1992 British Touring Car Championship season

The 1992 Esso RAC British Touring Car Championship season was the 35th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

Changes for 1992

• The championship branched out from England to include one round in Scotland (held at Knockhill) and one in Wales (held at Pembrey)

Season summary

The 1992 British Touring Car Championship began at Silverstone where stringent winter testing appeared to have paid off for Vauxhall as John Cleland dominated the proceedings, taking with him the victory and a new lap record. Cleland would also win the second round, held at Thruxton, ahead of works Toyota driver Andy Rouse. Champion manufacturer BMW meanwhile struggled with their new 318iS (which used a variant of the E30 M3 S14 engine in 2.0 size) model. The works Prodrive cars were driven by Tim Sugden and former Formula 3000 driver Alain Menu, while the semi-works Vic Lee-run team entered Tim Harvey, Ray Bellm and Steve Soper. Soper, however, would again miss several rounds due to his clashing commitments in the German DTM championship.

At the next round at Oulton Park John Cleland held the lead ahead of the works Toyota pair of Will Hoy and Andy Rouse when he went off, dropping several places and promoting the Toyotas into the lead. Hoy then slowed temporarily with a mysterious electrical problem and lost the lead to Rouse, but was soon able to reclaim it. Rouse then took back the lead and held it for a lap, after which Hoy again claimed the lead of the race. The electrical problem then struck again for Hoy, allowing Rouse to re-take the lead and win the race. With Cleland finishing in 11th Rouse now led the championship from Cleland after a win and two second places in the first three races.

At round four at Snetterton Hoy led from lights to flag, finishing ahead of John Cleland and Alain Menu, who took BMW’s first podium of the season. Brands Hatch hosted the fifth round of the championship, and here Toyota’s championship challenge would be severely dented. Hoy had taken an early lead ahead of Rouse and Cleland, but the Vauxhall driver was soon able to pass Rouse and put Hoy under pressure. At Surtees corner on the second lap, Hoy buckled under pressure when he missed a gear, allowing Cleland to take the lead. Suddenly, as the Toyotas began to chase Cleland round Westfield corner, both of them collided and veered into the barrier at full speed, both Toyotas were wrecked and out of the running, both Rouse and Hoy's enthusiasm to catch Cleland had got the better of them and the race was handed to the Vauxhall on a plate. Cleland won with ease with team-mate Jeff Allam in second and Steve Soper in third, who had come up from last place after being forced to start in the pit lane.

The first double-header of the season took place at Donington Park with Will Hoy putting the misery of Brands Hatch behind him to record a dominant win in the first race, with Cleland in second after a daring move on Andy Rouse at Goddards corner in the closing stages of the race.
After a ten-minute break, the second race began in chaos as the fast moving Peugeot 405 of Robb Gravett lost control and hit the pit wall, taking Jeff Allam and Rouse out with him in the process. Tim Harvey took advantage of an error by Cleland at the Old Hairpin to put the pressure on the Vauxhall, but while the two were dueling, race one winner Hoy and the Vauxhall of David Leslie joined in the battle for the lead, with Leslie initially leading before Hoy nipped past at the Esses, with Harvey following through. On the sixth lap, Harvey took the lead under braking at the Melbourne hairpin and stayed there despite the best efforts of the reigning champion.

Cleland finished fourth to add to his championship lead, he was on 104 points, while race winner Harvey was far behind in fifth place and only on 39 points. Cleland, Hoy, Rouse and Allam looked like they were the four to battle it out for the crown.

At Silverstone for the British Grand Prix support race, and round 8 of the championship saw Jeff Allam stake a claim for the championship with his first win for Vauxhall. Allam made his move on team-mate Cleland at Becketts to take the lead and win, a struggling Cleland eventually finished third behind Hoy. Allam's victory had moved him into third place in the championship after Andy Rouse was plagued by engine problems early in the race.

The Knockhill circuit played host to its first BTCC rounds, though heavy rain was to spoil the parade, the event was to prove memorable. Future WRC champion Colin McRae made a guest appearance for BMW, finishing eighth in race one before being disqualified in the second race for a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre on the BMW M3 of Matt Neal. McRae's BMW team-mate for the event, Alain Menu did not start at all after breaking his leg when he fell off a paddock quad bike after qualifying had taken place, his place for the rest of the season was taken by Kris Nissen.

David Leslie led away, but was soon under pressure from the fellow Vauxhall of Jeff Allam, the works Vauxhall of the Silverstone winner was handling better and an uncharacteristic error from Leslie allowed Allam to take the lead and win the race ahead of Tim Harvey and Andy Rouse. Harvey then won the second race ahead of Allam and Cleland.

Pembrey’s first BTCC race saw Harvey first take the pole and then lead the race from start to finish in damp conditions. Teammate Steve Soper put Harvey under pressure but could not find a way past and finished second, while Tim Sugden was a distant third. By now Andy Rouse had pretty much dropped out of contention for the title and would focus on supporting teammate Will Hoy’s championship bid. The fight for the title now appeared to stand between Hoy, Vauxhall teammates Cleland and Allam, and Tim Harvey, who was backed up by teammate Steve Soper. Soper now had no more clashing commitments in Germany and would start in all of the remaining rounds of the season.

Brands Hatch hosted rounds twelve and thirteen, second double header meeting of the season. The first race started off with a close battle between all of the championship protagonists, Soper leading Harvey in a BMW one-two ahead of Will Hoy, Andy Rouse and the Vauxhall pair of Cleland and Allam. Hoy managed to get past Harvey and attacked Soper for the lead on the outside of Druids, but the unwise move caused him to drop back to third. Soper then started trailing smoke and allowed Harvey past up into the lead, but then moved over to block Hoy. Soper was eventually forced to retire, but when he finally did so Harvey had a substantial gap on the rest of the field, taking the first win of the day. Hoy finished second ahead of Cleland and Allam.

Harvey was then on pole for the second race, and won it ahead of Hoy by a much smaller margin than in the first race, while Cleland took third. Round 14 at Donington Park was dominated by the two Vic Lee Motorsport drivers, Soper shadowing Harvey to the flag with Cleland again in third place. Only a single point now separated Harvey and Cleland ahead of the final meeting at Silverstone. Allam had not been able to deliver the results to stay in the championship hunt, but Will Hoy still had a chance to take the title.

The qualifying ahead of the final round was surprisingly top-heavy with support drivers. Andy Rouse took pole position, Jeff Allam second, third Toyota driver Julian Bailey third and Steve Soper fourth. Championship contenders Cleland, Hoy and Harvey started seventh, ninth and twelfth respectively. Hoy and Harvey both started well, with Hoy passing Cleland on the first lap. Steve Soper in fourth then attempted to pass Vauxhall driver David Leslie for third, but the two made contact and Soper spun out. Soper’s car was collected by Rob Gravett, and while Soper was able to rejoin in last place his BMW had taken heavy damage to the rear.

Later in the race Hoy, Harvey and Cleland all followed each other in fourth, fifth and sixth place. Soper had surged up the field to seventh and seemed to have an incredible pace considering the damage on his car. Two laps from the finish Harvey attacked Hoy into Copse, and the two were side by side through the corner with Harvey on the inside. At the exit of the corner Harvey drifted wide, putting himself on the kerb and Hoy on the grass. This allowed both Cleland and Soper to pass the pair: the order was now Cleland in fourth (which would give him the championship), Soper fifth, Harvey sixth and Hoy seventh. Soon thereafter Soper moved past Cleland into fourth at the entry of Club, putting Cleland in a BMW sandwich. On the run down to Abbey Cleland could be seen with the Vauxhall’s onboard camera giving the finger to Soper.

Exiting from Abbey Cleland moved to the left of the track in an attempt to set himself up for a pass on the outside of Bridge. Harvey meanwhile got a good exit out of Abbey and moved up on the right side of Cleland. Cleland moved over to defend, but Harvey managed to pass him on the inside of Bridge. Soper now immediately jumped out of the way, promoting Harvey to fourth, and then moved in behind Harvey to defend him against Cleland. The three cars went through Priory nose to tail, but going into Brooklands Cleland dived inside Soper for fifth. Soper closed the door and the two cars made contact, the Vauxhall going up on two wheels, and the cars exited Brooklands with Cleland half a car length ahead of Soper. Into Luffield Soper dived on the inside of Cleland using the grass, and the two cars again made contact and spun out into the barriers. Both Soper and Cleland were forced to retire on the spot.

With only a lap remaining Harvey could now cruise to fourth and the championship title, Hoy finishing three seconds behind in fifth place. Up front Andy Rouse only just claimed the win a tenth of a second ahead of Jeff Allam and seven tenths ahead of David Leslie in third.

This was one of the most controversial moments in BTCC history; commenting on the move by Soper which had cost him the title, a dejected Cleland famously remarked “The man’s an animal!” Harvey won the title on 152 points, three points ahead of Will Hoy on 149 and seven ahead of Cleland on 145. Jeff Allam ended up fourth on 137, and Andy Rouse fifth on 128.

There was some consolation for Cleland, as he won the TOCA shootout, held at Donington Park on 1st November. The race is best remembered for Kieth O'Dor's spectacular crash at Old Hairpin when his Nissan Primera went out of control and somersaulted over the catch fencing. Cleland took the flag from Rob Gravett, David Leslie and Ian Flux to win the £12000 top prize.

Teams and drivers

BTCC

Team Car No. Drivers Class Rounds Team Securicor ICS Toyota Toyota Carina 1 Will Hoy M All 3 Andy Rouse M All 14 Thorkild Thyrring M 1–6 Julian Bailey M 10–12 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier 2 John Cleland M All 6 Jeff Allam M All M Team Shell Racing with Listerine BMW 318is 4 Steve Soper M 2–3, 5–6, 8–12 5 Ray Bellm M 1–9 8 Tim Harvey M All M Team Mobil BMW 318is 10 Tim Sugden M All 30 Alain Menu M 1–8 Kris Nissen M 9–12 50 Colin McRae M 8 Park Lane Racing Toyota Carina 11 James Kaye I All Rimstock Racing BMW M3 12 Matt Neal I 1–11 BMW 318is 12 Bristow Motorsport BMW M3 15 Laurence Bristow I 1, 7, 9 Judge Developments Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 16 Dennis Leech I 7, 9–12 Roy Kennedy Racing BMW M3 17 Ian Flux I 1–3, 7 Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 405 Mi16 M 12 45 Robb Gravett M 1–7, 9–12 Techspeed Racing BMW M3 20 Sean Walker I 1–7, 9–12 22 Karl Jones I 1–8 33 Guy Povey I 1 Alistair Lyall I 12 Nissan Janspeed Racing Nissan Primera eGT 23 Kieth O'dor M All 24 Andy Middlehurst M 1–9 James Weaver M 10–12 34 Tiff Needell M 12 Ian Forrest BMW M3 25 Ian Forrest I 8, 12 Shell Mazda Racing Team Mazda 323F 32 Patrick Watts M All Peugeot Italia Team Peugeot 405 Mi16 46 Gary Ayles M 11 Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall Vauxhall Cavalier 78 Bobby Verdon-Roe M 1–8 Alex Portman M 9–12 79 David Leslie M All

Icon Class M Manufacturer I Independent

ToCA Shootout

Team Car No. Drivers Class Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier 2 John Cleland M 6 Jeff Allam M Team Securicor ICS Toyota Toyota Carina 3 Andy Rouse M Park Lane Racing Toyota Carina 11 James Kaye I Rimstock Racing BMW 318is 12 Matt Neal I Judge Developments Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 16 Dennis Leech I Nissan Janspeed Racing Nissan Primera eGT 23 Kieth O'dor M Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 405 Mi16 45 Robb Gravett M 46 Ian Flux M Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall Vauxhall Cavalier 78 Alex Portman M 79 David Leslie M

Icon Class M Manufacturer I Independent

Race calendar and winners

All races were held in Great Britain.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Winning Privateer
1	R1	Silverstone Circuit (National)	5 April	John Cleland	John Cleland	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport	Ian Flux
2	R2	Thruxton	20 April	John Cleland	Jeff Allam	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport	Ian Flux
3	R3	Oulton Park (International)	4 May	Will Hoy	Will Hoy	Andy Rouse	Team Securicor ICS Toyota	James Kaye
4	R4	Snetterton Circuit	24 May	Will Hoy	Will Hoy	Will Hoy	Team Securicor ICS Toyota	Sean Walker
5	R5	Brands Hatch (Grand Prix)	7 June	Will Hoy	Steve Soper	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport	Matt Neal
6	R6	Donington Park (Grand Prix)	21 June	Will Hoy	Steve Soper	Will Hoy	Team Securicor ICS Toyota	Matt Neal
	R7				Will Hoy	Tim Harvey	M Team Shell Racing	Matt Neal
7	R8	Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix)	11 July	John Cleland	Will Hoy	Jeff Allam	Vauxhall Sport	James Kaye
8	R9	Knockhill Circuit	26 July	David Leslie	Jeff Allam	Jeff Allam	Vauxhall Sport	Matt Neal
	R10				John Cleland	Tim Harvey	M Team Shell Racing	James Kaye
9	R11	Pembrey Circuit	9 August	Tim Harvey	Steve Soper	Tim Harvey	M Team Shell Racing	Sean Walker
10	R12	Brands Hatch (Indy)	31 August	Steve Soper	Andy Rouse	Tim Harvey	M Team Shell Racing	Matt Neal
	R13				Will Hoy	Tim Harvey	M Team Shell Racing	Matt Neal
11	R14	Donington Park (Grand Prix)	20 September	David Leslie	Steve Soper	Tim Harvey	M Team Shell Racing	James Kaye
12	R15	Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix)	4 October	Andy Rouse	Steve Soper	Andy Rouse	Team Securicor ICS Toyota	James Kaye

Championship results

Drivers Championship

Pos Driver SIL THR OUL SNE BHGP DON SIL KNO PEM BHI DON SIL Pts 1 Tim Harvey 8 8 4 Ret 6 4 1 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 152 2 Will Hoy 4 4 2 1 Ret 1 2 2 5 Ret 5 2 2 4 5 149 3 John Cleland 1 1 11 2 1 2 4 3 DSQ 3 Ret 4 3 3 Ret 145 4 Jeff Allam 3 3 3 6 2 5 Ret 1 1 2 6 5 9 14 2 137 5 Andy Rouse 2 2 1 4 Ret 3 Ret Ret 3 4 13 3 4 6 1 128 6 Steve Soper 5 8 3 17 3 4 6 2 Ret 5 2 Ret 77 7 David Leslie 7 7 5 5 5 6 5 7 Ret DNS 7 6 6 10 3 66 8 Tim Sugden 5 14 9 9 4 8 7 11 Ret DNS 3 9 13 Ret 6 43 9 Alain Menu 10 6 6 3 Ret Ret Ret 9 DNS DNS 27 10 James Kaye Ret Ret 13 Ret 13 14 Ret 5 12 9 14 Ret 12 5 8 19 11 Kris Nissen 4 7 7 Ret 7 18 12 Kieth O'Dor 6 15 12 Ret 7 16 8 10 10 7 9 10 8 Ret Ret 17 13 Ray Bellm 9 Ret 10 12 Ret 7 10 6 6 8 DNS 15 14 Bobby Verdon-Roe 11 16 7 13 9 11 9 8 Ret Ret 9 15 Andy Middlehurst 19 10 17 8 Ret 9 6 14 9 DNS 12 7 16 Matt Neal 14 Ret Ret Ret 8 13 11 Ret 7 Ret 15 11 10 Ret 12 5 17 Thorkild Thyrring Ret Ret Ret 7 10 18 Ret 5 18 Patrick Watts Ret 12 14 11 Ret 12 Ret Ret Ret 5 11 8 Ret Ret 11 5 19 Gary Ayles 7 4 20 Sean Walker 13 11 15 10 14 15 Ret Ret 8 14 14 12 14 4 21 Ian Flux 12 9 Ret 16 9 4 22 James Weaver 13 11 8 Ret 3 23 Julian Bailey 16 Ret 9 13 2 24 Robb Gravett 15 Ret Ret Ret 11 10 Ret 15 10 12 Ret 11 16 1 25 Colin McRae 8 DSQ 1 26 Tiff Needell 10 1 27 Ian Forrest 11 10 Ret 0 28 Karl Jones 16 13 16 Ret 12 Ret DNS 13 Ret DNS 0 29 Laurence Bristow 17 12 DNS 0 30 Dennis Leech Ret 17 15 15 13 15 0 31 Alex Portman 16 Ret DNS 15 Ret 0 32 Alistair Lyall 17 0 33 Guy Povey 18 0 Pos Driver SIL THR OUL SNE BHGP DON SIL KNO PEM BHI DON SIL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (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 (DNP) Excluded (EX)

• Note: bold signifies pole position, italics signifies fastest lap.

Manufacturers Championship

External links

• Final three laps of Round 15