Silverstone race 1: Breakthrough for Priaulx

In wet conditions, Sato put in a sensational opening lap in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen to pull no less than 4.1 seconds clear of Priaulx, who himself had driven a stunning opening stanza to rise from sixth on the grid to second.

"I did a massively dangerous thing," grinned Priaulx. "I passed Derek Hayes on the outside of Copse and James Courtney around the outside at Luffield. James gave me one inch - just what I needed not to be in the gravel!"

Priaulx's Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen then came under pressure from a resurgent Anthony Davidson, who himself had slipped as low as seventh on the opening lap in the second Carlin car. Just when Priaulx seemed to have stabilised the gap, the safety car was brought out because Priaulx's team mate, Hideaki Nakao, was stranded on the track at Priory after a clash with Mark Mayall.

You would have thought it fairly easy to pick up Sato, the clear leader, but the officials instead positioned the safety car in front of Priaulx. Sato, in the confusion, was forced to crawl around. "The team radioed me to slow down," explained the Japanese. "I was nearly stopped - going between neutral and first gear. It was walking pace."

Eventually the safety car pulled over to let the rest of the field by before belatedly picking up Sato, but then came the moment when the race was lost for the recently crowned champion. With his tyres stone cold, he touched the throttle at Priory in first gear in a bid to get some heat into his rubber and spun. Then, while waiting for the other runners to pass by, he stalled and had to be push-started by the marshals.

While Sato rejoined to set fastest lap on his way to 18th place, Priaulx held off the attentions of Davidson over the final four laps for a well-merited win. "I needed this - it was perfect," he beamed.

There were other glum faces apart from Sato's. Andre Lotterer lost his chance to capitalise on pole position with a strange traction problem off the grid which left him wheel-spinning his way down to fifth. The German then accidentally punted Derek Hayes off at Abbey, before pitting to replace the car's damaged front wing. The incident means that Davidson is now confirmed as the championship runner-up as Hayes cannot now catch him.

Lotterer's Jaguar team mate James Courtney struggled for grip in the early laps, going backwards from second on the grid. He seemed a secure third with a couple of tours remaining, only for his flat-shift cable to snap off on the way into Becketts and hit his leg. As the Australian ran wide, a grateful Mark Taylor nipped into third, having already passed Gianmaria Bruni just after the restart.

There was further drama in the Scholarship Class. Michael Keohane led all the way while poleman and title contender Matt Gilmore made a slow start. Robbie Kerr, the series leader, lost his right front wing in the early going, but was holding off a train of cars for second in class when he was hit by Gilmore - who was bidding to overtake - at Priory, both cars going off into the gravel. That means that Kerr remains 11 points ahead of Gilmore going into this evening's (Saturday's) final round.


1 Andy Priaulx (Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen) 18 laps in 30m23.771s
2 Anthony Davidson (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +1.622s
3 Mark Taylor (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) +6.839s
4 James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) +8.548s
5 Gianmaria Bruni (Fortec Dallara-Renault) +9.360s
6 Bruce Jouanny (Promatecme Dallara-Mugen) +10.683s
7 Ryan Dalziel (Duma Racing Dallara-Mugen) +11.553s
8 Matt Davies (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel) +12.945s
9 Philip Giebler (Duma Racing Dallara-Mugen) +13.358s
10 Rob Austin (Menu Renaultsport Dallara-Renault) +16.741s
Takuma Sato (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m28.627s
1 Michael Keohane (Meritus Racing Dallara-Toyota); 2 Justin Sherwood; 3 Kazuki Hoshino; 4 Harold Primat; 5 Rowland Kinch; 6 Aaron Scott.
Keohane 1m30.965s