Priaulx in with title chance until final lap of the season

And although that dream did not come true for the Guernsey teenager, knocked to third pre-fixture by an unwelcome penalty, his eventual second-place finish in his maiden championship was certainly an impressive result.

Last weekend, a spirited performance earned Priaulx and team-mate Scott Maxwell their third podium finish of the campaign.

From fifth on the grid, both put in fantastic stints to climb up to second place at the finish, agonisingly just one position away from where they needed to be.

The Sarnian watched on as Maxwell took on the opening hour of the race, with the Canadian putting in a great performance to take fourth early on and maintain it through to the pitstop window.

Priaulx, who was recently selected to become part of the prestigious BRDC Rising Star programme, emerged from the pitstop shuffle in the same position but quickly set about making progress.

After passing one TF Sport Aston Martin, the next target was their team-mate. That, coincidentally, was Priaulx’s chief championship rival.

After closing down a two-second gap, the Guernseyman was right on his rival’s tail as the safety car came out.

At the restart he wasted no time, with a great dive down the inside at Coppice securing him second place.

At this stage, Priaulx knew that if he could go on to win the race, he and Maxwell would be crowned the champions. While the safety car had helped close the gap to the GT4 class leader, it sadly proved to be an unassailable task in the final 20 minutes.

Taking the chequered flag in second place meant that they finished only 7.5 points adrift in the standings, a remarkable performance in a debut British GT season for the team, the car, Priaulx and Maxwell.

The delighted Guernseyman celebrated a fantastic campaign with two wins, three podiums and three pole positions.

‘I gave it absolutely everything I had and tried everything I could to close to the leader,’ said Priaulx.

‘Sadly it wasn’t quite enough to get the win and the title, but we confirmed again just how quick we are.

‘Even though we missed out on the title, it has still been an amazing season. We’ve won two races, bounced back well from tough situations, been in with a shout of winning the title through to the final lap of the season and most of all, we’ve all enjoyed our racing.’

Priaulx also thanked Larry Holt and the rest of the Multimatic Motorsports team, as well as his highly supportive family, ahead of next season’s challenges.

‘Like all racing drivers, the end of the season is a horrible moment as all we want to do is go out there and race.

‘I’m looking forward to what next season brings, whatever it may be,’ he added.