KEY POINTS:
British driver Andy Priaulx has won the World Touring Car Championship again. It is his third WTCC title in a row and the third for BMW.
Priaulx said the 2008 title was the toughest yet, with rules adding weight to winning cars creating difficulties for his BMW team and some makes switching to powerful diesel engines to exploit loopholes in the rules.
"I can't believe it. I have never given up but I knew I needed something special this season. I am proud that I got to the last round with a chance. Yes, you need luck to win the championship but you also need to be there to take the luck. Today was my lucky day. I had a bad day yesterday and I need to thank my team for giving me the motivation for today. My car and team have always been reliable and that is a key factor in winning the championship."
The Macau race itself was placed in doubt when a cargo ship carrying the cars of most of the major teams diverted unexpectedly to Singapore, forcing championship organisers to organise air-freighting of the cars from there to Macau.
Although the title went to the final race of that final round at Macau, the key to the win could simply have been respecting the street circuit's stone walls and kilometres of steel Armco barriers. Priaulx stayed out of trouble in practice and qualifying and kept his car pristine in the two touring car races while his title rivals blew up or crashed out of the event.
Frenchman Alain Menu took pole for the first race and won it outright in his Chevrolet (Daewoo). Key title rivals Augusto Farfus and Yvan Muller failed to finish.
Farfus crashed his BMW in a tangle with another car and Muller's SEAT stopped two laps short of the chequered flag with mechanical failure.
Muller, who ended up second in the championship, said his title hopes had ended when his car's fuel pump failed.
"With one lap to go in the first race my diesel pump failed. It was the first time it had happened and it cost us the championship.
"It is disappointing for all the team but we can be proud of our achievement of second place."
In the second race, Priaulx won from pole position, simply outrunning his only remaining championship rival, James Thompson.
The victory has brought acclaim from around the world. On its own website, the sports governing body has hailed the accomplishment of Priaulx, calling him a phenomenon.
The 2007 championship title was decided at Macau with a New Zealand connection close to the action. Dunedin-born Dick Bennetts, boss of the British-based West Surrey Racing team, ran Patrick Huisman in a BMW 320i in two races of this year's championship with a view to contesting the full season in 2008.
Dutchman Duncan Huisman is a previous multiple winner of the World Touring Car Championship round in Macau, having won the second race there in 2005 and taken three consecutive wins in the non-championship Guia race for touring cars at the same circuit for three in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
In the final touring car race at Macau, Huisman found himself wheel to wheel with eventual title-winner Priaulx, giving the WSR team a clear comparison of the pace of their BMW 320si and the similar car of Priaulx, who is part of BMW's own motorsport operation.
The season-long battle for the title was almost upset by SEAT, which has developed powerful turbodiesel engines for its WTCC cars. With the rules specifying no limit on the turbo size for diesel engines, the SEATs ran outsized units that maximised the torque of their cars, a significant advantage on the twisty, hilly 6.1km Macau street circuit.
BMW has now announced it will follow the trend to diesel started by SEAT and will create a new version of its dominant 320i four-door with diesel power. The move is not popular with BMW Motorsport head Mario Theissen, who would prefer all WTCC cars to run to one engine formula as Formula One does.
