FINAL DRIVE RACE OF MY LIFE Brought to you by CarPlan JOHN CLELAND ■ Donington Park BTCC ■ June 14, 1998 ■ Vauxhall Vectra ■ Beating an F1 champion in a touring car classic Cleland took his final BTCC victory that day THERE WERE LOTS OF “As the track dried he wasn’t flicking the brake I got heaved off at Coppice at one cracking races, like Bathurst – point and I thought that was it, but finishing second there was a balance to the rear. I could see he was getting lairy managed to get back on. Before I fantastic experience. But the one into the chicane. I thought the back-end was going to knew it, Mansell was leading the for me is the 1998 Donington Park race after the safety car period. round, the ‘Mansell’ race. bite him and it did. He locked up and I got through” There was a gang of us – Reid, Everything happened that could Leslie, me, Mansell and Muller – happen and I won it in a car that down the inside of him and we It was a fun-filled race and it and I radioed the crew and asked, shouldn’t have won. The 1998 touched wing mirrors. He chased had James Thompson, Rickard ‘Is he leading this race?’ They said, Vauxhall Vectra was not a me, but couldn’t catch me. Rydell, the Nissans of Anthony ‘Yes’, so I said, ‘As long as I can particularly good car. Afterwards he came stomping Reid and David Leslie, Yvan Muller breathe he’s not winning it’. Donington is one of my favourite down into the garage and said, in the Audi, Will Hoy, reigning Tim Harvey, Hoy and Reid had circuits, I just seemed to click with ‘What was all that about?’ I said, champion Alain Menu and Jason all gone off at McLeans and I could it. Even if the car was bad it seemed ‘Welcome to touring cars – that’s Plato. There were some seriously see them waving for me to beat to work well. how it’s going to be all day’. talented people in it. the non-touring car driver. It started with the warm-up. He was driving well, but as the I got up in the morning, pulled the IN PROFILE track dried it was clear he wasn’t curtains back and thought, ‘This is flicking the brake balance towards going to be good’ because it was JOHN CLELAND CUT HIS TEETH the front. He probably wasn’t nice and damp and the car was in hillclimbing before scoring aware, but it’s a big deal in a actually quite good in the damp. success in production and touring car. I could see he was There’d been so much hype Thundersaloon racing. He took getting lairy into the chicane. I about Mansell. It brought people the 1989 BTCC title in a Class C thought the back-end was going through the gates, but I was Vauxhall Astra before becoming to bite him and it did. He locked adamant he wasn’t going to take one of the stars of the Super the rear up and I got through. over my patch. Touring era, clinching the title That race was a combination I followed Nigel out of the pits again in 1995. The 1998 of the car not being that good in the warm-up. Every touring car Donington win was his last in and the Mansell hype. It would driver I’ve ever competed against the BTCC before spells in British probably still have been a terrific dabs the brakes coming out of the GT and ASCAR, and a podium race without Nigel, but him being pitlane to make sure everything at Bathurst in 2001. He is now there added an extra dimension. is OK, but he didn’t. As we went a WTCC driver steward and John Cleland was talking to down into the Old Hairpin I dived runs his own car dealership. Kevin Turner PICS: EBREY/LAT EBREY/LAT PICS: 110 autosport.com September 13 2012.