol in stability - Gabriele spent the most unfortunate stage in Germany , and Dirk missed his advantage because of the gathering in the first race in the UAE . In the end, gaining as many points as Mueller, Andy became the champion because of the greater number of victories (five against three).

In 2005, the European Championships were transformed into the World Championships, but the applicants for the title initially remained the same - Priol, Muller and, this time, Fabrizio Giovanardi from N.Technology fought for the title for a long time. This time, Andy went a little bit more stable throughout the championship, and the failure of both competitors at the Macau season finals allowed the backlog to turn into a 15-point lead. The next two years, the Hero won the championship again, again and again ahead of the competitors in the final stages.

The situation is changing in 2008 - among the competitors of BMW , SEAT Sport stands out as the sole leader. The first attempt to take the title Spaniards in 2007 are inferior due to technical problems of Ivan Muller at the American stage, and in the new year their advantage over the aging technology of the Bavarians was already more noticeable - Muller, regularly finishing with glasses, secured the title for several races to the end . Several unsuccessful races at the finish of the season deprive Andy of the vice-champion title - he is ahead of SEAT co-pilot Gabriele Tarquini and Robert Huff on Chevrolet .

In 2009–10, the stability of the hero at the early stages leaves much to be desired, and at an early stage he loses his chances for a title. Attempts to help win the title to his more successful Brazilian Augusto Farfus at the first stage of the season end in nothing. In 2010, BMW focuses factory support on two cars and tries to get ahead of competitors at the expense of games with poorly defined technical regulations, but everything ends only with a double disqualification at a stage in Japan .

Unwilling to finance the program to create a new car and seeing a growing backlog of competitors, BMW closes its program in the World Championships before the 2011 season.

Recent years

Bavarians are driving Priol and Farfus to their GT racing program; The first starts begin in 2009. Gradually, the Heroesian and Brazilian are getting used to the technique and the new tracks. in 2011, they win in the semi-daily marathon in Sebring , take third place in the 24 hours of Le Mans and become ILMC vice-champions in their class.

In 2012, BMW is transferring Andy and Augusto to their newly created program in the DTM . The first year is spent on bringing in new technology.

Summary Table

WTCC

Bold marked start from pole position, italics - the fastest lap in the race.

24 Hours of Le Mans

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andy Priol

• Official site (eng.)

• Profile (English) on the Driver Database website
• Profile (English) on the BRDC website