Andy Priaulx won't start the season with #1 plate for the first time since 2005. But the triple WTCC champion says it's just a number, and it doesn't make you faster, as he bids to regain the title from Yvan Muller

Andy Priaulx's stranglehold on the World Touring Car Championship lasted so long that it seemed hard to imagine him being beaten to a title. For no matter how many drivers went into the deciding rounds of this ultra-close series with a shot at the championship from 2004 to 2007, it was always Priaulx who pulled out the results at the crucial moment and snatched the crown from under his rivals' noses.

But now – after one European and three straight World titles – the king has finally been deposed. Last year even an ultra-efficient title-winning machine like Priaulx was unable to stop the diesel-fuelled SEAT steamroller that ushered Yvan Muller to the championship.

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