1991 British Touring Car Championship season

1991 BTCC season
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The 1991 Esso RAC British Touring Car Championship season was the 34th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the first year of the Super Touring era.

Contents

Changes for 1991

Season summary

Group A had towards the end of its existence been dominated by Ford and their Sierra RS500. Super Tourers had first appeared in 1990, and with BMW and Vauxhall running their cars in that category they effectively had a years head start on their opposition for 1991. BMW also had the numerical advantage, the factory Prodrive team entering two cars and the semi-factory Vic Lee Motorsport team entering four. Vauxhall had two cars, as had Toyota, while Ford only appeared with a single car. Nissan missed the start of the season but then ran a single-car effort for Keith O'Dor, who was joined by ex-Formula One driver Julian Bailey towards the end of the season.

The championship battle would stand between Will Hoy and John Cleland. Hoy won the first two races of the season and kept scoring consistently, but as the season progressed it was Cleland who came out on top more often than not. Hoy's consistency however put him in a position to claim the championship at the penultimate round at Thruxton, provided he scored a good enough result. Indeed Hoy took the lead of the race thanks to BMW team tactics, but soon thereafter he was controversly tapped into a spin by works BMW driver Jonathan Palmer. Hoy dropped down the field and later retired after contact with Cleland. Cleland would go on to finish 8th with a damaged car, taking the championship to the final race. There Hoy was able to finish ahead of Cleland, and thus claiming the first Super Touring championship win. Andy Rouse finished third for Toyota, and Steve Soper ended up fourth overall despite missing several races due to clashing commitments in the German DTM championship.

Teams and drivers

Team Car No. Drivers Class Rounds
Trakstar Motorsport Ford Sierra Sapphire 1 Robb Gravett M All
Pyramid Motorsport BMW M3 2 Frank Sytner 1-8, 10-11
David Leslie 13
18 Matt Neal 7
Alistair Fenwick 12
Godfrey Hall 13
Kaliber ICS Team Toyota Toyota Carina 3 Andy Rouse M All
33 Gary Ayles M All
BMW Team Labatt's BMW M3 4 Tim Harvey M All
9 Laurence Bristow M 1-11, 13
Armin Hahne M 12
Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier 5 John Cleland M All
6 Jeff Allam M All
56 Bob Berridge M 12-13
Sean Walker Ford Sierra RS500 7 Sean Walker 2
BMW Team Sweden BMW M3 10 Nettan Lindgren 1-3, 5-6
91 Peggen Andersson 1-3, 6
BMW Team Listerine BMW M3 11 Will Hoy M All
12 Ray Bellm M All
R&D Motorsport BMW 318is 13 Angus MacKay 1-2
Alistair Lyall 4, 7, 13
ACE Motorsport Peugeot 405 Mi16 17 Andrew MacKenzie 7, 10
Judge Developments Ford Sierra RS500 19 Dennis Leech 1-4
Moto-Build Rover 216GTi 20 Grahame Davis 1-2, 7, 10
Brodie Brittain Racing Ford Sierra Sapphire 21 Dave Brodie 10-13
BMW Team Finance BMW M3 22 Jonathan Palmer M All
44 Steve Soper M 1, 3, 7-10, 12
Tim Sugden M 2, 5-6, 11, 13
Christian Danner M 4
Nissan Janspeed Racing Nissan Primera eGT 23 Kieth O'dor M 2-13
24 Julian Bailey M 11-13
Drambuie Racing BMW M3 45 Ian Forrest All
HWR Motorsport Vauxhall Belmont 58 Jeff Wilson 9, 11, 13
Tony Bardy 12
BRR Motorsport BMW M3 59 Ian Flux 1, 3-5, 13
Val Musetti 11
Auto Trader Techspeed Team BMW M3 66 Nick Whale 1-5, 8-9, 11-13
David Leslie 7
77 Nick Baird 1-5, 7-8, 12-13
Matt Neal 9, 11
John Llewellyn 10
John Maguire Racing Mitsubishi Lancer 88 Mark Hales M 1-5
Mitsubishi Galant 8-13
Graham Goode Racing Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 99 Andy Middlehurst All
Icon Class
M Manufacturer

Race calendar and winners

Round Circuit Date Winning driver Winning team
1 R1 Silverstone 1 April Will Hoy BMW Team Listerine
2 R2 Snetterton 14 April Will Hoy BMW Team Listerine
3 R3 Donington Park 28 April Steve Soper BMW Team Finance
4 R4 Thruxton 27 May John Cleland Vauxhall Sport
5 R5* Silverstone 9 June John Cleland Vauxhall Sport
6 R6 Brands Hatch 30 June Tim Sugden BMW Team Finance
7 R7 Silverstone 14 July Steve Soper BMW Team Finance
8 R8
R9		 Donington Park 28 July Andy Rouse Rouse-Sport
Andy Rouse Rouse-Sport
9 R10 Oulton Park 11 August John Cleland Vauxhall Sport
10 R11
R12		 Brands Hatch 26 August Andy Rouse Rouse-Sport
Will Hoy BMW Team Listerine
11 R13 Donington Park 15 September John Cleland Vauxhall Sport
12 R14 Thruxton 22 September Steve Soper BMW Team Finance
13 R15 Silverstone 6 October Tim Harvey BMW Team Labatts

Championship results

Drivers Championship

Pos Driver SIL
 SNE
 DON
 THR
 SIL
 BRA
 SIL
 DON
 OUL
 BRA
 DON
 THR
 SIL
 Pts
1 Will Hoy 1 1 Ret 3 3 2 2 Ret DNS 2 2 1 3 Ret 5 155
2 John Cleland 3 9 2 1 1 12 6 3 10 1 4 3 1 8 9 132
3 Andy Rouse 5 3 9 8 4 3 7 1 1 4 1 Ret Ret 4 2 115
4 Steve Soper 18 1 1 2 Ret 3 6 Ret 1 96
5 Ray Bellm 6 2 6 7 5 7 4 6 2 6 14 Ret 4 5 6 90
6 Jeff Allam 2 4 5 2 2 5 8 5 Ret Ret 8 Ret 6 10 8 80
7 Jonathan Palmer 7 Ret Ret 6 11 6 5 4 3 5 7 6 Ret 2 21 66
8 Tim Harvey 10 7 DSQ 4 7 4 3 Ret 6 7 Ret 5 2 Ret 1 42
9 Andy Middlehurst 4 Ret 13 Ret 10 Ret 16 7 7 8 11 4 8 7 3 41
10 Tim Sugden Ret 12 1 5 Ret 32
11 Robb Gravett 20 13 Ret 14 18 9 Ret 9 4 9 5 2 7 9 13 28
12 Frank Sytner DNS 5 3 Ret 6 8 10 Ret DNS 9 7 Ret 26
13 Laurence Bristow Ret 6 7 12 16 10 11 8 5 Ret Ret DNS Ret 7 20
14 Gary Ayles 9 DSQ 4 Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret DNS Ret 3 DNS 14 Ret 10 19
15 Armin Hahne 3 12
16 David Leslie 9 4 12
17 Kieth O'dor Ret Ret 11 13 15 Ret 10 8 10 Ret Ret 9 6 11 10
18 Christian Danner 5 8
19 Peggen Andersson 8 8 12 11 6
20 Dennis Leech 16 14 8 Ret 3
21 Nick Baird 11 Ret 15 9 14 12 12 9 DNS 17 2
22 Ian Flux 13 Ret 10 9 14 1
23 Mark Hales 17 10 16 16 DNS 14 Ret 14 13 Ret Ret 11 Ret 1
24 Nettan Lindgren 19 Ret 10 13 14 1
25 Nick Whale 14 12 14 13 17 11 Ret 11 10 12 19 1
26 John Llewellyn 10 Ret 0
27 Ian Forrest 12 11 11 15 15 14 15 13 NC 12 12 Ret 12 13 22 0
28 Jeff Wilson 13 11 Ret 0
29 Julian Bailey Ret Ret 12 0
30 Matt Neal 13 Ret DNS 0
31 Valentino Musetti 13 0
32 Angus MacKay 15 15 0
33 Dave Brodie Ret DNS DNS Ret 15 0
34 Bob Berridge Ret 16 0
35 Andrew MacKenzie 17 DNS DNS 0
36 Alistair Lyall Ret Ret 18 0
37 Godfrey Hall 20 0
— Grahame Davis DNS DNS DNS Ret DNS 0
— Sean Walker DNS 0
— Tony Bardy DNS 0
— Alistair Fenwick DNS 0
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Finished, in points
Blue Finished, no points
Not classified (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate
Excluded (EX)

Manufacturer's championship

Pos Make Points Wins Podiums Poles
1 BMW 134 8 23 7
2 Vauxhall 116 3 9 4
3 Toyota 111 3 7 2
4 Ford 102 0 1 0
5 Nissan 53 0 0 0
6 Mitsubishi 45 0 0 0
1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012