Andy Priaulx: “I’m relaxed about the future”
He’s raced in single-seaters, WTCC, BTCC, ELMS, ALMS, WEC and more, but until today 44-year-old Andy Priaulx hasn’t started a British GT race – something that’ll be rectified when he climbs on board the #19 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang shared with British professional cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy at the half-way point of the two-hour event.
The event also sees him take to the same track as son Seb for the first time since Priaulx junior began his racing career – he currently leads the overall GT4 driver standings with co-driver Scott Maxwell.
DSC caught up with the Guernseyman during free practice, shortly after he’d had his first time at the wheel of the car. “It was literally my first time sitting in it, no shakedown, no testing,” he said.
“Of course, I’d heard from Seb about the general gist of the car and how it works. It’s a different ball game to the GTE, but having raced touring cars for so long, it comes naturally. It’s a very forgiving car, so gentleman drivers can really get confidence from it.”
The big question, of course, is how intense the family rivalry is going to be in the race. How much do father and son want to beat each other?
“To be honest, I really want to help Seb,” says Priaulx. “He’s super quick: he’d never seen the track before and he’s already impressive. I’d like to help him as much as I can to fight for the championship. Obviously I don’t want to be slow, I want to be as quick as I can be, and hopefully he’ll be a bit quicker!”
Priaulx is also enjoying driving alongside Hoy; sharing a car with someone from the top of a different sporting discipline brings a different dynamic than is usual for a pro-am line-up.
“Chris is lovely,” continues Priaulx. “Working with him is easy, because he’s a pro, he knows what he wants. He’s still learning his trade in motor racing, but he drives well and his technique is good; it’s just a case of getting him up to speed. He’s got a tough job this weekend jumping between the featherweight Caterham and the big heavy Mustang; it’s not easy to make that adaptation, but hopefully we’ll get him up to speed.”
Turning to WEC, Priaulx at Le Mans wrapped up four years at the heart of the works Ford GT programme in the top GTE class, and he’s clearly downcast to be leaving those years behind.
“I’m definitely disappointed that the WEC programme has come to an end – that car had so many good years left in it,” he states. “Personally, I’ve had a brilliant four years with Ford and my overall WEC campaign was very, very strong for me personally.”
So is there any chance of him making a WEC or Le Mans rerun in the future, or is his touring-car return in WTCR with Chinese brand Lynk&Co now the priority?
“I’m pretty relaxed about the future,” he says. “I definitely will be staying with Multimatic in some shape or form, whatever they do. The WTCR thing isn’t going as well as I’d like at the moment; we’re a new team in a lot of ways, with a new car, and there’s still a lot of learning to do.
“I’m also learning and adapting to front-wheel drive, which is new territory for me. Let’s see how it goes. I’m happy, I’ve had a 20+ year career as a factory driver and now to watch Seb come through and help him develop as a world-class driver is also really enjoyable. But I’m definitely not going to hang up the helmet just yet.”