Priaulx leads BMW 1-2 in second race

Andy Priaulx led Augusto Farfus across the line to take a comfortable 1-2 finish for BMW Team RBM in Oschersleben this afternoon. Priaulx now moved ahead of Gabriele Tarquini to second in the championship just 13-points adrift of leader Yvan Muller who completed the podium.

Kristian Poulsen claimed a clear win in the Independents’ Trophy, his second of the day, finishing sixth whilst Michel Nykjær was again the best rookie finishing in a brilliant fourth overall.

Andy Priaulx made a fantastic start to take the lead from third on the grid before the first corner. Poleman Norbert Michelisz and Michel Nykjær fell into line behind him as Farfus moved up to fourth from seventh. The pack made it cleanly through the Hotel-Kurve with Tiago Monteiro going on to take fourth from Farfus. By the end of lap one the order was Priaulx from, Michelisz, Nykjær, Monteiro, Farfus, Muller, Coronel, Poulsen, Menu and Gené.
Gabriele Tarquini and Rob Huff were also making their way up through the order with Huff moving from 17th to 14th and Tarquini from 20th to 13th on lap one.

Priaulx began to pull out a gap in front while the battle for second was heating up between Michelisz, Nykjær and Monteiro. The trio continued to push each other until on lap three Monteiro tapped Nykjær sideways. As the Dane ran wide the Portuguese racer went through. Nykjær then continued to drop back falling behind Farfus and Muller. Monteiro was awarded a drive-through penalty but before taking it also made another move tapping Michelisz wide and causing him to run through the gravel, rejoining in P7 although quickly demoted to P8 as Menu moved ahead.

After Monteiro served his drive-through penalty the order at the front was now Priaulx from Farfus, Muller, Nykjær, Coronel, Poulsen, menu and Michelisz.

Fredy Barth pitted with damage early in the race and then was also served a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Michelisz, Huff and Tarquini were now fighting for eighth with the rookie having to defend hard. Huff then tapped the back of Michelisz and nudged his way through. Tarquini tried to follow but made contact sending the Hungarian across the gravel to lose a position to Jordi Gené as he dropped back to 11th.

Priaulx took the chequered flag to claim his sixth win of the season ahead of Farfus on BMW’s home soil in Germany. Muller claimed his second podium finish of the day in third with Nykjær crossing the line fourth to take the rookie victory for the second time today. Tom Coronel finished ahead of Poulsen in sixth. The Dane scored his best overall result of the season as well as taking his second Independent win of the day. His closest rivals, Darryl O’Young and Sergio Hernández, finished 12th and 13th respectively. Huff, Menu, Tarquini and Gené rounded out the top ten.