Is Andy the spoiled boy in the Championship?

[yellowcat]

Hi everybody,
Last weekend in Valencia it happened again.

Andy is a clean driver but only when he's in the top of the grid. When he's fighting to be inside the top 8 he starts to be dirt.

But, the worst thing, it's he has never been penalised as the other drivers on the Championship.

At Zandvort 2007 Race 1 he pushed Gene out dirtly and gaining 8th position and Gene finishing 9th. He started race 2 from pole. Race incident.

At Mexico 2008 he pushed Porteiro out in race 1 fighting for 10 th position. Race incident.

At Brno 2006, he pushed Tarquini off in first lap when Tarquini was 2nd in Championship. Race incident again.

And again in Valencia 2008, he pushed Thompson out in a place, as Thommo said, no overtaking was possible, fighting for the top 8 in Race 1. Race incident again.

A lot of incidents pushing other drivers out without penalisation and gaining the reverse grid for race 2.

And what happen with the other drivers? This year Gene has been penalised in Curitiba after incident with Menu when Gene crash with the rear inside wheel. Incident penalised with drive through losing 7th position in race 1 and losing 2nd staring position in race 2 (he started 13th) and losing all weekend.

Now, in Valencia, two drive through for Monteiro.

Are the rules the same for all drivers?

[duke_toaster]

I haven't seen anything particularly silly from him that in my view should have been punished. I do find it interesting that someone registers seemingly just to post this ...

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Aaah ... the smell of freshly stirred poo.

What kind of weird reaction is that? It's a valid point he's bringing up, the least you could do is give a normal reaction even though you disagree on it.

[PorscheFanNo1]

Very valid point, in my opinion. I've always wondered how on earth he manage to take those 8th positions in some races, where he can be like 10th or 11th with one lap to go, still he manage to get into just that 8th position when the flag comes out... And theres never any cameras showing how he did it!

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by PorscheFanNo1

And theres never any cameras showing how he did it!

Well, thats an Eurosport problem thats been there for ages already. Might as well run a 8 car grid, the rest is never shown anyways.

[Adam43]

He must be the only driver in the whole history of touring car racing where you could highlight four races like that. The sooner he leaves the better. Or is it worse than that, is the whole of the WTCC corrupt? Think about it, his name is Andy and the championship is called WTCC (and ETCC before that); all four letter words. Hmmmm....

[Knowlesy]

Andy is among the cleanest racers out there.

He's hardly Farfus/an Alfa Romeo driver.

[banger_racer]

Compared to some BTCC drivers, he drive's like a nun.

[duke_toaster]

A nun? More like the Dalai Lama ...

[ensign14]

I think other drivers are more sopiled. Indeed, I believe Farfus is notorious for his sopilation, his reached sixteen feet high in 2007. It's Larini who is the least sopiled; he can't be bothered to visit the sopile chamber for his annual injection.

[stedevil]

Andy is a little bit naughty sometimes, but not excessively so and certainly not much worse then the rest of the WTCC gang. And that 8th place in race 1 is super important to get for a championship contender, much more so then eg the difference between 1st and 3rd, so I can understand why there will be a bit above average elbowing around there. IMO BTCC way of reverse grid (randomly between 6-10) is a better one for just this reason. WTCC should do the same to remove that unnecessary sharp difference of a 8 vs 9th place finish.

[smokinjo]

um.. i dun think so

[KA]

Originally Posted by stedevil

Andy is a little bit naughty sometimes, but not excessively so and certainly not much worse then the rest of the WTCC gang. And that 8th place in race 1 is super important to get for a championship contender, much more so then eg the difference between 1st and 3rd, so I can understand why there will be a bit above average elbowing around there. IMO BTCC way of reverse grid (randomly between 6-10) is a better one for just this reason. WTCC should do the same to remove that unnecessary sharp difference of a 8 vs 9th place finish.

Even better, why not just do away with the whole idea? it's a gimmick that has absolutely no place in a serious race series. It's fine for an end-of-season jolly like the old TOCA Shoot-Outs, but it really does nothing for the credibility of a World Championship.

[Sodemo]

There are far dirtier drivers out there.

Andy is one of the cleanest racers out there, like David Leslie was...

[trebor901]

the reason Andy has been world champion for the past 3 years is because he always stays out of trouble and is pretty consistently in the points.

[Icebaby]

Andys not a dirty driver although I find he is a touch arogant.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by Icebaby

Andys not a dirty driver although I find he is a touch arogant.

And on which facts do you base that opinion?

I've met him once and on that moment he was far from arrogant. He was actually a very nice and likable person. That doesn't take away the fact that the occasions mentioned in the first thread are remarkable, despite the fact that they're only a few spread over a season or 2. Tiago Monteiro alone bumped Thompson more often than that in one race for heavens sake

[mattt]

from what ive seen of Andy Priaulx he aint arrogant, a good few years he gave my disabled sister, his Guernsey/Jersey beach ball

[trebor901]

Andy seems like a great guy, just shows you dont need to be up yourself when you've been world champion of your sport.

[yellowcat]

The question isn't if he is a good guy or he is more dirty or less dirty than the other drivers (for sure there is a lot of drivers more dirty than him).

Just check the exemples on the videos and say your opinion.

Look for Gene monouver over Menu in race 1 in curitiba and compare with Andy's over Thommo. First one driver penalised with drive through for race one and losing 2nd position on the grid for 2nd race. Andy's incident no penalisation.

Which one do you think is more penalisabled?

It's just one of the examples

[Hazard]

Andy's a very good boy. One of the best.

I've not heard any drivers complain about Andy's driving. That's usually a very good sign.

[Adam43]

It seems most people disagree with you there yellowcat.

BTW I love the words you have invented there; penalisation and penalisabled. Fantastic, if these aren't words then they still shouldn't be.

[Hazard]

Well...since it's a yes/no question - why don't we quickly conclude this one with a poll?

Anonymity assured.

[Bramzel]

Rather black & white poll, and it's not quite the point the threadstarter raised. The question whether Priaulx was dirty or not isn't even a question, as both you and I know the outcome already

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

Rather black & white poll, and it's not quite the point the threadstarter raised. The question whether Priaulx was dirty or not isn't even a question, as both you and I know the outcome already

Originally Posted by yellowcat

Last weekend in Valencia it happened again.

Andy is a clean driver but only when he's in the top of the grid. When he's fighting to be inside the top 8 he starts to be dirt.

I think I derived the question from that comment there. The second part to the question (is Andy not being penalised equally) can probably only be addressed once we identify if there's anything for him to be penalised for?

As for the black and white poll - thought I'd keep it simple...as this is serious (tries to put on serious face). Well, at least lacking the usual comedy options - I mean, look what happened with my damn Lada poll! The rotters showed up!