PRIAULX BACK TO BASICS
Chip off the old block
How Seb Priaulx’s quest to emulate his world champion father led him to Rockingham in a C1
Seb Priaulx is used to the weight of expectation that comes with his surname. His debut foray into single-seaters in the British F4 Championship yielded victory as early as his second race, but the 17-year old set his sights on a wholly different discipline in May.
The Citroen C1 24 Hours at Rockingham was the Ginetta Junior graduate’s first longdistance race, and he had his father, sportscar ace Andy Priaulx, sharing with him, along with British Touring Car Championship series director Alan Gow and Intercontinental Hotel Group boss Richard Solomons.
It was primarily a weekend of fun for the quartet, but it was also another building block in the younger Priaulx’s experience and a further opportunity to showcase his ability. “There’s always competition – but it was fun,” says Priaulx. “I wasn’t as nervous as I would be for an F4 race. I was having fun, but I wanted to perform too, especially because of my team-mates.”
Having a three-time touring car world champion – and a Nurburgring 24 Hours winner to boot – in his corner is a real benefit, and Priaulx Sr’s experience in endurance events resulted in some useful pointers for his offspring.
“Every race we do, I get tips,” says Seb. “Dad was telling me that I need to be quick, but also to look after the car and make sure I knew what I was doing with the stints and the strategy. It’s difficult when you’re out on track to know where you are in terms of position – it’s not like a sprint race.”
It certainly wasn’t, but the #303 car was a competitive proposition. The quartet raced in the top three for most of the event, but a fuel-strategy error meant the car ran out of petrol when Gow was at the wheel and incurred a three-lap penalty. Eventually, the crew came home in ninth.
For his part, Priaulx Sr was delighted to share a car with his lad for the first time, a stark change from his normal place in the background at Seb’s race weekends. As a world champion, a racer and a father, his is an unusual balancing act.
“It’s very difficult,” explains Andy. “My strategy is to think and stand back before I get involved – I’m more with the team than with Seb. I’m quite hard on him though. I have to let him make his own mistakes, but I don’t give him anywhere to hide. He is under no illusions of how he has to perform. Every race has to be the most important of his life and he is responding well to that.
“I’m not one of the dads who throws all of the toys out of the pram. I’ll side with the team before I side with Seb. I help him as much as I can with his preparation before he gets to a track, I talk to him about how to bring tyres in and racecraft and those kinds of things. But when it comes down to pushing him for performance, that has to come from him.”
Grassroots events such as the C1 24 Hours may not carry the same pressure, but the younger Priaulx knows anything he can do to gain experience will carry a benefit, even if he “would like to race something a bit faster”! That’s echoed by his father, who has been impressed with the data he’s seen from his son so far.
“Winning a Citroen C1 race was always going to be really hard because there are guys out there who are doing this the whole time,” Priaulx Sr says. “Braking with the right foot not the left, low grip, a slow car and racing in the dark adds so much to his armoury and he needs it all.
“It’s hard to make a career now, perhaps harder than it was in my day. When I started in F3, you would work with your engineer closely and find an advantage with your car or in your working relationship. Now everyone is better prepared with time on simulators and everyone knows what to do, which has made the margins a lot smaller. But it still comes down to the smallest things, even though the job and the process haven’t changed. It’s a much smaller window, but it’s still the same.”
Being prepared for a tough climb to the top of the ladder is one thing, but to follow in his father’s footsteps and perform at the highest level there are other aspects Priaulx Jr will need to master.
“I won the Race of Champions [Nations Cup in 2015], and that was down to my hillclimbing experience at the start of my career,” says Andy. “I learned to be quick out of the box, which is a skill you need if you’re trying to win a race drive with someone. You have to be on it straight away, but make no mistakes. That’s vital for any racing driver, and it’s something I see in Seb.”
As for Priaulx Jr, he is dedicated to pursuing a career in single-seaters, but the Citroen C1 24 Hours has opened his eyes to other avenues.
“I would love to do 24-hour races, but I would also love to do Formula 1,” he says. “You have to be realistic, but you have to keep your dreams alive – everything is possible if you work hard.
“I’ve watched dad at Le Mans, so it’s totally on the radar. When you hear the cars on the Mulsanne straight, it makes all the hairs on your neck stand up. To be part of it would be very, very special.”
“He is under no illusions of how he has to perform. Every race has to be the most important of his life”