David Leslie (racing driver)

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David Leslie

BTCC record
Nationality
Teams	BMW, Vauxhall, Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Proton
Drivers championships	0
Wins	9
Podium finishes	35
Poles	16
Fastest laps	17
Debut season	1990
First win	1993
Best championship position	2nd (1999)
Final season (2003) position	11th (28 points)
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For other uses, see David Leslie.

David Leslie (born November 9, 1953 in Dumfries, Scotland) is an auto racing driver. He was Scottish karting champion 5 times before switching to cars, winning the Formula Ford title in 1978. He had spells in Formula 3, Sportscars and ThunderSaloons in the 1980s, but found a regular home in the British Touring Car Championship, first competing there in 1990 and doing his first full season in a Vauxhall in 1992, taking his first win a year later, and a total of 6 pole positions over those 2 years, both of which ended in top 10 championship placements.

1994 was an unsuccessful season in a Mazda, but for 1995 he joined Honda as they entered the series for the first time. The car was late getting onto the track in pre-season, and reliability as initially poor, however he finished 10th overall after a strong end to the season. 1996 started badly with several collisions, but a victory in the British Grand Prix support meeting kick-started a strong 2nd half of the season, allowing him to snatch 4th overall at the final round of the season.

For 1997 James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini raced the Hondas and Leslie switched to Nissan alongside Anthony Reid. Again the car was initially uncompetitive, and much of the credit for its eventual success is widely attributed to Leslie, who finished as runner up to Laurent Aïello in 1999. The company pulled out after that, and Leslie did only occasional races in 2000, and contest the Speedvision Challenge in the USA in 2001. He joined Proton in the BTCC for the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but the project was not a great success, and Leslie has since done commentary for Eurosport on the World Touring Car Championship series.