1990 British Touring Car Championship Explained

The 1990 Esso RAC British Touring Car Championship season was the 33rd British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the last year of the Group A era. It was also the final year of the multi-class format.

Changes for 1990

• Classes changed from four to two. Group A cars now ran alongside the all new 2 litre Touring Car Formula, with a view to a single class formula for 1991. This was to encourage new manufacturers to enter the series, with a more even field of cars and cheaper running costs. BMW and Vauxhall already entered works teams this year, with other manufacturers showing interest for future seasons.
• One hour endurance races increased from one to two.

Season summary

The first race was won by Andy Rouse in his Ford Sierra RS500.^{[1] [2]} He also won the first 1 Hour endurance race at Donington Park GP with David Sears. The next race at Thruxton was won by Robb Gravett. Gravett also won the next six races including the second 1 Hour endurance race at Brands Hatch with Mike Smith. Rouse won the Birmingham Superprix. This would be best remembered for the last lap accident between Frank Sytner and John Cleland. It would be the last time that the BTCC would race on the track.Gravett then won at Donington. The last two races, at Thruxton and Silverstone, were won by Rouse and Gravett. It was Gravett who won the championship, despite the team's struggle to run through the season on a low budget with no main sponsor.

Teams and drivers

Team Car No. Drivers Rounds Endurance Drivers Class A ICS plc Ford Sierra RS500 1 Andy Rouse All David Sears^D† Gary Ayles^B† Labatt's Team Ford Sierra RS500 3 Tim Harvey All Slim Borgudd^† 10 Laurence Bristow All Tomas Mezera^D† Paul Radisich^B† FAI Auto Parts Ford Sierra RS500 4 Sean Walker All Ian Flux^† Listerine Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 5 Mike Newman 1, 3–6, 10–11, 13 Andy Middlehurst 9 15 Graham Goode All Mike Newman^D† Dave Brodie^B† Trakstar Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 11 Robb Gravett All Stig Blomqvist^D† Mike Smith^B† 12 Mike Smith 1, 6, 13 14 Graham Hathaway 2 Mike Smith^D† Hathaway Racing Ford Sierra RS500 3–7, 9 Vince Woodman^B† Brodie-Brittain Racing Ford Sierra RS500 20 Dave Brodie 8, 11–12 Stuart Donnan Racing Ford Sierra RS500 21 Stuart Donnan 10, 13 Judge Developments Ford Sierra RS500 22 Dennis Leech 4–6, 9–12 Crypton Engineering Ford Sierra RS500 24 Amato Ferrari 9–10 Vauxhall Motorsport Vauxhall Cavalier 50 John Cleland All Chris Hodgetts^† 70 Chris Hodgetts 5–8, 10 Bob Berridge^B† David Coulthard 9 Bob Berridge 11 Markus Oestreich 12–13 Hawaiian Tropic Ford Sierra Sapphire 51 Ray Bellm 1–4, 6, 11 James Shead^D† Chris Hodgetts 12–13 Ecosse Motorsport BMW M3 52 Ian Forrest All Bernard Hunter^D† Tony Bridge^B† 53 Hugh Chalmers 1–2, 4–5, 7, 10 Jimmy McRae^† Jimmy McRae 3, 6 John Llewellyn 8 Karl Jones 9 Jim McGaughay 11, 13 Chuck Nicholson 12 BMW Team Finance BMW M3 55 Frank Sytner All Kurt Luby^† 56 Kelvin Burt 1, 13 Kelvin Burt^† Kurt Luby 2–3, 6, 9–10, 12 Tim Sugden 4–5, 7–8, 11 Techspeed Motorsport BMW 318is 57 Nick Baird 1–6, 8, 10–13 David Carvell^D† Nigel Corry^B† Robin Brundle 7 HWR Motorsport Vauxhall Belmont 58 Jeff Wilson 11–13 BRR Motorsport BMW M3 59 Ian Flux 12–13 John Maguire Racing Mitsubishi Starion 60 Mark Hales All Graham Scarborough^† Pyramid Motorsport BMW M3 66 Nick Whale 1–3, 5–13 Gerrit van Kouwen^† 77 Godfrey Hall 1–12 David Leslie^† 88 John Clark 1, 3–11, 13 David Leslie^B† David Leslie 12 Arquati Racing Team BMW M3 69 Jerry Mahony 1–6, 8 Robbie Stirling^D† BMW Team Sweden BMW M3 90 Nettan Lindgren 1–2, 5–7, 9–13 Peggen Andersson^† Vic Lee Motorsport BMW M3 99 Jeff Allam 3–13 Vic Lee^B† PG Tags Racing Honda Civic 100 Ray Armes 1–7, 9–13 Jeremy Rossiter^† ^†Not eligible for points. ^DDonington Park only. ^BBrands Hatch only. Calendar All races were held in the United Kingdom. Overall winners in bold. Round Circuit Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Class A Winner Class B Winner 1 Oulton Park (International), Cheshire 13 April Robb Gravett Tim Harvey Andy Rouse Kelvin Burt 2* Donington Park (Grand Prix), Leicestershire 29 April Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Andy Rouse David Sears Frank Sytner Kurt Luby 3 Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire 28 May Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Robb Gravett John Cleland 4 Silverstone Circuit (National), Northamptonshire 10 June Andy Rouse Tim Harvey Robb Gravett Frank Sytner 5 Oulton Park (International), Cheshire 1 July Mike Newman Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Frank Sytner 6 Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix), Northamptonshire 15 July Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Kurt Luby 7* Brands Hatch (Indy), Kent 22 July Robb Gravett Andy Rouse Robb Gravett Mike Smith Frank Sytner Kurt Luby 8 Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk 5 August Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Robb Gravett John Cleland 9 Brands Hatch (Grand Prix), Kent 19 August Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Robb Gravett John Cleland 10 Birmingham Superprix, Birmingham 27 August Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Andy Rouse Kurt Luby 11 Donington Park (Grand Prix), Leicestershire 16 September Andy Rouse Andy Rouse Robb Gravett Frank Sytner 12 Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire 23 September Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Andy Rouse Nettan Lindgren 13 Silverstone Circuit (National), Northamptonshire 7 October Tim Harvey Andy Rouse Robb Gravett John Cleland * 1 hour endurance races. Driver Standings/Results Overall DC Class Pos Driver Class OUL DON THR SIL OUL SIL BRH SNE BRH BIR DON THR SIL valign=middle Pts 1 1 Robb Gravett 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ret 1 3 1 207 2 1 Frank Sytner Ret Ret 180 3 2 Andy Rouse 1 1 3 2 2 Ret 2 1 2 1 2 173 4 3 Tim Harvey 4 Ret 2 Ret 3 3 2 2 3 4 3 2 132 5 2 John Cleland Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 128 6 3 Jeff Allam 124 7 4 Sean Walker Ret 4 5 2 4 Ret 3 4 4 2 6 Ret Ret 96 8 4 Godfrey Hall DNS 92 9 5 Laurence Bristow 3 3 4 4 5 4 Ret 3 5 DNS Ret Ret 6 88 10 5 Nettan Lindgren Ret Ret 82 11 6 Graham Goode Ret 5 6 Ret 7 5 Ret 5 6 DNS 4 4 3 72 12 6 Tim Sugden 67 13 7 Kurt Luby Ret 60 14 7 Mike Newman 2 Ret Ret 3 5 4 53 15 8 Ian Forrest Ret Ret Ret Ret 47 16 9 Chris Hodgetts Ret 46 17 10 Nick Whale DSQ Ret Ret 43 18 11 Mark Hales Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 28 19 12 Kelvin Burt 26 = 8 Graham Hathaway Ret 3 5 6 DNP Ret DNS 26 21 13 Hugh Chalmers Ret 23 22 14 Nick Baird NC Ret DNS 16 = 15 Jerry Mahony Ret Ret Ret DNA 16 24 16 Markus Oestreich Ret 15 25 9 Mike Smith Ret 6 5 14 26 10 Dennis Leech DNP 7 DNS Ret DNS 11 27 17 John Clark DNS NC Ret Ret Ret NC Ret 10 28 12 Amato Ferrari Ret 5 8 = 11 Dave Brodie DNS Ret 8 30 18 Ian Flux Ret 8 31 19 Ray Armes Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 7 32 20 Ray Bellm Ret DNS DNS DNP DNA DNS 6 33 21 David Coulthard 4 34 22 John Llewellyn 3 = 23 Chuck Nicholson 3 36 24 Robin Brundle 2 = 25 Jimmy McRae Ret 2 38 26 David Leslie 1 Jeff Wilson DNS Ret Ret 0 Stuart Donnan Ret Ret 0 Jim McGaughay Ret Ret 0 Andy Middlehurst Ret 0 Bob Berridge Ret 0 Karl Jones DNP 0 Overall DC Class Pos Driver Class OUL DON THR SIL OUL SIL BRH SNE BRH BIR DON THR SIL valign=middle Pts Note: bold signifies pole position in class, italics signifies fastest lap in class. Endurance drivers results Driver Class DON BHI Kurt Luby 6 4 Mike Smith Ret 1 David Sears 1 David Leslie 7 6/NC Slim Borgudd Ret 2 Kelvin Burt Ret 5 Stig Blomqvist 2 Ian Flux 4 3 Gerritt van Kouwen 8 13 Tomas Mezera 3 Peggen Andersson 9 7 Mike Newman 5 Vic Lee 8 Graham Scarborough Ret 9 Jimmy McRae 10 11 Tony Bridge 10 Robbie Stirling 11 Jeremy Rossiter 12 Ret Nigel Corry 12 David Carvell NC Chris Hodgetts Ret Ret James Shead Ret Bernard Hunter Ret Dave Brodie Ret Gary Ayles Ret Vince Woodman Ret Paul Radisich Ret Bob Berridge Ret Driver Class DON BHI Note: All endurance drivers were ineligible to score points. References

Notes and References

1. News: Rouse roars away. Coventry Evening Telegraph. 16 April 1990. 24 November 2024. 31. Newspapers.com.
2. News: Zooming in on motor sports meeting. David. Parry-Jones. Chester Chronicle. 20 April 1990. 24 November 2024. 25. Newspapers.com.