1994 British Touring Car Championship season

1994 British Touring Car Championship season

BTCC season
Previous = 1993
Current = 1994
Next = 1995
The 1994 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season was the 37th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

Changes for 1994

*The number of double header meetings were increased from three to seven
*Double headers now awarded full points in both races instead of half, as had previously been the case

eason summary

The lead up to the 1994 season saw both consolidation and major news amongst the manufacturers. Reigning champions BMW retained Joachim Winkelhock and Steve Soper, and the team would again be managed by works outfit Schnitzer Motorsport. Soper however would miss some races when they clashed with his STW programme; his place would then be taken by Roberto Ravaglia. Ford were looking to build on their late 1993 success with Paul Radisich and Andy Rouse, while Toyota added Tim Sugden to their 1993 drivers Will Hoy and Julian Bailey. While Vauxhall retained drivers John Cleland and Jeff Allam they had handed over the running of their works team to Ray Mallock Ltd., who had previously run semi-works cars as Ecurie Ecosse.
Renault also retained their drivers Alain Menu and Tim Harvey, but replaced their Renault 19’s with more modern Lagunas. Keith O’Dor continued with Nissan but was joined by ex-Formula One driver Eric van de Poele, who replaced Win Percy. Patrick Watts moved from Mazda to Peugeot, replacing Robb Gravett, while Mazda expanded to a two-car line up with drivers Matt Neal and David Leslie.
Two new manufacturers joined the championship. Tom Walkinshaw made a comeback with Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer surprisingly choosing to run the estate version of their 850 model. 1988 Le Mans winner Jan Lammers and Swedish Formula Three racer Rickard Rydell would be the team’s two drivers. Alfa Romeo was the other manufacturer to join; Italian works outfit Alfa Corse would run two cars for Gabriele Tarquini and Giampiero Simoni. Alfa had produced a unique homologation special version of their 155 model complete with wings and spoilers, significantly improving the aerodynamics of the car. The 155 was to revolutionize Super Touring racing.

The start of the season showed that Alfa Romeo had a substantial advantage over their opponents as Gabriele Tarquini dominated, taking the first five wins of the season. Several complaints and protests were lodged by other manufacturers, and just prior to Oulton Park Alfa were told to run without the aerodynamic aids fitted. Alfa refused and left the circuit in protest, allowing Alain Menu to take Renault’s first win of the season.
Eventually matters were resolved and Alfa re-instated after agreeing to run with the spoilers lowered, but having lost out on any points from Oulton Park. Even with lowered spoilers, however, Tarquini was able to keep much of his advantage.

Silverstone hosted the twelfth round of the championship, and there rule changes were exploited by other manufacturers to add aerodynamic aids to their own cars. This levelled the playing field considerably and allowed Joachim Winkelhock to make a bid for victory, overtaking Tarquini and winning the race. Tarquini would only win one more race that season, but was always in contention: it was not so much a matter of if but when the Italian would become champion. When turned out to be the penultimate weekend at Silverstone, where Tarquini’s second place in the first race of the day secured the title for him. The main battle going into the final rounds at Donington Park was for second place, and would stand between Alain Menu and Paul Radisich. Radisich won the first race of the day bringing him up to level on points with Menu, but mechanical gremlins put a stop to his challenge in the second race. Menu thus finished second in the championship from Radisich, with John Cleland in fourth and Simoni in fifth.

Teams and Drivers

M = Manufacturer team
I = Independent team

valign="top"

Privateers Championship

Manufacturer's championship

External links

* [http://www.timlaw.supanet.com/season%20index.htm Full championship results]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 2000 British Touring Car Championship season — BTCC season Previous = 1999 Current = 2000 Next = 2001The 2000 Auto Trader British Touring Car Championship season was the 43rd British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the final year for Super Touring specification cars in the… …   Wikipedia

  • 1995 British Touring Car Championship season — BTCC season Previous = 1994 Current = 1995 Next = 1996The 1995 British Touring Car Championship was won by John Cleland in a Vauxhall Cavalier. The Independents title was won by Matt Neal in his Team Dynamics Ford Mondeo with fourteen class… …   Wikipedia

  • British Touring Car Championship — BTCC redirects here. For other uses, see BTCC (disambiguation). British Touring Car Championship Category Touring cars Country or region …   Wikipedia

  • Touring car racing — is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily modified street cars. It is notably popular in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, and Australia. It can basically be considered a Closed Circuit, sponsored, legal form of… …   Wikipedia

  • Super Touring — Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993.[1] It was based on the 2 litre Touring Car Formula created… …   Wikipedia

  • Australian Super Touring Championship — The Australian Super Touring Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for Super Touring Cars.HistorySuper Touring was introduced into Australia in 1993 when CAMS replaced the existing Group 3A Touring Car category (which had …   Wikipedia

  • French Supertouring Championship — The Championnat de France de Supertourisme (English: French Supertouring Championship) was a touring car racing championship organised by the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile between 1976 and 2005. The championship was contested on… …   Wikipedia

  • Muscle car — This 1966 Pontiac GTO is an example of a classic muscle car Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high performance automobiles.[1] The Merriam Webster definition is more limiting, any of a group of American made 2 door sports coupes… …   Wikipedia

  • Matt Neal — Nationality British …   Wikipedia

  • Ben Collins (racing driver) — Ben Collins Signing autographs in 2009 Nationality British Born 13 February 1975 (1975 02 13) (age 36) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”