General
ETCC: Dubai: Season finale quotes
Andy PRIAULX -- BMW Team Great Britain, 2nd in Race 1 and Race 2, 2004 FIA ETCC Champion "I just let it happen. I came here early, and relaxed a bit. The car has been great from the first session on. I think it was just destiny. I didn't bother ...
Edited: Jul 2, 2009, 5:39 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Andy PRIAULX -- BMW Team Great Britain, 2nd in Race 1 and Race 2, 2004 FIA ETCC Champion
"I just let it happen. I came here early, and relaxed a bit. The car has been great from the first session on. I think it was just destiny. I didn't bother about the points at all, and just drove freely. I wasn't really expecting to win the title; I just wanted to go out on a high. You know, I've visualized this, but I never really thought it would be possible. I had lots of wins this year, lost of fast laps, but without my fantastic team, I wouldn't haven been able to make it. I am very proud to take the nr 1 from Gabriele Tarquini. He's an amazing driver, and I'm honoured to take over from him. We had a tremendous season this year, but also some bad luck. I think we deserved this title. It was just meant to be."
Gabriele TARQUINI -- AutoDelta Squadra Corse, 1st in Race 1 and Race 2
"It was not really my target to finish third in the Championship. The nr 1 is very important, but I'm happy to give it to Andy. He did a very good job this season. It's not easy to win the title with a small team, but he did it. Today, I just wanted to honour my nr 1, and I pushed as hard as possible from the beginning. The team did a really good job, and I think winning both races of the last event of the year has given us a good feeling for the next season. I've scored more victories than anybody else, but unfortunately, I also scored some double zeros. But that's racing! I'm really proud of the job the team did, and I'm looking forward to the future!"
James THOMPSON -- AutoDelta Squadra Corse, 3rd in Race 1 and Race 2
"It was a fantastic weekend! I have to give my congratulations to Andy - he's done a fantastic job this year. He's won the European title and I won the British one! For me, this is the first time I've raced continuously abroad. They've given me a fantastic car, and it was great to be on podium here! I'm not sure yet what I'll be doing next year. I'm going to the beach after this!"
Bart MAMPAEY -- BMW Team Great Britain team manager
"2003 has been a year in which we've been relying more on the second than on the first race. I think now we're capable of winning races right from the start. We've worked very hard. We are a small team, and we have, I should say, limited resources compared to the other teams. But fortunately, the regulations of the FIA ETCC allow even smaller teams to be really competitive."
Frank DIEFENBACHER -- SEAT Sport, 5th in Race 1 and 4th in Race 2
"I'm very happy with the races. I had no major problem with the car. In the first race I could have scored an easy fourth position, but Farfus did an unfair move; he just went into the back of me without braking at all and pushed me completely off the track. In the second race I had a small clutch problem and then I couldn't believe it when Farfus hit me again. The rest of the race was very tough -- I had to pass both Mullers, then I got past Farfus again and then I passed Giovanardi when he had a problem."
Dirk MÜLLER -- BMW Team Deutschland, 17th in Race 1 and 5th in Race 2
"I lost my chances to win the title when I was hit during the first race and I had to pit for repairs. A very, very optimistic private Alfa driver was behind me, I saw him coming and opened the door, but he just really crashed into the back of my car."
Luca RANGONI -- Oregon Team, 8th in Race 1 and 10th in Race 2
"Honestly I was expecting something more, but during the first race I had differential problems. This resulted in the front wheels locking at each braking. And this also caused me to hit Dirk Muller. I did not mean it, but I couldn't avoid it. I was racing my own race, and I'm sorry if this spoiled his chances of becoming champion."
Simon HARRISON -- GR Asia, 10th in Race 1 and 11th in Race 2
"The best result of the year! I'm very pleased with it. Finally something to cheer about because we haven't achieved what we wanted to achieve this year, but at least there's a little hope now before we head to Macau. It was a couple of good races. Lots of action - it was clean and fair; and I am very, very happy."
Rickard RYDELL -- SEAT Sport, DNF in Race 1 and DNS in Race 2
"I was very pleased with the beginning of the first race; I overtook two Alfas at the start, but was passed by a BMW. Then Dirk Muller pushed me into the first corner, so I went wide and he got past, but afterwards I got past him again and I had a really good race catching up on the Alfas. But then an Alfa hit something that was lying on the track. I ran over it. There was no chance to avoid it, and I got a puncture. In the second race I had a very good start and made up six places in the first few corners, but then Farfus hit Garcia in front of me and there was nowhere for me to go. It was like everything was in slow motion; I hit Garcia, someone else hit me from behind and then Magnussen's Peugeot ended up on its roof alongside me."
-fia-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article ETCC: Dubai: SEAT Sport qualifying notes
Next article Luca Casadei Hockenheim summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Dirk Muller
WeatherTech/Proton adds second Mercedes to Rolex 24 line-up
IMSA
IMSA
WeatherTech/Proton adds second Mercedes to Rolex 24 line-up
Top Ford GT disqualified from Le Mans results
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Top Ford GT disqualified from Le Mans results
Ford’s Daytona victory loss a “kick in the teeth”
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24
Ford’s Daytona victory loss a “kick in the teeth”
Latest news
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
30 min
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 Can-Am drivers
General
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 Can-Am drivers
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe