BTCC stars Turkington, Cleland and Reid to race in new Super Tourers series

The category is the latest addition to the tin-top club's portfolio for this year and is open to machinery from the popular Super Touring era of the 1990s BTCC as well as more recent BTC-T and S2000-spec cars.

While Cleland and Reid will be competing in the exact cars they raced during the Super Touring days, Turkington will be back behind the wheel of an MG ZS (the model in which he made his BTCC debut 20 years ago) owned by Jason Hughes for the Silverstone season opener at the end of March.

“I’ve known Jason since back in the days when he raced in the BTCC in the MG, and obviously I know the car,” Turkington told Autosport.

“He asked if I’d like to do a race, and it’s a few weeks before we start the BTCC season and I thought, ‘Why not?’

“I’m excited to drive the MG again after 18 years. It’ll be interesting to step back into my first BTCC car, and more than anything I’m looking forward to it because it’ll probably be my first race of the year, and one without too much pressure.”

Cleland will be racing the Vauxhall Vectra he campaigned during the 1997 BTCC season and which he has previously driven in the defunct Historic Sports Car Club Super Touring Challenge.

He is due to compete in three of the four Super Tourers rounds, his first races since before the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think the idea of having four races, well spread out, at good tracks, is great," Cleland told Autosport.

Reid will be reunited with his 1998 Nissan Primera

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“My car is still in proper Vauxhall colours and it would be great to see a collection of these cars [racing].”
Cleland is hopeful the new series - which will feature the cars back running on Michelin tyres and a less intense schedule - will prove more successful than the HSCC version, which struggled to keep grid numbers up.

“The problem was running costs,” explained Cleland, whose son Jamie rebuilt the Vectra using parts sourced from “all over the world”.

“Each of the components was lifed and had a life expectancy, so you couldn’t run these cars very often.

“Everyone was trying to run them on a shoestring and that’s why the series fell over.

“For instance, the ’96 Vectra is different to the ’97 Vectra I’ve got. There were bespoke parts for each of them and they’re very hard to get.”

Reid, meanwhile, will be reunited with his 1998 Nissan Primera, a car he hasn’t driven since finishing runner-up in the BTCC that year.

It is one of two Primeras that will be run by Brisky Racing, the other being piloted by owner Richard Wheeler.

“That 1998 car that I drove was my favourite in British Touring Cars because, over a period of three years, we had developed that car – Nissan Motorsport Europe and myself and David Leslie,” Reid told Autosport.

“That car had my DNA in it. I’m very much looking forward to being reunited with the car and the plan is to go testing in February.”

Woodman will be honoured with new tin-top series for Group A BSCC racers

Photo by: Motorsport Images

New Group 1 touring car series to launch

Meanwhile, a race for Group 1 touring cars of the British Saloon Car Championship’s pre-1983 period at September’s Castle Combe Autumn Classic will preview another planned new series for 2023, and cement an ongoing bond between promoter Automobiles Historiques and the Castle Combe Racing Club.

The 45-minute pitstop intro, for the Vince Woodman Trophy, will celebrate the local hero who died last June.

The dynamic Bristolian Ford dealer won 12 BSCC races in the era driving Equipe Esso Capris, and 27 at Combe between 1965 and 2008.

Automobile Historiques’ Flavien Marcais, who runs the GT & Sports Car Cup series for pre-’66 machines with wife Vanessa, said: “The Gerry Marshall Trophy [Group 1] events at Goodwood always produce spectacular racing.

“Its following is growing [two grids last year, more cars being built], but many want to compete more often, in a dedicated field, on Dunlop Post-Historic tyres and a level playing field. That’s what we are offering.”

Additional reporting by Marcus Pye