Priaulx has won the FIA World Championship three times

Andy Priaulx said he drove one of the races of his life to finish fifth in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Valencia, Spain.

The Guernsey driver followed up the fifth placing with a fourth in the second race on the 4km track.

Priaulx said: "Race one was great and I reckon the first lap was the best first lap of my career.

"When the lights went green I was on a banzai run and this strategy worked. Race two was another really tough one."

Priaulx had been 12 points adrift of leader Yvan Muller before the races, which marked the 17th and 18th rounds of the championship.

That lead has now stretched to 25 points after Muller grabbed two second-placed finishes, while third-placed Gabriele Tarquini lies four points behind Priaulx in the championship.

But with each win worth 25 points, the final four rounds of the season - two each in Japan and Macau - could yet enable Priaulx to challenge for the title.

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