1991 British Touring Car Championship

1991 BTCC season
Previous:	1990	Next:	1992

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.

Changes for 1991

• After a transitional year in 1990, the multi-class Group A regulations was fully dropped and replaced by the new Super Touring rules that had evolved out of Group A's Div. II category. Group A cars were still allowed to participate, but only as long as they were restricted to bring them down to Super Touring speeds.

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 driving a 2.0 Primera and was joined by ex-Formula One driver Julian Bailey towards the end of the season and Mitsubishi was back fielding a one car team for Mark Hales, the team elected to run the Lancer GTI at the beginning of the season but was replaced by the larger Galant mid 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 controversially 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

All races were held in the United Kingdom.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	R1	Silverstone Circuit (National)	1 April	Steve Soper	Will Hoy	Will Hoy	BMW Team Listerine
2	R2	Snetterton Circuit	14 April	John Cleland	Will Hoy	Will Hoy	BMW Team Listerine
3	R3	Donington Park (Grand Prix)	28 April	Steve Soper	John Cleland	Steve Soper	BMW Team Finance
4	R4	Thruxton	27 May	Will Hoy	Will Hoy	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport
5	R5^1	Silverstone Circuit (National)	9 June	Tim Sugden	Andy Rouse	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport
6	R6	Brands Hatch (Indy)	30 June	Tim Sugden	Will Hoy	Tim Sugden	BMW Team Finance
7	R7	Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix)	14 July	Steve Soper	Steve Soper	Steve Soper	BMW Team Finance
8	R8	Donington Park (National)	28 July	John Cleland	Andy Rouse	Andy Rouse	Kaliber ICS Team Toyota
	R9				Ray Bellm	Andy Rouse	Kaliber ICS Team Toyota
9	R10	Oulton Park (International)	11 August	John Cleland	Gary Ayles	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport
10	R11	Brands Hatch (Indy)	26 August	Andy Rouse	Andy Rouse	Andy Rouse	Kaliber ICS Team Toyota
	R12				Ray Bellm	Will Hoy	BMW Team Listerine
11	R13	Donington Park (Grand Prix)	15 September	John Cleland	John Cleland	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport
12	R14	Thruxton	22 September	Jonathan Palmer	Tim Harvey	Steve Soper	BMW Team Finance
13	R15	Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix)	6 October	Andy Rouse	Tim Harvey	Tim Harvey	BMW Team Labatt's

1. ^  – Race was stopped after 10 laps due to heavy rain. The race was not restarted and no points were awarded.

Championship results

Drivers Championship

Pos Driver SIL SNE DON THR SIL† BRH SIL DON OUL BRH 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 42^1 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 DNS 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 Pos Driver SIL SNE DON THR SIL† BRH SIL DON OUL BRH DON THR 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.

1. ^  – Tim Harvey was docked 48 points in round 3 for not keeping within the limits of noise regulations.

† Race was stopped early due to heavy rain, and no points were awarded. Note: Most fastest laps are unknown.

Manufacturers Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	SIL	SNE	DON	THR	SIL†	BRH	SIL	DON		OUL	BRH		DON	THR	SIL	Pts
1	BMW / BMW Team Listerine/BMW Team Labatt's/BMW Team Finance	1	1	1	3	3	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	134
2	Vauxhall / Vauxhall Sport	2	4	2	1	1	5	6	3	10	1	4	3	1	8	8	116
3	Toyota / Kaliber ICS Team Toyota	5	3	4	8	4	3	7	1	1	4	1	Ret	14	4	2	111
4	Ford / Trakstar Motorsport	4	13	8	14	10	9	16	7	4	8	5	2	7	7	3	102
5	Nissan / Nissan Janspeed Racing		Ret	Ret	11	13	15	Ret	10	8	10	Ret	Ret	9	6	11	53
6	Mitsubishi / John Maguire Racing	17	10	16	16	DNS			14	Ret	14	13	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	45
Pos	Manufacturer	SIL	SNE	DON	THR	SIL†	BRH	SIL	DON		OUL	BRH		DON	THR	SIL	Pts