1993 British Touring Car Championship

The 1993 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season was 36th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

Season summary

At the end of 1992 BMW GB withdrew from the championship after the rules had been changed in a direction which BMW felt disadvantaged them. Prodrive, which had run the works operation for BMW, had been expected to be entering a works Mercedes-Benz team in cooperation with AMG, running the C-class. Prodrive stalwart Tim Sugden and Bernd Schneider were due to drive for the team.^[1] The plans were for a late season appearance leading to a full challenge in 1994, but this eventually came to nothing.^[2] Vic Lee Motorsport was liquidated after owner Vic Lee's drug scandal. The assets of the team were taken over by Steve Neal and Ray Bellm, who picked up personnel from Euroracing's discontinued sports car effort and merged it into Neal's Rimstock Racing outfit, creating Team Dynamics. Bellm would sell his share in the team later in the year, leaving Steve Neal as the only owner. The team started the 1993 season with three 1992-spec 318iS cars piloted by Matt Neal, Ray Bellm and Alex Portman, later dropping down to two.
Only weeks after BMW GB withdrew from the BTCC, BMW withdrew their Schnitzer Motorsport-run works operation from the German DTM championship, also there because of their disagreement with new rules. With few other series to contest in Schnitzer Motorsport were sent over by BMW to the British championship along with works drivers Steve Soper and Joachim Winkelhock.
Andy Rouse had lost his Toyota contract to famous Toyota tuners TOM'S Norfolk-based European arm known as Tom's GB, who had previously run Group A Toyotas in BTCC in the eighties. Andy Rouse's seat was taken over by Julian Bailey, and the new shape Carina E GTi replaced the older model. Toyota also supported a junior team run by Park Lane Racing, who would run two older shape Carinas for James Kaye and Bobby Verdon-Roe. Rouse himself had landed a Ford works deal, but the new Mondeo would not appear until after the season had started.
Vauxhall retained their John Cleland / Jeff Allam line-up in the Vauxhall Cavalier and their Ecurie Ecosse semi-works team; at Ecurie Ecosse David Leslie retained his seat and was after a few races joined by fellow Scotsman Harry Nuttall. Peugeot added Eugene O’Brien and Ian Flux to Robb Gravett for a three-car line-up in the Peugeot 405 Mi16 (with Flux’ car being run by Roy Kennedy Racing); Nissan ran three cars for Keith O'Dor, Win Percy and Tiff Needell, and Mazda returned with Patrick Watts in a brand new Xedos 6. Renault was the new manufacturer to join the championship with Alain Menu and reigning champion Tim Harvey as their drivers in the Renault 19 16v

The season started at Silverstone, where Steve Soper led team-mate Joachim Winkelhock home for a dominating BMW one-two. The second round at Donington Park was the support race for the European Grand Prix. The race was hit by torrential rain, and thanks to Michelin (whose wet-weather tyres were far superior to the ones of the other tire manufacturers) Renault was able to claim a one-two finish, Tim Harvey winning the race ahead of Alain Menu. It soon became apparent that Renault's pace was tied to conditions, as they struggled to match the championship's privateers in the dry.

A start line crash at the next round at Snetterton forced a red flag, and five cars failed to make the restart. The race would be won by Soper, with Julian Bailey in second and David Leslie in third. Winkelhock then took the victory at Round 4 at Donington Park ahead of Jeff Allam and Steve Soper. Winkelhock then took a commanding victory at Oulton Park, and as Steve Soper had gone off into a tyre wall and forced into retirement Winkelhock now took the championship lead by two points.

Brands Hatch hosted the first double header of the season. Winkelhock was at the centre of controversy when he shunted David Leslie out of the lead to take the win. Keith O’Dor finished second and Will Hoy third. Leslie was not amused, commenting that Winkelhock had not had any opportunity whatsoever to pull the pass off. Winkelhock apologized, saying he was a lot faster than Leslie in that corner but that there had been a bit of a misunderstanding when he tried his move. Winkelhock then led the second race when he made a mistake going into Clearways and went off into the Armco barrier and retirement. Will Hoy then went off at the same place, but ended up a bit further to the right and into the tires that covered some of the barriers at that corner. With both of his major contenders out Soper could take an easy win ahead of O’Dor and Jeff Allam.

The BTCC then headed to Wales for Round 8 at Pembrey, where Ford made its debut. Winkelhock won the race with Hoy in second and Soper in third. At the next round at Silverstone Toyota appeared to be heading home a one-two finish for Will Hoy and Julian Bailey. An over-ambitious move from Bailey however put Hoy on his roof and forced Bailey himself into retirement. It was instead Keith O’Dor who took his and Nissan's first BTCC victory. To make it a perfect day for Nissan his teammate Win Percy finished second in a drag race over the line with Paul Radisich, who took the returning Ford team's first podium.

Knockhill held the next double header of the season. A race long battle between Vauxhall driver John Cleland and Toyota driver Julian Bailey saw Cleland finally come out on top, with Will Hoy finishing in third. Further back, Soper lost valuable points when he was pushed off by Radisich in the Ford. Winkelhock was not able to start the second race due to clutch problems. It was now Bailey's turn to win a race, finishing ahead of Cleland and Hoy. The Renault team decided to skip the Scottish meeting and focus on developing their car.

Oulton Park hosted Round 12 which was the Gold Cup, and Renault's car updates appeared to have paid off. Both cars qualified and finished much better than before, Menu taking fourth. Up front Winkelhock led from start to finish while Soper was second ahead of Cleland.
Round 13 took place at Brands Hatch and Winkelhock and Leslie clashed again. First Winkelhock barged past Leslie to take second, and when Leslie attempted to retake the place he pushed Winkelhock into a spin. Both drivers dropped down the field while Radisich won the race from Soper and Peugeot driver Robb Gravett; Soper was however later penalised one position because of his rather forceful move on Gravett on the last lap to take second.

Leslie then finally won a race when the series visited Thruxton. Ford was second and third with Radisich and Andy Rouse, while a sixth place from Soper closed the gap between him and Winkelhock to twelve points.

Donington Park hosted the penultimate weekend of the championship and the last double header meeting. It also saw Nigel Mansell join the Ford team for the meeting. Radisich dominated the first race and won it by more than ten seconds, while wet weather conditions enabled Renault to finish second and third. A puncture had forced Soper to retire, and with Winkelhock finishing fifth the German now had the chance to take the title in the second race. Menu then won Race 2 from Radisich and Winkelhock, but as Soper finished fifth the championship would be decided in the final round at Silverstone.

At Silverstone the race was red flagged following an accident involving Robb Gravett's Peugeot. Will Hoy led away in the Toyota after the restart, but was later passed by both Paul Radisich and Andy Rouse, who took a one-two finish for Ford. Hoy held on to third, and while Steve Soper finished ahead of Winkelhock he did not get the result he needed and it was Joachim Winkelhock who won the 1993 British Touring Car Championship. Despite missing the first part of the season Paul Radisich finished third in the championship, with John Cleland in fourth and Julian Bailey in fifth.

Teams and drivers

Team	Car	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Manufacturers
Renault Dealer Racing	Renault 19	1	Tim Harvey	1–8, 10–14
		19	Alain Menu	1–8, 10–14
Team Securicor Toyota	Toyota Carina E	2	Will Hoy	All
		21	Julian Bailey	All
Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier	3	John Cleland	All
		4	Jeff Allam	All
Team Mondeo	Ford Mondeo Si	5	Andy Rouse	7–14
		15	Paul Radisich	7–14
BMW Motorsport Team	BMW 318i	6	Steve Soper	All
		22	Joachim Winkelhock	All
Park Lane Toyota Junior Team	Toyota Carina E	10	James Kaye	1–8, 10, 12–14
		20	Bobby Verdon-Roe	All
RKR with Silkolene at Halfords	Peugeot 405 Mi16	14	Ian Flux	All
Nissan Castrol Racing	Nissan Primera eGT	23	Kieth O'dor	All
		24	Win Percy	1–4, 6–14
			Tiff Needell	5
		34		6–9, 11
Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 405 Mi16	45	Robb Gravett	All
		46	Eugene O'Brien	All
Mazda Racing Team	Mazda Xedos 6	66	Patrick Watts	All
Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall	Vauxhall Cavalier	78	Tiff Needell	2
			Harry Nuttall	3–14
		79	David Leslie	All
		80	Chris Goodwin	11, 14
Independents
Team Dynamics	BMW 318is	11	Ray Bellm	2–4, 6–8
			Andy Wallace	5
		27	Alex Portman	1–6, 8–14
		13	Matt Neal	1–11
	BMW 318i	77		12–14
Pinkney Motorsport	BMW 318is	12	Dave Pinkney	1–8, 11
Tamchester Team Maxted	Vauxhall Cavalier	17	Ian Khan	All
		16	Ian Ashley	1–8
Colin Davids Racing				10-14
Gareth Howell Racing	Ford Sierra Sapphire	18	Gareth Howell	None
Peggen Motorsport	BMW M3	25	Peggen Andersson	1–2
Jim Wheals	Ford Sierra Sapphire	26	Jim Wheals	3
Asquith Autosport	Mazda 323F	32	Ian Cantwell	1–3, 6, 8
Bob Berridge	Ford Sierra Sapphire	35	Bob Berridge	6, 8, 10–14

• Although Gareth Howell appeared on the entry list, he did not race.

(https://web.archive.org/web/20030923053911/http://www.lawsworld.co.uk:80/) (https://twitter.com/1990sBTCC/status/1646043923050053632/photo/1)

TOCA Shootout

Entrants

Team	Car	No.	Drivers
Manufacturers
Team Mondeo	Ford Mondeo Si	5	Nigel Mansell
		15	Paul Radisich
BMW Motorsport Team	BMW 318i	6	Steve Soper
Park Lane Toyota Junior Team	Toyota Carina E	8	Derek Warwick
Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 405 Mi16	45	Robb Gravett
		46	Dave Coyne
Mazda Racing Team	Mazda Xedos 6	66	Patrick Watts
Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall	Vauxhall Cavalier	78	Tiff Needell
		79	David Leslie
		80	Hayden Measham
Independents
Team Dynamics	BMW 318i	11	Matt Neal
	BMW 318is	27	Alex Portman
		77	Chris Rea
Pinkney Motorsport	BMW 318is	12	Dave Pinkney
Colin Davids Racing	Vauxhall Cavalier	16	Ian Ashley
Tamchester Team Maxted	Vauxhall Cavalier	17	Ian Khan
Thenander Motorsport	BMW M3	30	Bengt Thenander
Petroline	BMW 318i	33	Klaas Zwart

Results

TOCA Shootout
Pos.	Driver
1	David Leslie
2	Paul Radisich
3	Steve Soper
4	Robb Gravett
5	Dave Coyne
6	Tiff Needell
7	Ian Ashley
NC	Matt Neal
NC	Nigel Mansell
NC	Bengt Thenander
NC	Ian Khan
NC	Hayden Measham
NC	David Pinkney
NC	Derek Warwick
NC	Chris Rea
NC	Klaas Zwart
NC	Patrick Watts
NC	Alex Portman

Race calendar and winners

All races were held in the United Kingdom.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Winning Privateer
1	R1	Silverstone (National), Northamptonshire	28 March	Steve Soper	Joachim Winkelhock	Steve Soper	BMW Motorsport Team	Matt Neal
2	R2	Donington Park (GP), Leicestershire	11 April	Steve Soper	Tim Harvey	Tim Harvey	Renault Dealer Racing	Ian Cantwell
3	R3	Snetterton Circuit, Norfolk	3 May	Patrick Watts	Joachim Winkelhock	Steve Soper	BMW Motorsport Team	Ian Ashley
4	R4	Donington Park (GP), Leicestershire	16 May	Joachim Winkelhock	Joachim Winkelhock	Joachim Winkelhock	BMW Motorsport Team	Matt Neal
5	R5	Oulton Park, Cheshire	31 May	John Cleland	John Cleland	Joachim Winkelhock	BMW Motorsport Team	Ian Ashley
6	R6	Brands Hatch (Indy), Kent	13 June	David Leslie	Keith O'Dor	Joachim Winkelhock	BMW Motorsport Team	Ray Bellm
	R7				Joachim Winkelhock	Steve Soper	BMW Motorsport Team	Ray Bellm
7	R8	Pembrey Circuit, Carmarthenshire	27 June	David Leslie	David Leslie	Joachim Winkelhock	BMW Motorsport Team	Ian Khan
8	R9	Silverstone (GP), Northamptonshire	11 July	Keith O'Dor	Patrick Watts	Keith O'Dor	Nissan Castrol Racing	Ian Khan
9	R10	Knockhill Racing Circuit, Fife	25 July	Julian Bailey	Jeff Allam	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport	Matt Neal
	R11				Julian Bailey	Julian Bailey	Team Securicor Toyota	Alex Portman
10	R12	Oulton Park, Cheshire	8 August	Joachim Winkelhock	Joachim Winkelhock	Joachim Winkelhock	BMW Motorsport Team	Alex Portman
11	R13	Brands Hatch (Indy), Kent	22 August	David Leslie	Joachim Winkelhock	Paul Radisich	Team Mondeo	Ian Khan
12	R14	Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire	30 August	David Leslie	David Leslie	David Leslie	Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall	Matt Neal
13	R15	Donington Park (GP), Leicestershire	12 September	Paul Radisich	Tim Harvey	Paul Radisich	Team Mondeo	Alex Portman
	R16				Paul Radisich	Alain Menu	Renault Dealer Racing	Ian Ashley
14	R17	Silverstone (National), Northamptonshire	19 September	Paul Radisich	Paul Radisich	Paul Radisich	Team Mondeo	Ian Khan

Championship results

Drivers Championship

Pos Driver SIL DON SNE DON OUL BRH PEM SIL KNO OUL BRH THR DON SIL Pts 1 Joachim Winkelhock 2 Ret 5 1 1 1 Ret 1 4 3 DNS 1 20 14 5 3 8 163 2 Steve Soper 1 3 1 3 Ret 4 1 3 Ret 12 8 2 3 6 Ret 5 5 150 3 Paul Radisich 8 3 5 5 Ret 1 2 1 2 1 110 4 John Cleland 3 4 10 7 2 Ret 5 7 6 1 2 3 12 8 Ret 6 7 102 5 Julian Bailey Ret 7 2 5 15 6 9 4 Ret 2 1 5 7 7 7 17 6 88 6 Kieth O'Dor Ret 5 DNS 9 4 2 2 5 1 7 11 10 5 11 8 11 11 82 7 Will Hoy 4 Ret 4 6 Ret 3 14 2 Ret 10 3 Ret 4 10 16 16 3 79 8 David Leslie Ret Ret 3 8 Ret 18 6 Ret 5 9 7 7 13 1 4 8 4 72 9 Jeff Allam 5 6 DNS 2 3 7 3 10 18 6 6 6 15 13 11 12 9 67 10 Alain Menu 10 2 Ret 13 Ret 15 Ret Ret 8 4 9 9 2 1 Ret 57 11 Andy Rouse Ret Ret 16 10 Ret 6 3 DSQ 4 2 41 12 Win Percy 7 Ret 8 11 5 4 9 2 DNS DNS 18 11 Ret 10 7 Ret 38 13 Robb Gravett Ret Ret 7 14 DNS DSQ 16 11 9 Ret DNS Ret 2 4 17 13 DNS 34 14 Tim Harvey 11 1 Ret 16 Ret 11 8 Ret Ret Ret 14 16 3 Ret 15 31 15 Patrick Watts 6 Ret DNS 4 Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret 4 4 Ret 8 12 Ret DNS 12 29 16 Eugene O'Brien Ret Ret 13 Ret 5 12 11 Ret Ret 8 Ret 9 10 5 6 15 Ret 23 17 Harry Nuttall 16 15 8 Ret DNS 6 7 11 9 8 Ret 15 9 Ret 13 16 18 Ian Flux 9 8 11 10 6 9 7 14 Ret 15 13 11 Ret 18 Ret 10 18 14 19 Bobby Verdon-Roe 14 Ret 6 12 7 8 15 15 12 Ret Ret 13 17 17 Ret DNS Ret 11 20 Matt Neal 8 Ret DNS 17 Ret 14 Ret 18 13 14 15 16 18 19 13 14 17 3 21 James Kaye 13 11 9 Ret Ret Ret DNS Ret 10 DNS DNS 12 20 14 Ret 14 3 22 Ian Cantwell 12 9 Ret Ret 17 DNQ 16 2 23 Ian Ashley Ret 12 12 Ret 9 17 13 13 17 17 21 Ret 15 9 19 2 24 Ian Khan 15 10 17 Ret 14 Ret DNS 12 11 18 Ret 15 16 21 DNS 18 16 1 25 Alex Portman Ret Ret 15 19 10 16 Ret DNQ Ret 17 14 14 Ret 22 12 Ret 21 1 26 Chris Goodwin Ret 10 1 27 Tiff Needell Ret 12 Ret 10 19 Ret 13 12 Ret 0 28 Andy Wallace 11 0 29 Ray Bellm Ret DNS 18 13 12 17 14 0 30 David Pinkney Ret 13 14 Ret 13 Ret Ret 16 15 19 0 31 Bob Berridge Ret DNS Ret Ret DSQ Ret 18 Ret 20 0  — Peggen Andersson Ret Ret 0  — Jim Wheals Ret 0 Pos Driver SIL DON SNE DON OUL BRH PEM SIL KNO OUL BRH THR DON SIL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third 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 practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX)

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

TOCA Challenge for Privateers

Pos	Driver	SIL	DON	SNE	DON	OUL	BRH		PEM	SIL	KNO		OUL	BRH	THR	DON		SIL	Pts
1	Matt Neal	8	Ret	DNS	17	Ret	14	Ret	18	13	14	15	16	18	19	13	14	17	194
2	Ian Khan	15	10	17	Ret	14	Ret	DNS	12	11	18	Ret	15	16	21	DNS	18	16	192
3	Ian Ashley	Ret	12	12	Ret	9	17	13	13	17			17	21	Ret	15	9	19	148
4	Alex Portman	Ret	Ret	15	19	10	16	Ret	DNQ	Ret	17	14	14	Ret	22	12	Ret	21	125
5	David Pinkney	Ret	13	14	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	16	15				19					70
6	Ray Bellm		Ret	DNS	18		13	12	17	14									64
7	Ian Cantwell	12	9	Ret			Ret	17	DNQ	16									56
8	Bob Berridge						Ret	DNS		Ret			Ret	DSQ	Ret	18	Ret	20	15
9	Andy Wallace					11													12
–	Peggen Andersson	Ret	Ret																0
–	Jim Wheals			Ret															0
Pos	Driver	SIL	DON	SNE	DON	OUL	BRH		PEM	SIL	KNO		OUL	BRH	THR	DON		SIL	Pts

Manufacturers Championship

References

External links

• Full championship results