Top five BTCC moments

Here are Autosport.com's top five moments from the BTCC season...


If you followed the BTCC in 1994, you will know all about the excitement generated by a Gabriele Tarquini victory. The Italian ex-Grand Prix racer was a worthy champion that year, but his Alfa of '94 was a much more competitive proposition than his Honda of 2000. Despite a tough season, his first win came at Knockhill, the first Accord win of the season. Cue much Italian-style hysteria from both he and his fellow countrymen at JAS Engineering. Very 'appy.

Sometimes you get the feeling someone is trying to tell you something. When Belgium's Vincent Radermecker got the deal to drive the third works Vauxhall, he knew as well as everyone else that it was the short straw. It meant he would be third in line for everything, except for one thing: massive crashes. His first came in testing for the opening round at Brands Hatch, followed by a violent collision with Anthony Reid at Silverstone, a high-speed blow-out at Thruxton's infamous Church corner and a car failure-inspired shunt at Croft that knocked the barrier down and left him trapped in the car. Fortunately, he escaped unharmed from it all. Only to be released at the end of the season...

OK, we know these are supposed to be single moments, but the on-going feud between Tom Kristensen and Jason Plato can't go unmentioned. It started with the odd biff here, a scrape there and a couple of unflattering words spoken. It ended with Kristensen being unceremoniously punted out of the lead by Plato at Brands Hatch, for which the Briton escaped unpunished. TK was so angry that he couldn't speak! But this is a tale with a happy ending. At the end-of-season awards, Jason told Tom that he'd like to be his team-mate, so they could push each other in a positive fashion, rather than ram each other off the circuit. Tom agreed. Well, they had both been drinking...

Matt Neal is undoubtedly the peoples' hero of the BTCC. His debut win at Donington was the highlight of 1999, and his second at Brands this year runs it close. It was a slightly fortuitous victory, as Rickard Rydell had the race in the bag until he slid off on an oil slick dropped by Gavin Pyper's Alfa. That left Tom Kristensen in the lead, but Matt wasn't to be denied, biffing his way past the Honda at McLaren for another famous win by the undisputed Indie King.

"We're not about to start driving into each other, or anything like that," said Rickard Rydell with four races to go in the closest BTCC title race of recent times. Ten seconds into the following Oulton Park sprint race, he was in the pit wall after a collision with...team-mate Alain Menu! That was the moment the gloves came off in the title race, and full credit must go to Ford and Prodrive who could have played the 'team orders' card at any time. Fact: Rydell, Menu and Anthony Reid are closer friends after the season than before it...