Andy Priaulx 'realistic' at his chances in DTM debut

Guernsey's Andy Priaulx says he is 'realistic' about his chances of success in his first ever DTM race.

The former three-time World Touring Car champion races at Hockenheim on Sunday for BMW as the manufacturer makes a return to the sport.

"We have to realise this is our first race," he told BBC Guernsey.

"We're racing against Mercedes and Audi, who have been in the championship for 10 years, so our expectations need to be realistic."

DTM

•Drivers such as Mika Hakkinen, Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard have all raced in the series.
•Regarded as the fastest touring car series in the world.
•Eight Audi, eight Mercedes and six BMW drivers will race in the 2012 series.
Priaulx signed up for the BMW DTM project last July and he says in that time the team has done a lot of testing to try and get the car ready for the 2012 season.

"I think we're going to start from the middle to back end of the grid and slowly creep forward," added Priaulx.

"This is the same technology here in DTM as in Formula One and you never see a new team in Formula One arrive and win.

"We have realistic expectations, but we're extremely ambitious at the same time."

More than 50,000 tickets have already been sold for the race, with a crowd topping 100,000 expected for the event at Germany's Grand Prix track.

"It should be a really exciting, amazing atmosphere to be driving here for BMW after 20 years out of DTM.

"I think it's going to be a very big event and I can't wait to be part of the team for that."
(from BBC)