Stuck in Japan

THE Chevrolet pit team cheered as Andy Priaulx's bid for a fourth world touring car title all but ended in the thick gravel at turn seven in rain-sodden Okayama yesterday.

The scene of jubilation in the Chevrolet camp said it all and only a miracle in Macau will see Priaulx regain the championship from hot-favourite and Chevy driver Yvan Muller.

The Guernseyman was battling awful conditions unsuited to the BMWs when early in race two in Japan he slid off the track and watched his rivals head off into the distance while his car embedded itself in the thick safety gravel.

Muller went on to register his second third-place finish of a very wet day and as a consequence holds a massive 37-point advantage over Priaulx, his nearest rival, with only the two races in Macau to come in three weeks' time.

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