Macau: Priaulx says sorry
Andy Priaulx was forced to apologise to rival Tom Coronel after first qualifying on Thursday for this weekend's SJM Macau Guia race after a mix-up led to the Briton punting the Dutchman into the barriers
Priaulx was running at the back of a train of three cars, with Dirk Muller and Coronel ahead of him, as they were gunning to better their qualifying times in the closing minutes of the session.
Coronel pulled out of Muller's slipstream just before Lisboa and Priaulx did the same - but made a mistake as he hit the brakes and ran into the back of Coronel's car, pitching him sideways and into the tyre barriers.
Afterwards, Priaulx made sure to go and see his rival and say sorry - and insisted that he had not deliberately tried to prevent the Carly Motors driver from challenging the dominant BMW Team Germany cars ahead of him on the grid.
Speaking to autosport.com, Priaulx said: "Tom's fine about it and I think he knows that I am not like that and would not do something like that on purpose.
"It was just a bit of a nightmare because when I pulled out of Muller's slipstream my foot accidentally hit the throttle so I missed the braking point. I had the choice to hit both cars in front of me or tap Tom."
Coronel was not too upset about the incident - although could not believe the irony of crashing at the same corner where he shunted a few years ago to rob himself of victory.
"Priaulx said he made a mistake so what can I say," explained Coronel, who qualified fifth overall, one place behind the Briton. "I had a super, super slipstream off Muller and braked at the normal place, but then he hit me. I'm a but unlucky there - I think they should rename it 'Coronel Corner!'"
Jorg Muller took pole position, ahead of Dirk Muller and Rickard Rydell.
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