2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Season Review

The 2000 What Car-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Knows How To Entertain People In Britain, Europe And The Rest Of The World How To Put On A Show From The World’s Biggest National Auto Racing Series On The Planet.
The 2000 Season Is Also The Last Season Of Super Touring Cars Before Switching To New Regulations In 2001
The Season Will Also See 28 Different Car Brands Compete At The End Of The Super Touring Era, Ford, Vauxhall, Honda, Nissan, Volvo, Renault, Peugeot, Audi, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Toyota, Chrysler, Mercedes, Skoda, Citroen, Hyundai, Seat, Proton, Rover, Jaguar, Opel, Daewoo, Volkswagen, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi And Saab.There’s Also An Independent Championship To Be Won As Well, As Well As The Kit Car Class, The Production Class, And A New Class To The IBTCC, The Touring Light Class, Which Sees Young Drivers Of The Future Compete In Smaller Cars With 1600 Engines.
It’s A 25 Race Meeting Season, The Races Would Be Held Not Just In Britain, But In Ireland, France, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, And Sweden.
1        Brands Hatch GP March 12
2        Donington Park March 19
3        Oulton Park      April 1
4        Thruxton           April 9
5        Silverstone April 22
6        Zandvoort        April 30
7        Nutts Corner    May 6
8        Knockhill          May 21
9        Magny Cours  June 4
10           Croft          June 10
11         Nurburgring June 25
12         Snetterton   July 1
13         Zolder        July 16
14  Donington Park GP Circuit July 29
15  Pembrey            August 5
16  Anderstorp        August 18
17 Brands Hatch Indy August 25
18 Mondello Park September 2
19 Anglesey September 10
20 Lydden Hill September 17
21 Oulton Park September 23
22 Bishopscourt October 1
23 Kirkistown October 8
24  Monza      October 14
25 Silverstone October 28
The Season Would Run Until The Night Race At Silverstone, To Put An End Of An Era To The Super Touring Cars.
Round 1, Brands Hatch GP.
As Ever, The Season Kicks Off At Brands Hatch On A Nice March Weekend, Pure Sunshine Fill The Air As Many Fans Are Out In Force To See Their Favorite Drivers Race, But Before We Review The First Race Weekend, Let’s See Who’s Entered In This Year’s Championship,
Reigning Champion Jason Plato Leaves Renault To Join Vauxhall Alongside Yvan Muller And John Cleland, As Well As Vincent Radermecker, Who Had Also Joined From Volvo.
Rickard Rydell Who Has Also Joined From Volvo To Ford For The 2000 Season, He Is Partnered With 1995 IBTCC Champion Alain Menu, Anthony Reid, And The Kiwi,  Craig Baird.
Honda Enlisted Works JAS Motorsport Drivers, 1994 BTCC Champion Gabriele Tarquini and Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen to partner James Thompson, And Peter Kox.
Reigning Manufacturer Champions Renault Have Entered 3 Lagunas In The Hands Of Former F1 Test Driver Jean Christophe Boullion, 1991 BTCC And 1992 IBTCC Champion  Will Hoy And F1 Rookie Jenson Button For Selected Races.
Nissan Have Entered 2 Primeras Came Courtesy Of Crawford Nissan Racing With 1998 BTCC Independent Champion Tommy Rustad And Carl Rosenblad Being The Drivers.
Volvo Have Entered 4 S40s With Mattias Ekström, Jan Nilsson, Kelvin Burt And 1992 BTCC Champion, Tim Harvey.
Audi Have Entered 3 A4s, With John Bintcliffe, Paul Radisich, And Frank Biela,
Peugeot Have Entered A 306 Sedan And A 406 Respectfully In The Hands Of Patrick Watts, Richard Kaye, Eugene O Brien, Ian Flux, Reigning Production Class Champion Alan Morrison, 1999 BTCC Champion  Laurent Aiello And Michael Bartels,
BMW Have Entered 4 320i’s, In The Hands Of 1993 BTCC And 1994  Champion Joachim Winkelhock, Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia And Steve Soper.
Alfa Romeo Have Entered 2 156’s, With Nicola Larini And 1998 Champion  Fabrizio Giovanardi.
Fiat Continue Their IBTCC Adventure Running A Pair Of Mareas, With Gianni Morbidelli And Spaniard Jordi Gene.
Toyota Have Entered A Corolla Sedan A Corolla Liftback And An Avensis Respectively With Ex Formula One Driver Julian Bailey, Tim Sugden, Former Irish Champion Austin McHale, Owen McAuley, Gary Ayles And Bobby Verdon Roe.
Chrysler Have Entered A Single Stratus With Tomas Engstrom At The Wheel.
Mercedes Have Entered 3 E Classes, With 1993 Champion Bernd Schneider, Darren Turner And Peter Dumbreck.
Skoda Have Entered 2 Octavias With Josef Kopecky And Jan Lammers Being The Drivers,
Citroen Have Entered 2 Xsaras With Philippe Gache And Alain Cudini.
Hyundai Have Entered 2 Lantras With 1992 F1 Champion  Nigel Mansell And Former Bathurst Racer, Ric Shaw.
Seat Have Entered A Pair Of Cordobas With Minardi F1 Driver, Marc Gene And Luis Villamil As The Drivers.
Proton Have Entered 2 Wiras, With Karamjit Singh And Ian Heward Being The Drivers.
Rover Enter A Pair Of 45’s With Jeff Wilson And Former Independent Champion, Alex Portman.
Jaguar Enter A Pair Of S Types With Andy Wallace And Ray Bellam As The Drivers.
Opel Have Entered 4 Vectras With Jan Brunstedt, Eric Helary, Uwe Alzen And Rob Gibson.
Daewoo Have Entered A Pair Of The Saloon Version Of The Lanos With Win Percy And James Weaver As The Drivers.
Volkswagen Have Entered A Pair Of Passats With Steve Robertson And Kris Nissen As The Drivers.
Mazda Have Entered A Pair Of Familias In The Hands Of Slim Borgudd And Ian Cantwell.
Subaru Have Entered 2 Impreza Station Wagons With Geoff Steel And Hamish Irvine.
Mitsubishi Have Entered A Pair Of Carisma’s With Mark Hales And David Pinkney.
And Swedish Ace Saab Have Entered A Pair Of 9-3’s With Per Eklund And Kenneth Hansen As The Drivers.
In The Independent Class, Reigning Champion Matt Neal Could Defend His Championship Title For Team Dynamics In A Nissan Primera, But There Are Other Drivers That Could Take The 2000 Title Including Colin Blair In The Similar Nissan Primera, Mark Blair In A Vauxhall Vectra, And Robb Gravett And Lee Brookes, Who Will Drive In A Honda Accord For Brookes Motorsport.
In The Kit Car Class, Reigning Champion Martin Rowe Leaves The Departing Renault Squad To Join Ford, While Peugeot Aces Justin Dale And David Higgins Could Also Have A Chance For The Title In Their Championship, While Vauxhall Entered Neil Wearden As Their Main Driver.
The Production Class Will See The Lights Of Many Different Manufacturers Like Honda, Peugeot, Ford, Nissan, Alfa Romeo, BMW And Vauxhall. Alan Morrison Wasn’t There To Defend His Title, So Instead He Switched To The Touring Class Driving For Peugeot In A 306 Sedan. So James Kaye Could Be The One Who Could Take The Title, But There Are Other Drivers Who Could Also Take The Title, Simon Harrison And Gareth Howell, Who Drive In A Ford Focus For GR Motorsport, Kaye Drives For Barwell Motorsport In A Honda Accord, Been Partnered By Mark Lemmer In A Honda Integra Before Switching To The Accord For The Final Race Meeting, And Then There’s Bintcliffe Sport, They Use Nissan Primeras With Rob Collard And Marc Norton Being The Drivers.
And Finally, There Was The Newly Formed Touring Light Class With Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall And Fiat Who Dominate The Field, Colin Turkington, Tom Chilton, Nick Leeson, Eoin Murray And Alan Blencowe, Who Could All Race To The Title.
So The 2000 IBTCC Season Starts In Style With Many Different Manufacturers, And  Independents, Entered By 5 Different Classes, And Who Could Make It First, To Take The Titles Of The Classes.
In Qualifying, The Pace Was Set By The Ford Drivers, With Rickard Rydell Taking Pole For Both Races, Followed By Team Mate Alain Menu, Anthony Reid Only Managed 4th, With Champion Jason Plato, The First Of The Vauxhalls Lining Up 3rd, Honda Had A Slow Qualifying Run, James Thompson Managing 6th, Tarquini 7th, Kristensen 9th, And Kox 12th.
Matt Neal Was The Fastest Of The Independents, Lining Up In 11th, Just Ahead Of Colin Blair, Who Lined Up 15th, The Kit Car Class Pole Was Given To Champion Martin Rowe, On His Impressive Drive For The Ford Team In Both Sessions, Ahead Of Both Peugeots, And Wearden’s Vauxhall.
And In The Touring Light Class, Glenn Board Took Pole, Ahead Of The Similar Fiestas Of Leeson And Turkington.
Race 1, Rydell Makes A Lightning Start Pulling Away From The Field As They Approach The First Couple Of Corners, Reid Passed Plato For 3rd, While The Rest Of The Field Also Make Up Places, Tarquini Passed Radermecker For 5th At Druids On Lap 3 , While The Other Factory Teams Were In The Lower Places With The Independents, Yvan Muller Qualified 19th On The Grid, But He’s Making Up Places And He Passes Kox’s Honda To Take 11th At Surtees On Lap 4, Peugeot Are Being Excellent On Signing Alan Morrison From The Production Class Driving The 306 Sedan For This Season, He Is Running In 15th Place, Just Behind Austin Mchale’s Toyota Corolla Liftback, While Rallycross Ace Dermot Carnegie Is Racing Well Driving A Sedan Version Of A Ford Focus That He Raced In The British Rallycross Championship, He Is Running In 18th Place Behind Matt Neal’s Leading Independent Nissan, Skoda’s Race Went Upside Down, As Jan Lammers Retired With Engine Troubles In His Octavia On Lap 6 , While Josef Kopecky Retired With An Electrical Problem On Lap 8, Rydell Was Still Infront At The End Of Lap 10, With His Ford Team Mates Far Behind, And Plato, The First Of The Vauxhalls 4th, Marc Norton Was The First Of The Production Cars To Have A DNF, When His Primera Lost Control At Graham Hill Bend, Slamming Into The Barrier, And Out Of The Race, While Tom Ferrier, Ditched His Alfa Into The Gravel At Paddock Hill Bend, But At The Front, Rickard Rydell, Dominates From The Start As He Takes The First Win Of 2000, Ahead Of His Ford Team Mates, Menu 2nd And Reid 3rd. Reigning Champion Plato Had To Settle For 4th, Tarquini 5th, And Muller, After A Terrible Qualifying With 19th On The Grid, Finishing 6th, After Passing Team Mate Vincent Radermecker On The Last Lap. Matt Neal Left Off In 1999 By Winning The Independent Class, Martin Rowe Won The Kit Car Class,  James Kaye Took Victory In The Production Class, And Victory In The Touring Light Class Goes To Glenn Board, Finishing Ahead Of Colin Turkington.
Race 2, Rydell Makes Another Blistering Getaway While Muller Moves From 6th To 3rd In A Few Of Corners, While At The Back, The Hondas Of Thompson And Tarquini Dice With The Other Works Teams, Audi, BMW, Volvo, Renault And Nissan, All In The Mix Heading For Graham Hill Bend, Dermot Carnegie, The Toyotas, The Volkswagens And The Mazdas Are All In The Mix, Followed By The Peugeots, Neal’s Nissan, And The Mercedes Pairing Of Dumbreck And Turner, The Race Was Full Of Retirements, Kris Nissen Rolled His Volkswagen At Surtees On Lap 7, Rob Collard Crashing Into The Barrier At Graham Hill Bend On Lap 9, Matt Neal And The Hondas Of Kristensen And Thompson Colliding At Westfield Bend On Lap 11, Eoin Murray Rolling His Fiesta At The Same Bend On Lap 13, Ian Flux With Mechanical Troubles On Lap 14, Peter Kox Going Off At Druids On Lap 16, Tommy Rustad Crashing At Clark Curve On Lap 17, And Nigel Albon Going Off At Paddock Hill Bend On Lap 19, There Were A Lot Of Safety Car Periods During The Race, Followed By Pitstops, Rydell Was In, Giving The Lead To His Team Mate, Who Also Pitted A Lap Later, But Remained In The Lead, Plato Was In The Pits From 3rd, And Would Hopefully Stay There Until The End Of The Race With Reid 4th, In The Kit Car Class Justin Dale Leads, With Wearden In 2nd And Rowe In 3rd, While In The Production Class, Simon Harrison Leads From James Kaye In 2nd, And Dan Eaves In 3rd, While The Touring Light Class Was Led By Colin Turkington, The Drama Wasn’t Over As Vincent Radermecker’s Vauxhall  Was Pushed Into The Barriers By Eugene O Brien’s Silver Peugeot 406 At Graham Hill Bend On Lap 20, And O Brien Payed The Penalty By Getting Pushed Into The Gravel By Carnegie’s Focus At Paddock Hill Bend A Lap Later, Vauxhall Told Plato That He Needs To Let His Team Mate Muller Through, So He Could Set The Fastest Lap And Take 3rd Place,While Behind, Tim Harvey’s Volvo Has A Go Getting  Passed 1997 Champion Jon Bintcliffe’s Audi To Take 8th At Paddock Hill Bend With Only A Few Laps Remaining,In The Independents, Robb Gravett Was In 2nd To Colin Blair, But He Retired With A Blown Engine With Only A Few Laps To Go.While Mercedes Would Be Happy With 12th And 13th Places With Dumbreck And Turner, They Could Hope For Better Luck For The Brand, While Bernd Schneider, The 1993 Champion Retired With Gearbox Problems Earlier, But At The Front, Ford Do The Double With Alain Menu Crossing The Line First, Ahead Of Team Mate Rydell, With Muller 3rd, Plato 4th, Reid 5th, And Tarquini 6th, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, Justin Dale Won The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Took Victory In The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Victory In The Touring Light Class.
It’s Donington Next, And Menu Leads The Championship Going Into The Next Race Meeting With Rydell In 2nd, Ford Lead The Manufacturers Race With Vauxhall In 2nd, And Honda 3rd.
Round 2, Donington Park.
Round 2 Takes The Teams To Donington Park In The West Midlands, It’s A Cloudy But Drizzly Day For The Race Meeting In Qualifying, And Saw  Rickard Rydell Set The Pace Again, Putting His Mondeo On Pole Ahead Of Team Mates Menu And Reid 2nd And 3rd, With The Vauxhalls Of Plato And Muller 4th And 5th, And Tarquini 6th,
Race 1, Race 1 Starts With Rydell In The Lead Going Into Redgate Corner, Rydell Leads The Pack Going Into The Craner Curves, At The Back, Mattias Ekstrom Passes Frank Biela’s Audi To Take 10th At The Old Harpin, While Team Mate Jan Nilsson Is Forced Out Of The Race With Engine Problems On Lap 5, Jon Bintcliffe Fights Roberto Ravaglia’s BMW For 13th On Lap 8 But He Pushes The Italian Into The Barrier At The Craner Curves On Lap 9 And Putting The BMW Out, Bringing Out The Safety Car, Plato Is Fighting For 5th Place With Tarquini, And At The End Of Lap 11, He Passed The Italian At Redgate On Lap 13, This Race Was Turning Upside Down As Both Independent Renaults  Jamie Spence And Nigel Albon Collide, Going Off The Track And Into The Gravel And Out Of The Race At Mclean’s Corner On Lap 15, While Peter Kox’s Honda Catches Fire At The Start Finish Straight At The End Of The Pit Lane, But There’s No Stopping Rickard Rydell, As The Swede Takes His 2nd Victory Of 2000, With Team Mates Menu And Reid Finishing 2nd And 3rd, With Muller Finishing 4th And Plato Finishing 5th Ahead Of Tarquini’s Honda, In The Independent Class, Robb Gravett Took Victory In His Honda Accord Ahead Of Matt Neal And Colin Blair In Similar Nissan Primeras, In The Kit Car Class, Neil Wearden Took Victory In His Vauxhall Astra Kit Car, While In The Production Class, The Race Was Won By Dan Eaves In His Peugeot 306, And Colin Turkington Took His 2nd Victory In The Touring Light Class.
Race 2, Rickard Rydell Makes A Great Start Like He Did In Race 1, Leading In The First Corner, But Yvan Muller Wasn’t Going To Finish This Race As He Retired With A Broken Clutch In His Vauxhall, While At The Back There Was A Battle Going On Between Alan Morrison’s 306 Sedan, The Independent Fords Of Carnegie In The Focus Sedan, And Gibson In The Mondeo, The Nissans Of Neal, Rustad And Rosenblad, And The Toyotas Of Bailey And  Sugden, While BMW, Audi And Mercedes Were In A Battle Of Their Own For 20th With Schneider, Radisich And Soper All Fighting It Out, But Biela Had To Retire The Sister Car With An Engine Problem On Lap 11, And Russell Spence, Roberto Ravaglia And Robb Gravett All Fight It Out On Lap 14 Heading Into Redgate, But It All Ends With Both Independent Drivers In The Gravel And Out Of The Race, Bringing Out The Safety Car, But The Dramas Weren’t Over As Steve Robertson’s Volkswagen Gets Pushed Into The Gravel By Tommy Rustad’s Nissan At The Craner Curves On Lap 16, And Joachim Winkelhock’s BMW Was Pushed In The Gravel At Schwantz Curve By Jon Bintcliffe’s Audi On Lap 19, Menu’s Pitstop Promotes Plato To 2nd, While Rydell Makes A Stop A Lap Later, But Then He Stays Infront Of Plato And Resumed In The Lead, James Thompson  Passes Tommy Rustad’s Nissan To Take 10th At The Old Harpin On Lap 22, While Honda Team Mate Kristensen Also Passed Rustad For 11th At Redgate A Lap Later, The Other Honda Of Tarquini Is In 5th Behind Reid’s Mondeo, But Peter Kox Suffers A 2nd Setback As He Was Pushed Off The Circuit By Schneider’s Mercedes At The Old Harpin On Lap 23, And The Race Wasn’t Over Without The Last Drama When Craig Baird’s Mondeo Caught Fire At The End Of The Pitlane, Exactly To What Happened To Peter Kox In The First Race, At The Front, Rydell Makes It The 3rd Win Of 2000, And His 2nd Win Of The Day, Ahead Of Plato’s Vauxhall, Ford Team Mates Menu And Reid, Tarquini’s Honda And Ekstrom’s Volvo Who Finished 6th, And Give Volvo Their First Points Of 2000, In The Independent Class, Colin Blair Took Victory In His Nissan Primera, Ahead Of The Similar Nissan Of Matt Neal, With Swede Jens Edman Finishing 3rd In His Ford Mondeo, In The Kit Car Class, Justin Dale Took Victory Ahead Of Neil Wearden’s Vauxhall, And Martin Rowe’s Ford, In The Production Class, Dan Eaves Makes It 2 Wins Of The Day, Ahead Of Simon Harrison’s Focus, And Rob Collard’s Nissan, James Kaye Had To Retire Earlier, And In The Touring Light Class, Nick Leeson Took Victory, Ahead Of Colin Turkington, And Tom Chilton, Taking 3rd Place In A Vauxhall Corsa, Glenn Board Had To Settle For 4th,
Going Into Round 3 At Oulton Park, Rydell Now  Leads The Championship With Menu In 2nd, And Plato 3rd,
Ford Still Lead The Way In The Manufacturers Championship Ahead Of Vauxhall And Honda.
Round 3, Oulton Park.
It’s Back To The Sunshine On A April Fools Weekend At Oulton Park In Cheshire For Round 3,
And Qualifying Saw The Fords Set The Pace Again With Rickard Rydell Taking Pole For The Sprint Race, And Anthony Reid Took Pole For The Feature, Jason Plato Lined Up 3rd, With Alain Menu 4th For Both Races, Qualifying Also Saw  Some Accidents, Jamie Spence’s Renault Going Off Into The Gravel At Lodge, James Thompson’s Honda Spinning Out At Cascades, And Steve Robertson’s Volkswagen Into The Barriers At Lodge, Their Cars Are Prepared Just To Make The Races, But Way At The Back,
Race 1, Rydell Makes A Good Start Leading At The Front, Into Cascades And Thompson Makes A Good Start From 43rd On The Grid Making Up Good Places, Marc Gene’s Seat Passes Kris Nissen’s Volkswagen To Take 18th Place At Island Bend On Lap 2, Followed By Taking 16th Place From Kurt Luby’s Independent Lexus, Matt Neal Passes Peter Kox For 10th At Lodge On Lap 4, While There’s A Packed Race Going On Full Of Battles For Positions, Josef Kopecky Is Making Good Process In 20th Place, Chasing Paul Radisich’s Audi, Mechanical Problems Have Hit Peugeot When The 2nd Yellow Car Of Michael Bartels Retired With Gearbox Problems On Lap 11,  Slim Borgudd’s Mazda Familia Qualified 44th On The Grid, Now  He’s Challenging Luby’s Lexus For 24th, While The Nissan Pairing Of Tommy Rustad And Carl Rosenblad Are Fighting Each Other For 17th, Rustad Is Now Chasing Gene’s Seat For 16th, Steve Robertson Retired His Volkswagen Passat  On Lap 18 With Engine Failure, While Team Mate Kris Nissen Overtakes Russell Spence’s Independent Renault For 21st, The Alfa Romeo Squad Have Had A Pour Start To The Season, As Well As Renault, But The Cars Are Now  Proving Strongly, Larini Passes Boullion To Take 14th At Clay Hill On Lap 20, At The Front, Rydell Still Leads From Reid, Menu, Plato, Muller, Tarquini, Kristensen And Neal, Colin Blair’s Race Is Done With Just A Few Laps To Go, Badly Damaged Suspension Following Contact With The Peugeots Of Aiello And O Brien Ended His Chance Of A Victory In The First Race In The Independent Class, Richard Kaye’s Peugeot Was Tipped Into A Slide By Baird’s Mondeo At Knickerbroke, But At The Front, Rickard Rydell Takes Victory, With Anthony Reid Finishing 2nd, And Alain Menu Finishing 3rd, Making It Another Ford 1-2-3 Finish Of The Season, The Vauxhalls Of Plato And Muller Finished 4th And 5th, And Matt Neal Claimed Victory In The Independent Class, While Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Won The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Another Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, Reid Makes A Terrible Getaway As Rydell Thunders Into The Lead, Plato Takes 2nd, And Muller Takes 3rd, Menu Is Also Passed His Team Mate Going Into Cascades, James Kaye’s Production Class Honda Accord Spins Out Of The Race At Cascades Following Contact With Dan Eaves’s Peugeot, While Marc Norton Retired His Nissan On Lap 2 With Engine Failure Leaving Some Oil On The Track, Last Year, Russell Spence Had A Weekend Ending Shunt At Lodge When The BTCC Was Here, He Had Contact With 2 Other Drivers Sending Him Into The Gravel At Lodge In Race 1, But In Race 2 On Lap 7, His Brakes Failed In His Arena Motorsport Renault Laguna Sending Him Into The Gravel And The Tyre Wall At Lodge, And Out Of The Race, Bringing Out The Safety Car, When The Safety Car Came Back In, There Were Some Battles Going On For Places, Alan Morrison, Tommy Rustad, Fabrizio Giovanardi And Gabriele Tarquini All Fight Over 10th Place Pass Hill Top And Into Knickerbroke, While Ian Cadwell Spun His Mazda Familia Out Of The Race At Druids On Lap 12, Meanwhile There’s A Battle Between Two Toyotas, Owen McAuley’s Corolla Liftback Was Chased By Former 1996 BTCC Team Mate Gary Ayles In A Similar Corolla Liftback, McAuley Had Chased Ayles In Race 1 But In Race 2, He Was Also Chased By A Corolla Sedan By Tim Sugden Until Sugden Made His Pit Stop A Few Laps Later, At The Front, Rydell Makes It To His Pit Stop, He Will Resume In 3rd, A Lap Later And Yvan Muller Is In From 2nd, He Drops To 4th After His Stop, Jason Plato Leads The Race, And Would Look Forward To Take Vauxhall’s First Win Of 2000, With Not Enough Laps Left, Jason Plato Takes His And Vauxhall’s First Victory Of 2000, With Rickard Rydell Finishing 2nd, And Team Mate Yvan Muller 3rd, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class Despite Retiring In Race 1, Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class In The Peugeot 106 Maxi, Mark Lemmer Won The Production Class In His Honda Integra, And Colin Turkington Took Another Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Heading For Thruxton, Rydell Still Leads The Championship By 5 Points While Ford Still Lead The Manufacturers Race,
Round 4, Thruxton.
It Was Another Glorious Weekend In The Hampshire Countryside At Thruxton, It Was The Same Weekend That The BTCC At Brands Hatch Was Taking Place, But This Was The Imaginary Version Of The BTCC, And Many Fans Were Out In Force Seeing Their Favorite Drivers Race, In Qualifying, The Vauxhalls Were On The Pace In Both Sessions, With Yvan Muller Taking Pole For Both Races, Ahead Of Team Mate Jason Plato, Honda Were Also On The Pace, James Thompson Lining Up 3rd For Both Races Ahead Of Team Mate Gabriele Tarquini, While The Fords Of Rydell, Menu And Reid Lined Up 5th, 6th And 8th, Renault, Audi And Volvo Were Also On The Pace, Mattias Ekstrom Lining Up 7th, Frank Biela 10th, And Will Hoy Lining Up In 11th,
Race 1, The Vauxhall Drivers Made Excellent Starts From The Front Row While Behind, Others Weren’t So Lucky, Slim Borgudd’s Mazda Got Sent Into The Wall By Joachim Winkelhock’s Fast Starting BMW At Allard, Bringing Out The Safety Car, Borgudd Got Away With No Injuries And His Car Would Be Back On The Grid Again For Race 2, After A Short Safety Car Period, The Vauxhalls Lead Away Ahead Of Thompson’s Honda, While Tarquini Tries To Pass Menu’s Ford At Cobb, Dermot Carnegie Who Had Been Racing A Focus Sedan In The Independent Class, Had Switched To A Mondeo For The Next Few Race Meetings, It Is An Esso Backed Car Running 5th Of The Independents, But Not Like Fellow Irish Rallycross Racer Lawrence Gibson, Also Racing A Independent Ford Mondeo Which Is An P&O Backed Car, Who Is Also Challenging For Position In The Class Amongst The Touring Cars, Could Pay More Attention To The Track, Tarquini Is Challenging For Position With Menu On Lap 5, But At Cobb, He Tagged The Mondeo Off The Track, Luckily Menu Was Still Able To Return To The Track, But Loosing A Lot Of Places, John Bintcliffe Who Qualified 14th On The Grid Is Challenging Radermecker’s Vauxhall For 11th, While Team Mate Frank Biela Passes Ekstrom’s Volvo To Take 7th On Lap 9 At Cobb, Will Hoy Was About To Lose Another Place To Bintcliffe’s Audi, Who Is Now Up To 10th A Lap Later At The Same Corner, While Hoy’s Team Mate Jean Christophe Boullion, Had Contact With Jen’s Edman’s Independent Mondeo At Campbell Causing Major Damage To The Cars, Forcing Them To Retire, Tim Harvey Was The Next Man To Pass Hoy, Up To 12th, At Cobb On Lap 11, The Vauxhalls Lead The Way At The End Of Lap 11, Muller Over Plato, With Thompson’s Honda In 3rd, But In The Background, Tarquini Tags Rydell’s Ford, Sending The Championship Leader Into The Wall At Allard, Bringing Out Another Safety Car Period, Rydell Was Okay, But The Car Was Badly Damaged, Luckily, He Would Be Still On The Grid For Race 2, Tommy Rustad Had Damaged His Suspension Following A Puncture On Lap 12, And Was Forced To Retire, While Steve Soper Had Damage To The Front Of His Car After Colliding With Richard Kaye’s Peugeot, He Was Luckily To Still Be In The Race, But At The Front, The Vauxhalls Were Heading For A 1-2 Finish Of The Year, With Yvan Muller Crossing The Line First Ahead Of Jason Plato, With James Thompson’s Honda 3rd, And Anthony Reid’s Ford 4th, Ahead Of Tarquini, Biela, Ekstrom, Bintcliffe, And Radermacker, In The Independent Class, Colin Blair Took The Victory, With Matt Neal 2nd, And Mark Blair 3rd In His Vauxhall Vectra, In The Kit Car Class, Neil Wearden Took The Victory After Justin Dale Retired With A Puncture Tyre, Allowing Team Mate David Higgins To Finish 2nd, With Martin Rowe In 3rd In His Ford Puma, Race 1 In The Production Class Was Won By Gareth Howell, Ahead Of Team Mate Simon Harrison, With James Kaye In 3rd, And In The Touring Light Class, Nick Leeson Took Victory, Ahead Of Colin Turkington,
Race 2, Muller Makes Another Good Start From Pole Ahead Of Team Mate Plato, While At The Back, 1997 Champion Jon Bintcliffe Went From Hero To Zero After Contact With His Team Mate Frank Biela Sending His Audi Into The Wall And Out Of The Race At Allard, Bringing Out The Safety Car, At The Restart, Muller Leads From Plato, Thompson, Tarquini, Biela, Ekstrom, Reid, Hoy And Radermacker, The Fords Of Menu, Rydell And Reid Were Making Up Time They Lost In Race 1, During The Pit Stops, Honda Made A Late Pitstop Thanks To The Crew At Tarquini’s Pit Stop, Trying To Get The Air Jack On The Car, This Would Drop Gabriele Down To 22nd, Place, Meanwhile Independent Colin Blair Was Leading His Class With Matt Neal In 2nd, They Decided To Pit From 1st And 2nd In The Class, Blair Then Has A Works Mondeo Chasing Him, It Was The Kiwi Craig Baird, But It All Goes Wrong When They Collide At Church On Lap 10, Putting Them Both Out Of The Race, When They Crawled To The Pitlane, Allowing Matt Neal To Win The Independent Class, The Vauxhalls Were Heading For Another 1-2 Finish With Yvan Muller Taking His 2nd Win Of The Day, Followed By Jason Plato In 2nd, And James Thompson, Finishing 3rd, Ahead Of Rydell, Who Recovered To Finish 4th After Starting Somewhere At The Back During His Race 1 Crash To Extend His Lead In The Championship, The Independent Class Was Won By Matt Neal, Finishing Ahead Of David Leslie And Robb Gravett, The Kit Car Class Was Won By Neil Wearden, Taking His 2nd Victory Of The Day With Justin Dale 2nd, And Martin Rowe Finishing 3rd, Simon Harrison Makes A Double For GR Motorsport In The Production Class, Finishing Ahead Of James Kaye And Dan Eaves, While Tom Chilton Took Victory In The Touring Light Class In His Vauxhall Corsa,
Heading For Silverstone For Round 5, And Rydell And Ford Still Lead The Way,
Round 5, Silverstone.
It’s Silverstone For Round 5 Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, And It’s The First Night Race Of The Season For The Feature, In Qualifying, Rickard Rydell Was Back On The Pace Putting His Ford Mondeo On The Top, But Lying On The Front Row Beside Was Mattias Ekstrom, In The First Of The Volvos, He Had An Excellent Qualifying To Get Ahead Of His Team Mate Jan Nilsson, While The Rest Lined Up In Lower Places,
Race 1, Rickard Rydell Tries To Stay In The Lead Going Into Copse, While At The Back Steve Soper’s BMW Gets Tagged Into The Wall By Patrick Watt’s Peugeot At Maggots, Bringing Out The Safety Car, Soper’s Car Was Too Badly Damaged And He Would Miss Race 2, After The Safety Car Came Into The Pits, Rydell Leads From Ekstrom, Nilsson, Menu, Reid, Muller, Plato And Tarquini, Thompson Passes Team Mate Kristensen At Abbey On Lap 3 For 9th, While Peter Kox Spun Out On Lap 5 At Copse, Bringing Out The Safety Car Again, Mark Hales Lined Up In 30th For Race 1, But The Mitsubishi Was Dropping Back When Vincent Radermecker, Ian Flux, Joachim Winkelhock And Jon Bintcliffe Made Up Places For Their Terrible Qualifying Performances, Rickard Rydell Is Heading For Another Victory Of 2000, Followed By Ekstrom And Nilsson, Who Finished 2nd And 3rd For Volvo Respectfully, But The Dramas Weren’t Over As Just Before The End Of The Race, Craig Baird’s Mondeo Caught Fire At Copse At The End Of The Pit Straight, Just Like What It Happened In Donington, In The Independent Class, Jens Edman Took Victory In His Ford Mondeo, Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, And Robb Gravett Finishing 3rd, Matt Neal Went Out Of The Race Earlier When He Got Tagged At Copse On The First Lap, In The Kit Car Class, Justin Dale Took Another Win, Ahead Of Neil Wearden And Martin Rowe, In The Production Class, James Kaye Took The Victory, Ahead Of Simon Harrison In 2nd, And Dan Eaves In 3rd, And In The Touring Light Class, Colin Turkington Took The Victory Finishing Ahead Of Glenn Board In 2nd, And Tom Chilton In 3rd,
Race 2, It Was Getting Darker For The Race, And Volvo Get Their First Pole Of 2000, With Jan Nilsson Ahead Of Rickard Rydell, And Team Mate Mattias Ekstrom, At The Start, The Volvos Make A Great Start, 1st And 2nd Going Into Copse, Tommy Rustad Also Makes A Good Start Up To 3rd Ahead Of Rickard Rydell, Heading Into Becketts Without Any Incident, James Thompson Goes Passed His Team Mate Gabriele Tarquini To Take 8th At Abbey Corner, The Volvos Lead At The End Of Lap 1 With Tommy Rustad 3rd, And Rydell 4th, There Was A Lot Of Banging Action At The Back, But The Cars Did Manage To Continue Or Retire From The Race, After A Few Laps, Rydell Finally Passes Rustad’s Nissan Into 3rd At Abbey Corner On Lap 8, The Fords Other Pairing, Alain Menu And Anthony Reid Are Also Making Great Progress From The Back, They’re Now In 5th And 6th, Behind Tommy Rustad, Before Passing The Norwegian’s Nissan Into 4th And 5th Places, While Jason Plato Would Finish In 7th After A Pit Stop On Lap 12, But At The Front Volvo Are About To Head For A 1-2 Finish Courtesy Of Mattias Ekstrom Crossing The Line First, Ahead Of Jan Nilsson, Championship Leader Rickard Rydell Finishes In 3rd, With Team Mates Menu And Reid Finishing 4th And 5th, Ahead Of Tommy Rustad’s Nissan, Who Gives The Team Their Best Result, Nilsson Had Been Leading The Race Until His Pit Stop And Promoted His Team Mate Ekstrom In The Lead, In The Independent Class, Matt Neal Won The Race, Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, With David Leslie Finishing 3rd, In The Kit Car Class, Neil Wearden Took Another Victory In His Vauxhall Astra, The Production Class Was Won By Dan Eaves, While The Touring Light Class Was Won By Colin Turkington, Volvo’s Swedish Drivers Won’t Be At The Next Meeting At Zandvoort, But Burt And Harvey Will Still Be, And Rydell And Ford Still Lead The Way Heading For The Netherlands,
Round 6, Zandvoort.
Round 6 Takes The Teams Outside Britain And Into The Netherlands For Zandvoort, Rain During Qualifying Saw The Hondas Of Tarquini And Thompson Set The Pace, While Ford’s Rickard Rydell And Alain Menu Were Slower During Qualifying, Landing Them In 7th And 8th Places, While Anthony Reid Was The Fastest Of The Blue Oval, Lining Up 4th On The Grid, While Vauxhall Had Their Drivers In Better Pace, Yvan Muller Lining Up 3rd, And Jason Plato 5th,
Race 1, The Rain Has Cleared Up Just In Time For Both Races, And At The Start, Tarquini Leads The Pack Heading For The First Corner, Muller Passes Thompson For 2nd, While Will Hoy Is Dropping Places Thanks To A Slow Start, Alain Menu Passed Tom Kristensen For 6th Place At Gerlachbocht On Lap 2, While Peter Kox Passed Jean Christophe Boullion’s Renault To Take 12th In The Honda At Sheivlak On Lap 4, Gearbox Problems Retires Kris Nissen In One Of The Volkswagens, While Team Mate Steve Robertson Battles With The BMW Of Johnny Cecotto For 15th Place, Vincent Radermecker Was Pushed Off The Circuit By Philippe Gache’s Citroen At Audi S Bocht On Lap 7, And Is Lucky To Stay In The Race To Get Out Of The Gravel And Rejoin The Track, While Team Mate John Cleland Retires With Mechanical Problems On Lap 8, But At The Front, Tarquini Leads The Way Infront Of Muller, With Rickard Rydell Up To 3rd From 7th On The Grid, Tom Kristensen Fights Anthony Reid’s Ford For 7th Place, While Peter Kox Will Finish The First Race At His Home Meeting In 8th, But At The Front, Gabriele Tarquini Takes His First Win Of The Season, And It Was Also First For Honda In 2000, Finishing Ahead Of Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall, Rickard Rydell’s Ford, And Team Mate James Thompson Finishing 4th, Menu’s Race Ended Just Before The Finish When He Spun Off At Kuhmobocht, So That Means Plato Finishes 5th, With Anthony Reid 6th, Holding Off Tom Kristensen, In The Independent Class, Colin Blair Takes Another Victory, Ahead Of Matt Neal In 2nd, And Russell Spence Finishing 3rd, In The Kit Car Class, Justin Dale Takes Another Victory Ahead Of Championship Leader Neil Wearden, In The Production Class, James Kaye Takes The Victory With Simon Harrison Finishing 2nd, And Mark Lemmer Finishing 3rd,
Race 2, James Thompson Was On Pole For The Feature Race, With Alain Menu Right Beside Him On The Grid, And At The Start, Thompson Leads The Way Going Into The First Corner, While At The Back, Alex Portman Gets Tagged By Gary Ayles’s Toyota, Sending The Rover Spinning To The Back Of The Field At Tarzanbocht, And The Dramas Weren’t Over As Muller Is Beached In The Gravel, After Contact With Peter Kox At Marlborobocht On Lap 2, But He Managed To Get His Vectra Out Of The Gravel And Rejoin The Circuit, Gabriele Tarquini Was The Next One In Trouble, On Lap 7, He Started Going Slowly, A Mechanical Problem Forces Him To Retire, His Team Mate Thompson Still Leads, Until His Pit Stop On Lap 9, Allowing Menu To Take The Lead, John Cleland Is Fighting For Position, He Is Challenging Biela’s Audi For 13th Place, Rydell Makes His Pit Stop On Lap 13, He Rejoins In 3rd Place, While Jason Plato Makes His Pit A Lap Later, And He Rejoins In 4th Behind Rydell, Menu Then Makes His Stop, And Remains In The Lead, But Then Rickard Rydell Gets Spun Out Into The Gravel At Kuhmobocht On Lap 16, Forcing Him Out Of The Race, His 2nd DNF Of The Year, Alain Menu Could Win The Race And Extend Ford’s Lead In The Manufacturers Championship, Menu Crosses The Line, Winner Of The Feature Race At Zandvoort, With Thompson In 2nd, And Plato 3rd, Anthony Reid Crosses The Line 4th, With Kox 5th, And Will Hoy 6th For Renault, Giving The Team Their Best Result Of The Season, Matt Neal Took Victory In The Independent Class, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Won The Production Class, And Tom Chilton Won The Touring Light Class, Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Turkington,
Heading For The Next Round In Northern Ireland, Rydell Still Leads The Championship, While Ford Still Lead Away In The Manufacturers Championship.
Round 7, Nutts Corner,
The IBTCC Heads To Northern Ireland For Nutts Corner, Ford Were Setting The Pace In Qualifying Thanks To Alain Menu And Anthony Reid’s Times, Rickard Rydell Will Line Up 3rd In Both Races, While The Vauxhalls Of Plato And Muller Lined Up 4th And 5th Places, With The Hondas Of Thompson And Tarquini Lining Up 6th And 7th Places,
Race 1, At The Start, Alain Menu Makes A Good Start Heading For The 1st Corner, While The Hondas Battle Each Other With The Vauxhalls, The Fight For 9th Is Going On, On Lap 3, Joachim Winkelhock Passes Peter Kox At Paddock Bend, And Then He Passed Radermecker’s Vauxhall For 8th, Team Mate Roberto Ravaglia Is Also Racing Along As He Battles Darren Turner’s Mercedes For 17th, Will Hoy Retired With An Overheated Engine On Lap 8, And Cecotto’s Race Was Also Over With A Broken Clutch On His BMW, But At The Front It Was Alain Menu  Who Grabbed The First Win Of The Day, Ahead Of Anthony Reid And Rickard Rydell, The Independents Were Won By Robb Gravett, The Kit Car Class Was Won By Neil Wearden, The Production Class Was Won By James Kaye, And The Touring Light Class Was Won By Colin Turkington,
Race 2, Reid Was On Pole, And At The Start, Makes A Good Start Heading For The First Corner, But His Lead Was Short Lived, When He Made His Pit Stop On Lap 10, Handing The Lead To Rydell, The Scotsman Will Rejoin 5th, The Swede Is Now In The Lead And Resumed In The Lead After His Pitstop Until The Chequered Flag, Finishing Ahead Of Team Mate Menu, And Jason Plato In 3rd, In The Independent Class, Matt Neal Takes The Victory After Colin Blair Retired With Gearbox Problems, The Kit Car Class Was Won By Justin Dale, The Production Class Was Won By Rob Collard In The Nissan Primera, And Eoin Murray Took His First Win In The Touring Light Class,
Scotland Was Next, And Rydell And Ford Will Have A Fight In Their Hands.
Round 8, Knockhill,
The Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads To Scotland For Knockhill In Fife, And It Also The Home Race For 3 Scotsman, Ford’s Anthony Reid, Vauxhall’s John Cleland, And Independent David Leslie, Who Is Also Colin Blair’s Team Mate, Qualifying Saw Anthony Reid Dominate The Session For The Sprint Race, Qualifying Ahead Of John Cleland’s Vauxhall, Championship Leader Rickard Rydell Qualified 3rd, While Alain Menu Qualified 5th,
Race 1, At The Start Reid Makes A Good Start, While Gabriele Tarquini Collides With Matt Neal’s Independent Nissan, Sending Him All The Way  Into The Gravel At Mcltyre, Putting Him Out Of The Race, Reid Leads At The End Of Lap 2, Jason Plato Is Racing Passed His Team Mate Muller To Take 6th At The Duffus Dip, Julian Bailey Was Also Racing For Position, But His Race Came To An End With An Engine Problem On Lap 5, There’s One Driver We Didn’t See Yet, That Was Johnny Cecotto, Driving For BMW Team Schnitzer, He Is Running In 18th Place, At The Front, Anthony Reid Wins At His Home Track, With John Cleland Finishing 2nd To Make It A Scottish 1-2 With Rickard Rydell Finishing 3rd, In The Independent Class, Matt Neal Takes Victory With Colin Blair In 2nd, And David Leslie Finishing 3rd, He Will Start The Feature Race On Pole Position, While In The Kitcar Class, Justin Dale Takes The Victory For Peugeot In Scotland, While Rob Collard Takes His 2nd Victory In The Production Class, While Glenn Board Wins The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, David Leslie Was On Pole For The Feature Race, And At The Start, Leslie Leads The Way While Rydell Takes 4th From Plato, And Menu Takes 7th From Tarquini, Peter Kox’s Honda Goes Into The Gravel At Mcltyre After Contact With Cleland’s Vauxhall, Bringing Out The Safety Car, After The Safety Car Was Back In The Pits, Leslie Leads The Way, While Rydell Passes Thompson To Take 3rd, And Then Passed Rustad’s Nissan For 2nd, There Was Drama During The Race, Joachim Winkelhock’s BMW Got Taken Out Of The Race By Ian Flux’s Peugeot At Mcltyre On Lap 6, Nissen’s Volkswagen Passed Flux During The Collision, Winkelhock’s BMW Was Too Beached In The Gravel, So The Safety Car Came Out, And David Leslie Pits From The Lead, He May Have Lost The Lead To Rydell, But He Is Still Leading The Independent Class, Russell Spence’s Independent Renault Went Off The Circuit At The Railway Harpin, Forcing Another Safety Car Period, Rydell Pits From The Lead, He Drops The 3rd, Handing The Lead To Team Mate Reid Before His Stop, There Was A Fight For 5th Between Thompson’s Honda And Rustad’s Nissan, And On Lap 14, Thompson Passed Rustad At The Railway Harpin And Up To 5th, Rustad’s Nissan Team Mate Carl Rosenblad Retired With An Overheated Engine On Lap 18, While Gary Ayles, Who’s Engine Had Also Blown, Retired His Toyota On Lap 20, But At The Front, Jason Plato Takes The Chequered Flag Ahead Of Anthony Reid Who Finished 2nd, And Rickard Rydell Finishing 3rd, In The Independent Class, Home Hero David Leslie Took The Victory Ahead Of Team Mate Colin Blair, While The Kit Car Class Was Dominated By Peugeot With Justin Dale Taking 2 Victories Out Of 2, Marc Norton Makes A Double For Bintcliffe Sport By Taking His First Win In The Production Class, While Colin Turkington Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
The Next Race Meeting Is At Magny Cours In France, And Rydell Still Has A Fight In His Hands If He’s Going To Extend His Championship Lead,
Round 9, Magny Cours,
The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads Back Across The Sea To Magny Cours In France, It’s Also Home To France’s 3 Biggest Car Brands, Renault, Peugeot And Citroen, And There Was A Surprise During Qualifying, Will Hoy Putting His Renault Laguna On Pole Position For The Feature Race, Ahead Of Home Hero Yvan Muller,
Race 1, Race 1 Began With The News That There Was Rain On The Way, But It Was Dry For The Moment, But At The Start, Muller Makes A Great Start, Leading From 2nd On The Grid, While At The Back There Was Carnage As Peter Kox’s Honda Slams Into The Wall After Contact With Vincent Radermecker’s Vauxhall At Estoril, He Was Joined By Another French Driver, Boullion, Who Collided With Jon Bintcliffe At The Start, This Brought Out The Safety Car, And At The Restart, Muller Leads From Rydell, Menu, Thompson, Plato, Aiello, Biela And Hoy, France Is Home To The Citroen Team, But It Wasn’t A Happy Race Meeting For Citroen When Philippe Gache Suffered A Puncture Sending Him Off The Track, And Into The Gravel At Estoril On Lap 15, Sending Him Out Of The Race, While Alain Cudini Spun His Xsara Into Retirement At 180 On Lap 17, With Only A Few Laps Left, Muller Makes A Mistake At The Adelaide Harpin, He’s Off Into The Gravel, But Managed To Get Off The Gravel Trap, But Rejoin In 2nd Place, Handing The Lead To Rydell, The Championship Leader Crosses The Line To Win The Sprint Race At Magny Cours With Muller 2nd And Menu 3rd, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, While Justin Dale Took Victory For Peugeot At Their Home Track In The Kit Car Class, Mark Lemmer Took Victory In The Production Class In His Honda Integra While, Colin Turkington Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, And The Rain Has Arrived For The Feature, Will Hoy Starts On Pole Ahead Of Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall, At The Start Muller Takes The Lead Going Into The First Corner But Behind, There As Chaos, As Many Cars Go Off The Track At Estoril, And The Other Parts Of The Circuit Bringing Out The Safety Car, At The Restart, Muller Leads From Hoy, Menu, Plato, Rydell, Reid, Thompson And Tarquini, Tom Kristensen Retired With Damage To His Radiator After Going Off The Track Loads Of Times, While Patrick Watts Spins Into Retirement At Chateaux D Eau On Lap 9, There Was A Great Surprise In The Race, Irish Rallycross Star Dermot Carnegie Is Still Racing In The Esso Backed Ford Mondeo, But Would Expect To Return Driving His Focus Sedan That He Raced In The Irish Touring Car Championship, While Fellow Irish Rallycross Star Lawrence Gibson Was Also Driving A Ford Mondeo In A P&O Livery Is Struggling To Match The Wet Conditions Sliding Around The Place Catching Richard Kaye’s Peugeot, A Few Laps Later, The Rain Has Stopped And The Track Was Drying Out, Muller Was In The Pits, Changing To Slicks, Giving The Lead To Menu, After Hoy Made His Stop, Some More Cars, Are Going Off The Track At Some Corners, This Led To Another Safety Car Period, Plato Was In From 4th, Giving It Away To Rickard Rydell, Rickard Spins At The Last Corner, But He Managed To Recover, But Stayed In 4th Behind Plato, Hoy Is Still Chasing Muller’s Lead, He’s Ahead Of Menu’s Ford, But A Lap Later, The Track Was Dry, And Hoy Was On Slicks, And Then He Spun On The Wet Part Of The Track, Into The Gravel At 180, And Out Of The Race, Renault Fans Can’t Believe Their Luck, They Were Hoping That A Laguna Would Finish On The Podium, Rydell Was Now Up To 3rd Following Hoy’s Exit From The Race, And At The Front, Yvan Muller Was Heading For Victory On His Home Circuit, With The Fords Of Menu In 2nd And Rydell In 3rd, In The Independent Class, Colin Blair Took The Victory After His Rival Matt Neal Got Caught Out By The Wet Conditions, While The Kit Car Class Was Doubled By Peugeot, With Justin Dale Making It 2 Out Of 2 For The French Manufacturer, Simon Harrison Took Victory In The Production Class, While Glenn Board Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Heading For Round 10 At Croft, Rydell Still Leads The Drivers Championship, While Ford Lead Vauxhall In The Manufacturers Championship.
Round 10, Croft.
Croft In North Yorkshire Was The Venue For Round 10 Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, During Practice, Rickard Rydell Was On A Flying Lap, Until He Clipped A Curve At Chicane, Sending The Mondeo Into A Roll, The Session Was Stopped, While The Marshalls Try To Clear The Mondeo Off The Track, Rydell Was Lucky To Get Away Uninjured, But His Car Was Wrecked, So It Needs To Be Prepared Just In Time For Qualifying For The Races, Rydell Managed To Get To Qualifying For The Races, But He Lined Up 4th And 5th For The Sprint And Feature Races Respectively, Qualifying Was Dominated By Local Hero James Thompson, He Took Pole For The Sprint Race, While Alain Menu Got Pole For Ford In The Feature Qualifying,
Race 1, At The Start, Thompson Leads Going Into Clearux, No Incidents At The Back As All The Cars Made It Through Safely, Into Tower Band As Thompson Leads From Muller, Menu, Rydell, Tarquini, Plato, Radermecker, Biela, Bintcliffe, Burt, Kristensen, Reid And Harvey, Reid Is Fighting Kristensen For 12th, And Behind Tim Harvey Is The 2nd Of The Volvos In 13th Place, While His Team Mate Kelvin Burt Started 33rd, On The Grid,  But He’s Making Up Places Passing Nigel Mansell’s Hyundai, Ian Flux’s Peugeot, Both BMWs, Peter Kox’s Honda, Both Nissans Of Rustad And Rosenblad, And The Renaults Of Hoy And Boullion, But This Race Was About To Have An Accident, Involving Roberto Ravaglia’s BMW, As The Italian Was Tagged By Ian Flux’s Peugeot 306 Sedan At The Chicane, Sending The 320i Into The Barrier On Lap 6, Bringing Out The Safety Car, At The Restart, Thompson Pulls Away From The Rest Of The Field, While 1997 Champion Jon Bintcliffe Passed His Audi Team Mate Frank Biela To Take 8th Position At Tower Bend, While Reid’s Ford Passed Kristensen’s Honda To Take 11th At The Same Corner A Lap Later, But At The Front, James Thompson Was Heading For His 1st Win Of 2000, Taking The Chequered Flag In 1st Place Ahead Of Muller, Menu And Rydell, Matt Neal Won The Independent Class Infront Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, While Another Yorkshire Man James Kaye Took Victory In The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Victory In The Touring Light Class, As The Crowd Cheered On Their Local Hero, As They Get Ready For The Feature Race,
Race 2, Alain Menu Started On Pole And At The Start, Menu Gets Away Well, While Rydell Moves Up From 5th To 3rd, Behind Thompson, While At The Back, Ian Flux’s Peugeot 306 Sedan Gets Pushed Into The Gravel At Clearux And Out Of The Race, While Neil Simpson In His Volkswagen Golf Kit Car Was Lucky To Avoid Traffic By Going Through The Gravel, So Many Cars Were Just Going Passed Him As He Was Going Back Into Full Speed, In The Mix Of The Lower Works Teams, Independents, Kit Cars, Production Cars, And Some Touring Light Machinery, The Safety Car Came Out At The End Of Lap 1, As They Cleared Up Flux’s Stranded Peugeot Off The Gravel Trap, At The Pitstops, Plato Was The First Of The Front Runners In, Followed Laps Later By Tarquini, Muller, Reid, And Kristensen, And Then It Was Rydell’s Turn To Make His Pit, He Rejoins Behind Thompson, Who Is Now In The Lead When Menu Made His Stop, Justin Dale Leads The Race In The Kit Car Class, Ahead Of Neil Wearden, With Martin Rowe’s Ford Puma 3rd, But It Was Sour For The 106 Maxis When David Higgins Retired On Lap 11, With Clutch Problems, While Mark Hales’s Touring Mitsubishi Goes Off At Tower Bend, But Managed To Continue, While Steve Sutcliffe’s Lexus GS300 Went Off At Barcroft, And Another Yorkshire Man, Richard Kaye Slammed His Silver Peugeot 406 Into The Barrier At Chicane On Lap 14, Jeff Wilson Went Sideways At Barcroft In His Rover 45, But Span At Sunny In, Luckily, He Was Able To Rejoin The Track, James Thompson Makes His Pitstop On Lap 16, He’ll Lose The Lead, And Rejoin In 4th, Behind Muller’s Vauxhall, Croft Is Entertaining Millions Of Spectators On This 10th Race Meeting, Drivers Do Drop Out In Both Races, By A Mechanical Problem, Or An Accident, There Were Some DNFs In Race 1, And The Same In Race 2, 13 Non Finishers Were Enough For Race 2, While Race 1 Had 20 DNFs, As A Little Drizzle Of Rain Filled The Air With A Few Laps To Go, Rydell Leads From His Team Mate Menu, Jason Plato Is Running In 5th Place, While His Team Mate Muller Is Running 3rd, But As They Cross The Finish Line, Rickard Rydell Takes Another Victory Of 2000 To Extend His Lead In The Drivers Championship, With Team Mate Alain Menu Finishing 2nd, Making It Another Ford 1-2 Finish Of The Year, Colin Blair Won The Independent Class, Justin Dale Won The Kit Car Class, Rob Collard Won The Production Class, And Nick Leeson Won The Touring Light Class Infront Of Championship Leader Colin Turkington,
Nurburgring In Germany Was Next On The Calendar For Round 11, And Rydell Still Leads The Drivers Championship, While Ford Lead The Manufacturers Race Over Vauxhall.
Round 11, Nurburgring.
Round 11 Takes The Teams To Nurburgring In Germany, For The Championship’s 3rd Race Meeting Out Of Britain, And The Weather For The Weekend Didn’t Look Too Good, Rain, Rain And More Rain Caused Chaos For Qualifying, Germany Is Also Home To The 5 Car Brands, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Opel And Volkswagen, Their Cars Did Make It To The Race Meeting, But Qualified In Lower Places, Despite Proving The Conditions During Qualifying, Honda Take Another Pole Position, Came Courtesy Of Tom Kristensen, With The Yellow Peugeot Of 1999 British Touring Car Champion, Laurent Aiello Lining Up Next To Him, While The Championship Contenders, Rydell, Menu, Muller And Plato, Lined Down In 5th, 6th, 7th, And 9th Positions Respectively During Their Poor Qualifying Performances In The Wet Conditions,
Race 1, At The Start Kristensen Leads Away Heading Into The Castrol S, Aiello Follows Him In 2nd Place, While At The Back, The Rest Are Really Struggling To Match The Wet Conditions And Jens Edman Was The First Victim, His Independent Mondeo Aquaplained Off The Track At The Castrol S, Into The Gravel, And Into The Wall, Bringing Out The Yellow Flags, The Vauxhall Boys, Are Struggling To Keep Up With The Lead Cars, While At The Back, There Was Chaos, Many Cars Are Going Off The Track At Many Different Corners, Bringing Out The Safety Car For 2 Laps, At The Restart, Kristensen Still Leads From Aiello, The Rain Has Stopped, But The Track Was Wet, The Vauxhalls Were Back On The Pace, As Muller Passed Menu’s Ford To Take 6th At The Dunlop Keher, And Then He’s Chasing Tarquini For 5th, And Powers Pass The Honda At The Castrol S, Next, He’s On The Tail Of Rickard Rydell, While Team Mate Jason Plato Passed Menu’s Ford For 7th At The Shell Kurve, Rydell And Muller Are Behind Aiello’s Peugeot, Now Down To 3rd After Anthony Reid Passed Him On Lap 2, But Now It’s Their Turn To Put A Pass On The Yellow Car, First Muller, And Then Rydell, But At The Front, Tom Kristensen Takes His First IBTCC Win, Honda’s Third Of 2000, With Reid’s Ford In 2nd, And Muller’s Vauxhall 3rd, Robb Gravett Took Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, While Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Took Victory In The Super Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, Yvan Muller Was On Pole, But It Was The Fast Audi Of Bintcliffe Making A Good Start From 5th On The Grid To First, While Team Mate Biela Was Up To 4th Behind Thompson’s Honda, Many Drivers Were Still Struggling On A Wet Track, Despite Having Stopped During The First Race, But It Still Remained Slippery, When The Drivers, Will Hoy, Gabriele Tarquini, Alain Menu And Championship Leader Rickard Rydell, Many Are Going Off The Track, One Of Them Was Nigel Albon’s Independent Renault Laguna At The Castrol S, Paul Radisich’s Audi, Going Off At Coca Cola Kurve, And Patrick Watts’s Peugeot Going Off At RTL Kurve, Many Safety Car Periods Were Made During Those Exits, And The Pitstops Started, Bintcliffe Pitted From 2nd, While Team Mate Biela Pitted A Lap Later, Championship Leader Rydell Is Still Struggling On A Wet Track, He’s Still In 6th Behind Thompson’s Honda, But He Still Needs To Keep His Eyes On The Track, While Menu Pits On Lap 14, Resuming In 11th Place, While Reid Makes His Stop On Lap 16, The Track Is Drying Out, And Good News For Tarquini, As He Passes Aiello’s Peugeot At The Dunlop Keher To Take 9th, While Menu Overtook The Yellow 406 To Take 10th At The Coca Cola Kurve, At The Front, The Vauxhalls Are 1st And 2nd, With Muller Ahead Of Plato, With Thompson In 3rd, And The Audis Of Bintcliffe And Biela 3rd And 4th At Their Home Meeting, Followed By Thompson’s Honda And Rydell’s Ford, The Vauxhalls Could Stay In Their Positions Until The Chequered Flag, While Rydell Is Stuck In 6th Behind James Thompson’s Honda, Team Mate Menu Passes Tom Kristensen At The RTL Kurve To Take 9th With Only A Few Laps To Go, But At The Front, Vauxhall Are Heading For A 1-2 Finish, With Muller Taking The Chequered Flag, Ahead Of Plato, With John Bintcliffe Giving Audi A Podium Finish At Their Home Track, Mark Blair Took His 1st Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, While Neil Simpson Took Victory In The Kitcar Class Ahead Of Championship Leader Neil Wearden, Simon Harrison Did The Double In The Production Class, While Glenn Board Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Heading Into The Next Round At Snetterton, Rydell Leads The Drivers Championship, While Ford Still Lead The Manufacturers Championship,
Round 12, Snetterton.
Round 12 Is At Snetterton In Norfolk, It Will Also Be The 2nd Night Race Of The Year During The Feature Race, And Qualifying Saw Alain Menu Set The Pace For The Fords, Lining Up On Pole For The Sprint Race, While Anthony Reid Took Pole For The Feature,
Race 1, It Was A Good Start In The 1st Race For Menu, Leading Going Into The First Corner Ahead Of Both Vauxhalls, Going Into The Esses And Menu Has The Control, While At The Back, Tom Kristensen Gets Tagged Into A Spin By Vincent Radermecker’s Vauxhall, Rejoining Way At The Back Of The Field, Going Into Russell Bend And Menu Still Leads, Kristensen Goes Off The Track After Breaking Late At Russell, But This Race Was About To Have An Accident, Involving The Fords Of Rydell And Reid, And The Hondas Of Tarquini And Thompson, All The Cars Are Out At Sear Corner, Some Were Badly Damaged, Rydell Managed To Crawl Back To The Pits Safely, While The Rest Were Stranded On The Circuit, Bringing Out The Safety Car For A Few Laps, At The Restart, Menu Still Leads The Vauxhalls, Followed By Harvey’s Volvo, The Audis, Hoy’s Renault And Cleland’s Vauxhall, Alain Menu Takes The Victory In The 1st Race Of The Day, With Yvan Muller Finishing 2nd, And Jason Plato 3rd, Matt Neal Took Victory In The Independent Class, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, James Kaye Won The Production Class, While Colin Turkington Won The Touring Light Class,
It Was Getting Dark, Just In Time For Race 2, And Down Came The Rain, Making This A Very Wet And Dark Race, Many Drivers Gambled On Slicks,
Race 2, Reid Gets Away Well Followed By Menu, Plato, Thompson, Muller And Rydell Heading Into Sear Corner, Tarquini Is Also Making Up The Field From 13th On The Grid, Chasing Matt Neal’s Independent Primera Into The Esses, The Volvos Of Ekstrom And Nilsson Were Back At The Nurburgring Last Time Out, And Now They’re Making Great Process In 14th And 16th, Sandwiched With Peter Kox’s Honda, A Few Laps Later, The Rain Had Stopped And The Track Was Drying Out, Many Were Getting Tagged At Russell, Like Nigel Albon’s Independent Renault Laguna, Luckily Being Able To Recover, While Lee Linford’s Production Class 306 Got Turned Around At Esses, But Luckily He Was Able To Recover, At The Pitstops, Reid Was The First Of The Front Runners To Pit, He Rejoins In 5th, As Menu Takes The Lead, And Then A Few Laps Later, The Swiss Driver Was In, Handing The Lead To Rydell, Who Had Also Made His Pit, Followed By The Vauxhalls Of Menu And Plato, While Thompson Also Made His Pit, Electrical Problems Had Retired Steve Soper’s BMW, While Will Hoy Also Joins On The Sidelines, When His Renault Suffered Gearbox Problems, Rydell Is Now Leading The Race, Despite His Sprint Race Accident, And The Team Had To Fix His Car Before The Feature, Menu Was Now In 2nd Place, While Plato Is Now In 3rd, As They Approach Russell For The Last Time, Rydell Takes The Chequered Flag, Ahead Of Menu In 2nd, Making It Another Ford 1-2 Finish Of The Year, While Jason Plato Is Now In 3rd In The Drivers Championship, Overtaking Team Mate Yvan Muller, Matt Neal Took Victory In The Independent Class, While Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Championship Leader Of The Production Class Simon Harrison Took Another Victory To Extend His Lead By 10 Points, While Tom Chilton Took Victory In The Touring Light Class, Just Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Turkington,
Zolder Was Next On The Calendar And Rydell Still Leads The Championship By 5 Points Over Menu, While Ford Still Lead The Manufacturers Race,
Round 13, Zolder.
Round 13 Of The Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Takes The Teams Outside Britain For The 4th Time To Zolder In Belgium,
Race 1, Qualifying Saw Tarquini Take Pole Ahead Of Anthony Reid, And Made A Good Getaway From Pole, Alain Menu Lined Up 4th Behind Jason Plato In The Sprint Race, Many Drivers Were Lucky To Finish In The Race, Including Rickard Rydell, After Contact With The Back Of James Thompson’s Honda Was The Lucky One, The Damage To The Front Of The Car Did Not Slow Him Down, But He Still Finished 5th, Team Mate Menu Had A Go Of Passing Plato’s Vauxhall For 3rd On Lap 9, But He Couldn’t Quite Do It, But At The Front, Tarquini Heads For Victory From Pole, With Reid Finishing 2nd, And Plato 3rd, David Leslie Took Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of Team Mate And Championship Leader Colin Blair, While Neil Wearden Takes Another Victory In The Kit Car Class, Dan Eaves Took Victory In The Production Class, While Mark Thomas Was A Surprise Winner In The Touring Light Class In His Citroen Saxo,
Race 2, Anthony Reid Was On Pole, And At The Start Makes A Good Getaway At The Front, Rydell Was 5th, While Team Mate Menu Made A Slow Start Was Down To 7th, Many Cars Had Dropped Out By Laps In The Race, One Of Them Of Graham Saunders’s Production Class Ford Mondeo, Which Led To An Appearance From The Safety Car, At The Pitstops, Menu Was The First Of Them To Pit, He Had A Slow Start, But He’s Still Making Time For He Lost At The Start, Plato Was Next In The Pits From 3rd, Followed By The Hondas Of Thompson, Tarquini And Kristensen, As Well As Local Hero Vincent Radermecker, But Rydell Race Was Over, He Pulled Off At Kleine Chicane On Lap 11, While Menu Suffered Damage To His Sister Mondeo After Going Off At Butte On Lap 13, Both Fords Were Out, But Reid Was Still Racing, This Race Had Some DNF’s From 5 Different Classes, It Was Hard To Call Them Out, But At Least Some Drivers Are Still In This Race, Including The Vauxhall Of Yvan Muller, Who Is Now Leading The Race Ahead Of His Team Mate Jason Plato, While Vincent Radermecker Nearly Ended His Race At His Home Track By Going Off At Villeneuve Chicane On Lap 19, Luckily, He Was Lucky To Finish 5th, Behind Thompson, But At The Front, Vauxhall Were Heading For Another 1-2 Finish Of The Year, With Muller Finishing Ahead Of Plato, With Reid’s Ford Finishing 3rd, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, While Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Taking Victory In The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Despite Retiring From The Feature Race At Zolder, Rydell Still Leads The Championship Heading Back To Donington, While Ford Still Lead Away In The Manufacturers Championship,
Round 14, Donington Park GP,
We’re Back At Donington For The Race Meeting At The GP Circuit For Round 14 Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, Qualifying Saw James Thompson On Pole For The Sprint Race, And Rickard Rydell Was Back On Pole For The Feature,
Race 1, At The Start, Thompson Makes A Great Getaway From Pole, Ahead Of Rustad’s Nissan Going Into Redgate, At The Craner Curves, Tom Kristensen Was In A 3 Car Race With Team Mate Peter Kox, And Vincent Radermecker’s Vauxhall In A Fight For 13th, Rickard Rydell Is Running In 4th Behind Gabriele Tarquini’s Honda Heading For The Esses, Team Mate Thompson Pulls Away From Rustad’s Nissan In 2nd, Yvan Muller Gets Passed Alain Menu’s Ford For 5th At The Old Harpin On Lap 7, While Team Mate John Cleland Was Forced Out Of The Race On Lap 12 With Broken Suspension To His Vectra, While Alex Portman Spins Out Of The Race At The Craner Curves On Lap 15 In His Works Rover 45, Slim Borgudd’s Mazda Familia Had Suffered Brake Problems, He Brakes Going Into The Melbourne Harpin, Going Really Wide, But He Is Still Racing On With The Not Working Brakes, But Tommy Rustad’s Run To 2nd Place Was Over When Tarquini Passed Him At Redgate, Followed By Rydell At The Melbourne Harpin To Take 3rd, Rustad’s Run Was Still Proving Strongly, He Could Give Nissan Their Best Result With 4th Place, However, He Then Lost 2 More Places To Yvan Muller, And Then Alain Menu At The Same Corners, And Then He Was Off Into The Gravel At The Craners, But Was Still Lucky To Stay In The Race, But At The Front, James Thompson  Was Heading For Another Win, Finishing Ahead Of Team Mate Tarquini To Give Honda A 1-2 Finish, With Rickard Rydell 3rd, And Yvan Muller 4th, Alain Menu Finished 5th, And Jason Plato Finished 6th, Ahead Of The Recovering Rustad, Who Finished 7th For Nissan, And Give Them A Best Result, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Gareth Howell Won The Production Class, While Colin Turkington Won The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, An All Ford Front Row With Rydell Ahead Of Reid, And Menu Lining Up 3rd, At The Start The Fords Get Away Well, While At The Back Aiello’s Peugeot Spins Into The Pit Wall Very Hard, Causing Major Damage To The Back Of The Yellow Esso 406, While Kox And Boullion Were Also In The Walls, Peter Kox Had Grass In His Radiator Of His Honda Accord After He Went Off At The Old Harpin, While Jean Christophe Boullion’s Renault Gets Spun Out At McLeans And Into The Gravel By Tommy Rustad’s Nissan, This Brought Out The Safety Car For A Few Laps, At The Restart, The Fords Lead Away Followed By Thompson, Tarquini, Plato And Muller, The 4th Mondeo Of Craig Baird Gets Beached Into The Gravel At McLeans On Lap 5, Bringing Out The Yellow Flags And The Safety Car To Get The Car Out Of The There, While Darren Turner’s Mercedes Goes Off At The Melbourne Harpin On Lap 8, Borgudd’s Race Was Cut Short After Spinning Off At Craner Curves On Lap 10 In His Mazda Familia, Geoff Steel Pulls Off The Track In His Subaru Impreza Wagon With A Problem, While Team Mate Hamish Irvine Was Chased In A Battle For 20th By 2 Pro Motorsport Independent Nissan Primeras Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, And David Leslie, Nigel Albon, Steve Robertson And Ric Shaw Have All Dropped Out At The Craner Curves After Contact On Lap 13, Bringing Out The Safety Car, Rydell Was The First Of The Front Runners To Pit, Handing The Lead To Reid, Who Has Set The Fastest Lap Of The Race, Behind There Was A Battle Between The BMWs Of Winkelhock And Ravaglia, The Audis Of Biela And Bintcliffe, The Volvos Of Nilsson And Harvey,  And Nissen’s Volkswagen For 15th Place On Lap 19, Lap 21 Schneider Spun His Mercedes At The Start Finish Straight, And Stalled The Engine, Bad Luck For The 1993 Champion, While Mark Hales Was Lucky To Stay In The Race After Going Off The Track In His Mitsubishi Carisma At The Esses On Lap 22, At The Front, Menu Is Now Leading The Race After Reid Made His Stop And Dropped To 3rd, Rydell Is Now Up To 2nd, While Tom Kristensen Retires With Damaged Suspension After Colliding With Alan Morrison’s Peugeot 306 Sedan At The Melbourne Harpin On Lap 24, But As They Passed  Goddards For The Final Time, Alain Menu Takes The Chequered Flag, Ahead Of Team Mate Rickard Rydell, With Anthony Reid In 3rd, Giving The Team Another 1-2-3 Finish Of The Year, But There Was Drama At The End Of The Race, As At The Last Corner, Kelvin Burt, Nigel Albon, Jens Edman, Peter Dumbreck And Nigel Mansell All Collided, Burt’s Volvo Was Stranded On The Circuit, While Jens Edman Stopped Before The Finish Straight, Albon And Mansell Got To The End Of The Race 33rd And 34th Places, Colin Blair Took Another Victory In The Independent Class, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Took Victory In The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Another Victory In The Touring Light Class Ahead Of Nick Leeson After Passing Him On Lap 17 At The Esses, Leeson Had Started On Pole And Had Been Leading The Race,
As The Series Heads To Wales For Round 15, Rickard Rydell Still Leads The Championship, While Ford Lead The Way In The Manufacturers Championship,
Round 15, Pembrey.
Before We Review Round 15 Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship At Pembrey In Wales, Let’s Take A Look At The Works Teams We Haven’t Been Watching Throughout The Season Review,
One Of The Teams Was Proton, They’re Having Good Race Meetings Throughout 2000, But They Need To Score Points, The Team Are Using The Wira For The 2000 Season And Their Drivers Are Karamjit Singh  And Former Independent Racer, Ian Heward , And Next Year, They’ll Be Entering The IBTCC Full Time When The Championship Switches To BTC-T Regulations Using The Impian, They Also Announced That David Leslie Will Be Racing For The Proton Team Next Year, And Then There Was Daewoo, A Korean Car Company, They’re Using The Lanos Saloon For The 2000 Season, And Their 2 Drivers Win Percy And James Weaver, 2 Former Championship Contenders, The Team Is Struggling To Stay In The IBTCC After Some Poor Results This Season, They Didn’t Have Any Points Finishes So Far, And They Pulled Out After Round 10 At Croft, And Will Return At Round 19 In Anglesey In Wales, They’ll Pull Out Of The IBTCC At The End Of The Year, Saab Have Being On The Top Form In Some Touring Car Championships Around The World, But In Britain, They Couldn’t Keep It In With The Circuits, They’re Yet To Have Points Finishes By Their 2 Drivers, Per Eklund And Kenneth Hansen, They’ll Return Next Time Out At Anderstorp In Sweden, And Finally, There Was Another British Car Brand On The Grid, Jaguar, The Super Touring Spec S Type With A Ford V6 Engine And Rear Wheel Drive Is Proving Really Well On British Circuits, As Well As Other Touring Car Championships, Andy Wallace And Ray Bellam Have Been Doing Poorly In The 2000 IBTCC So Far, Yet To Score Points Before The Last Race At Silverstone,
Now It’s Time To Review Round 15 Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship At Pembrey In Wales, Qualifying Saw A Volvo Take Pole, Thanks To Kelvin Burt, He Got Pole For The Sprint Race, While Anthony Reid Grabs Pole For Ford In The Feature Race,
Race 1, At The Start, Burt Makes A Great Start From Pole, Leading Going Into The First Corner, While At The Back, There Was Chaos As Rustad, Bouillon, And Radermecker Collide At The First Corner, But They Were Able To Rejoin But In Lower Places, At The End Of Lap 1, Menu Goes Passed Tarquini’s Honda For 4th At Hatches Harpin, Rickard Rydell Is Also On The Move, Getting Passed John Bintcliffe’s Audi At The Esses For 7th, While Paul Radisich Goes Off At Brooklands Harpin In The Sister Audi, While Robb Gravett Spins His Independent Honda Accord Out Of The Race On Lap 6 At Dibeni Bend, Rydell Then Challenges Thompson’s Honda For 6th Position, Until The Swede Got Passed On Lap 11 At Paddock, Bobby Verdon Roe Has Beached His Toyota Corolla Liftback In The Gravel At Paddock, While Team Mate Julian Bailey Is Chasing Kris Nissen’s Volkswagen For 25th Place, The Peugeots Of Patrick Watts And Richard Kaye Are Also On A Battle Of Their Own For 29th Place, While Alan Morrison Is Struggling With His 306 Sedan, Losing Places And Is Down To 35th, At The Front, Kelvin Burt Is Still Leading For Reid’s Ford In 2nd, And Team Mate Tim Harvey In 3rd, Being Chased By Alain Menu, While Rickard Rydell Takes 5th From Tarquini At Hatches Harpin, With Only 6 Laps To Go, John Cleland’s Season Goes From Bad To Worse, When He Span His Vauxhall Out At Brooklands Harpin, While Craig Baird Have Suffered A Massive Shunt In His Ford Mondeo At The Esses, Bringing Out The Red Flags, And Announcing Tim Harvey The Winner Of Race 1, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Took Victory In The Production Class, While Mark Thomas Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, Anthony Reid Makes A Good Start Leading From The Front, Ahead Of Team Mate Alain Menu, Tommy Rustad Didn’t Go Far, Thanks To A Broken Clutch In His Nissan, While Roberto Ravaglia Gets Turned Around At Hatches Harpin By Kris Nissen, Nissen’s Team Mate Steve Robertson Had A Puncture, And Damage From His Off Track Action A Few Laps Ago, And Was Forced To Pit, But He Wasn’t Lucky As Gary Ayles, Crashing His Corolla Liftback At The Esses, Bringing Out The Safety Car, Reid’s Lead Is Still Under The Gap From Menu’s 2nd Place, Many DNFs Have Been Listed During This Race, But At Least There Are Still Some Cars Racing, The Pitstops Were Made During The Laps, First Reid, Then Muller, Then Thompson, Then Tarquini, And Finally Rydell, Julian Bailey Knows How To Overtake At Pembrey, He Passes Peter Kox’s Honda For 12th At Hatches Harpin On Lap 12, He Had Started 17th On The Grid, Menu Now Leads The Race, With Plato Now In 2nd, Reid Drops To 4th, Behind Muller, Rydell Is Down In 5th, Tom Kristensen’s Work Was Done After The Dane’s Honda Suffered An Electrical Failure On Lap 16, While Team Mates Thompson And Tarquini Are 6th And 7th, Craig Baird’s Weekend Goes From Bad To Worse, This Time, His Mondeo Stopped At Paddock With Only A Few Laps To Go, But Ford Were Heading For Another 1-2 Finish With Menu Winning The Feature Race, Ahead Of Team Mate Reid, With Rydell Finishing 5th, But He Still Leads Away In The Drivers Championship, Matt Neal Takes Victory In The Independent Class, While Niall McShea Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Finishing Ahead Of Championship Leader Neil Wearden, James Kaye Took Victory In The Production Class, While Colin Turkington Took Another Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Rydell Still Leads The Drivers Championship Going Into The Next Race Meeting At His Home Track At Anderstorp In Sweden, While Ford Still Lead The Manufacturers Championship,
Round 16, Anderstorp.
The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads To Scandinavia For Anderstorp In Sweden, Rickard Rydell Goes Into His Home Race Meeting As The Championship Leader, Sweden Is Also The Volvo’s Home Country, But It’s Not Just Rydell Or Volvo That The Swedish Fans Are Cheering Out For, Saab Were Back On The Grid, And So Too Were Per Eklund And Kenneth Hansen, Looking Forward To Scoring Points At Their Home Race Meeting, But 27th And 34th Were The Places They Hope For During Qualifying, And Rydell Didn’t Disappoint His Home Fans By Taking Pole For The Sprint Race, Ahead Of Fellow Swedish Driver Mattias Ekstrom In His Volvo At Their Home Race,
Race 1, It Was A Spectacular Race For Rydell, Leading From The Start On The 25 Lap Sprint Ahead Of Fellow Swedes, Mattias Ekstrom And Jan Nilsson, And Rydell Took Victory, With 3 Swedish Drivers On The Podium, Colin Blair Took Another Victory In The Independent Class, Justin Dale Won The Kit Car Class, Gareth Howell Took Victory In The Production Class, And Joy For Colin Turkington Again In The Touring Light Class, Taking Victory In The Sprint Race,
Race 2, More Joy For The Swedes As Mattias Ekstrom Is On Pole For The Feature At Volvo’s Home Circuit, With Alain Menu Lining Up 2nd In The 1st Of The Fords, Rydell Lined Up 4th Ahead Of The Other Volvo Of Nilsson, Ekstrom Dominated The Race From The Start Of A 30 Lap Feature, He Stayed In The Lead To Take Victory For Volvo At Their Home Track, Rydell Finished 3rd Ahead Of Nilsson To Extend His Lead In The Championship, Robb Gravett Took Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Took Another Victory In The Production Class, And Glenn Board Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Brands Hatch Was Next, And Rydell And Ford Could Win The Championship At The Final Race Meeting At Silverstone.
Round 17, Brands Hatch Indy.
Round 17  Was Back At Brands Hatch, But At The Indy Circuit On A Bank Holiday Weekend, Independent Matt Neal Took Pole For The Sprint Race, With James Thompson Lining Up Beside Him,
Race 1, At The Start, James Thompson Makes A Good Start From 2nd Place, Into The Lead, While At The Back, Anthony Reid Gets Pushed From 3rd Place At Druids By Jason Plato, He Would Rejoin In Last Place, Meanwhile Team Mates Menu And Rydell Were Going Up The Order, Challenging Kristensen’s Honda For 6th, While Plato Passes Neal’s Nissan At Paddock Hill Bend, Swiftly Followed By Team Mate Muller, And Then A Few Laps Later, Many Of The Front Runners Pushed The Independent Nissan Down The Order Into 8th Place, But Neal Is Still Leading The Race In The Independent Class, Closing Up On Championship Leader Colin Blair, James Thompson Still Leads The Way, But He Has 2 Vauxhalls Way Behind, Thompson Takes Victory In The Sprint Race, With Plato And Muller 2nd And 3rd, And The Fords Of Rydell And Menu Recovering To Finish 4th And 5th, Overtaking Kristensen A Few Laps Ago, Matt Neal Won The Independent Class, While Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Won The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Won The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, And Down Came The Rain, James Thompson Was On Pole, Ahead Of Jason Plato And Yvan Muller, And At The Start, Thompson Makes A Great Start, While Team Mates Tarquini And Kristensen, Go Off The Track Lap By Lap, Tarquini At Paddock Hill On The Opening Lap, And Kristensen, Getting Tagged By Vincent Radermecker At Graham Hill Bend On Lap 3, Many Drivers In 5 Different Classes Were Struggling In The Wet Conditions, Many Rejoined The Track, Or Drop Out Of The Race Due To Accidents Or Going Off The Track, As Well As A Mechanical Problem, Many Pit Stops Were Made, Thompson Made His Stop, And So Did Muller, And So It‘s Plato Now Leading, But It Wasn’t Long Until He Made His Pit Stop, And Rydell Now Has A Chance Of Taking The Lead, Until Going Into Clearways On Lap 13, The Swede Powers Into The Lead, A Lap Later, Menu Pits, And Stays In 2nd Ahead Of Plato, And Then Rydell Pits, And Resumes In Front, All He Can Do Now Was Win The Race, The Swede Takes Victory In The Feature, With Menu In 2nd, And Plato 3rd, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, Justin Dale Won The Kit Car Class, Marc Norton Took Victory In The Production Class, And Glenn Board Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Heading For The Next Race Meeting At Mondello Park In Ireland, Rydell And Ford Could Still Keep The Rivals At Bay.
Round 18, Mondello Park.
The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads Across The Irish Sea To Mondello Park In Ireland, And As The Practice Sessions, It Was Wetter Than Ever, But Ford Still Have The Fastest Times During Qualifying, With Alain Menu Taking Pole For Both Races, While Team Mate Rickard Rydell Went Off At Dunlop In The Slippery Conditions During The Feature Qualifying, But He Still 3rd For The Sprint, And 4th For The Feature,
Race 1, At The Start, Menu Makes A Great Start, Leading At The First Corner, Followed By Team Mates Reid And Rydell, The Rain Was Coming Down During This Race, And Many Drivers Were Dropping Out Of Race 1 By 5 Classes, But The Front Runners Are Still Running With Menu Still Leading With Reid In 2nd, Their Other Team Mate Rydell Was Struggling, And Losing 3rd Place To Thompson Going Into Honda Corner On Lap 5, Muller Was The Next One To Pass The Championship Leader Who Was Struggling On Slick Tyres On A Very Wet Race, Muller Can’t Even Pass Him For 3 Laps, While At The Back, Peter Kox Gets Tagged By Gianni Morbidelli’s Fiat Marea At Bikeworld On Lap 10, Muller Is Still Trying To Pass Rydell’s Ford On Lap 12, But The Swede Is Having None Of It, Kox Was Tagged Again By Owen McAuley’s New Toyota Avensis At Bikeworld On Lap 15, Many DNF’s Are Not To Be Named In The Race, That Means Look At The Race Results At The End Of The Race, But At The End Of A Very Wet Sprint Race, Alain Menu Crosses Dunlop For The Last Time, And Takes The Victory Over Team Mate Anthony Reid, With James Thompson 3rd, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of Matt Neal’s Similar Nissan, Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class To Edge Closer To Championship Leader Neil Wearden, Dan Eaves Took Victory In The Production Class, While Local Hero Eoin Murray Took Victory In The Touring Light Class, Ahead Of Championship Leader And Other Irish Driver Colin Turkington,
Race 2, The Rain Has Stopped For A Bit And A Bit Of Sunshine Was Here But The Track Is Still Wet, And At The Start, Menu Makes Another Good Start From Pole, But At The Back, Tom Kristensen Gets Tagged, Sending The Dane’s Honda Backwards Into The Wall, The Car Was Badly Damaged And Kristensen Was Lucky To Get Away Without An Injury, But There Was More Chaos At The Back As More Cars Are Going Off At Many Corners, This Led To A Safety Car Period, And At The Restart, Menu Still Leads From Reid And Thompson, With Rydell 4th, Muller 5th, And Morbidelli’s Fiat In 6th, Who Started 9th On The Grid, And On Lap 9, He’s Through Passed Muller’s Vauxhall At Dunlop, And Chasing Rydell’s Ford, The Track Was About To Dry Out, And Many Of The Front Runners Make Their Pitstops, Menu, Reid, Thompson, And Rydell, Morbidelli Was Now Leading The Race Into He Made His Stop On Lap 13, Giving The Lead To Peter Kox’s Honda, But John Bintcliffe Comes Back To Earth When He Goes Off And Hits The Tyres At Stena Line On Lap 16, While Chasing Team Mate Frank Biela, Peter Kox’s Stop Puts Will Hoy’s Renault In The Lead Of The Race, But He Would Also Go Off The Track At Turn Three On Lap 18, Giving The Lead Back To Kox, While Team Mate Tarquini Copies His Team Mate, Kristensen’s Exit, When He Got Tagged Into The Barrier At The Start Finish Straight By Alan Morrison’s Peugeot 306 Sedan, This Brought Out The Safety Car, The Rain Was Starting Again But There’s Still A Few Bits Of Sunshine And Blue Cloud Still In The Sky, At The Restart, Kox Is Still Infront, But He Has Menu’s Ford Behind Him, Who Had Started On Pole, And Set The Fastest Lap Of The Race, While Behind, Rydell Is Now Up To 3rd, But He Still Has Morbidelli’s Fiat Behind In 4th, While Further Behind, Alan Morrison Is Fighting Places With Jason Plato For 9th, But They Both Pay The Price, As Plato Pushes Morrison Of The Track, And Then Morrison Got Tagged By Tommy Rustad’s Nissan At Bikeworld, Many Drivers Like Always Were The Retirements Of The Races Since The Start Of The Year, And It Was Chaos As Some More Drivers Go Off On A Slippery Track By 5 Classes, On Lap 23 Out Of 27, Kox Tries To Keep The Mondeos Behind Him, But Menu Was No Match For The Dutchman’s Honda, Passing Him At Dunlop, A Lap Later, Rydell Was Next To Pass Kox At The Same Corner, Morbidelli Was Next Passed The Honda A Lap Later, And Then Muller, And Then Team Mate Thompson, Alain Menu Crosses The Finish Line To Give Ford Another 1-2 Finish Of The Year, With Gianni Morbidelli Taking 3rd For Fiat, And Their Best Result Of The Year, Matt Neal Took Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Took Another Victory In The Production Class, While Colin Turkington Took Another Victory In The Touring Light Class, And Edging Closer To The Title,
With Anglesey, Lydden Hill, Oulton Park, Bishopscourt, Kirkistown, Monza And Silverstone Still Left On The Calendar, Can Anyone Match The Pace Of Rydell And Ford In Both The Drivers And Manufacturers Championships?, Find Out, As Next Up Is Anglesey In Wales.
Round 19, Anglesey.
Round 19 Of The Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads Back Across The Irish Sea Into Wales For Anglesey, The Weather Seamed Perfect And Dry For The Race Meeting, And The News Was Confirmed Mazda Will Miss This And The Next  Race Meetings, And Focus On Round 21 At Oulton Park, Qualifying Saw Vauxhall Set The Pace, With Jason Plato Taking Pole In Front Of Team Mate Yvan Muller, Meanwhile Anthony Reid Went Off The Track At The Harpin, And Was Lucky To Finish The Section, 5th And 6th Was All He Could Manage, While Team Mates Rydell And Menu Managed Their Best Qualifying Times With 3rd And 4th For Both Races, In Front Of The Hondas Of Tarquini, Thompson And Kristensen,
Race 1, At The Start, The Vauxhalls Pull Away From The Rest Going Into The First Corner, While At The Back, Johnny Cecotto Heads Back To Earth When He Goes Off The Track At Turn 1, And Out Of The Race, Bringing Out The Safety Car, At The Restart The Vauxhalls Still Lead, With Rydell In 3rd, And Menu 4th, Gabriele Tarquini Passes Anthony Reid At Rocket To Take 5th On Lap 4, While The Volvos Of Ekstrom And Nilsson Are Doing A Good Job Closing Up On James Thompson In A Fight For 7th, They Are Also Joined By Bintcliffe’s Audi, The Fiats Of Morbidelli And Gene, And The Volkswagen Of Kris Nissen, While Carl Breeze Retired With A Mechanical Problem In His Touring Light Spec Vauxhall Corsa, But Remember, He’s Got A New Engine In That Car Which Is Working For Him Brilliantly, At The Restart, Plato Still Leads From Muller And Rydell Until The End Of The Race, Where He Takes The Chequered Flag In First Place, Matt Neal Won The Independent Class Infront Of Both Pro Motorsport Cars Of Blair And Leslie, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, While James Kaye Took Class Victory In Production, And Mark Fullalove Was A Suprise Victor In The Touring Light Class In The Peugeot 106, Ahead Of Turkington, Leeson, Board And Stefan Hodgetts In The Toyota Yaris,
Race 2, Alain Menu Was On Pole, And At The Start, Menu Gets Away Well, Followed By Team Mate Rydell, Plato, Thompson And Muller, While Tarquini’s Race Ended Early When His Honda Got Pushed Into The Pit Wall, Leaving It Stranded, Bringing Out The Safety Car For A Few Laps, At The Restart, Menu Leads From Rydell, And Plato Is 3rd For Vauxhall, At The Pitstops, Menu, Reid, Muller, Thompson, Ekstrom And Bintcliffe Are Among The Front Runners To Pit, Jean Christophe Boullion Had Been Followed By Will Hoy’s Sister Car Until Lap 8, When Both Drivers Made Pitstops At The Same Time, And Then Boullion Was Chased By One Of The Works Mondeos, It Was The Kiwi, Craig Baird, On His Last Outing For Ford Before Being Replaced By Jens Edman For The Rest Of The Season, But On Lap 11, Baird Tried To Pass Boullion At Abbots, But At The Next Corner, They Both Contact, Off They Go At The Next Corner, Both Cars Were Damaged Caused By Grass Getting Into The Radiator, Both Cars Would Limp Into The Pitlane, And Retire, Ending Baird’s Last Drive For Ford, At The Front, Menu Is Now In 2nd, Behind His Team Mate, Rydell, A Few Laps Later, Rydell Pits, But He Gets Out, Just Infront Of His Team Mate, And Resumed In The Lead, Menu’s Hopes Of Winning The Race And Taking The Lead In The Championship, Were Dashed After Rydell Gets Back Infront Of Him Until The End Of The Race, With A Few Laps Left, Radermecker’s Race Ended With Mechanical Problems, But At The Front, Rickard Rydell Takes Another Win Of 2000, With Alain Menu Finishing 2nd, Making It Another Ford 1-2, With Jason Plato Finishing 3rd For Vauxhall, Reid Stops In The 3rd Ford Just Before Crossing The Finish, When The Engine Ground To A Halt, But He Still Finished 6th, Colin Blair Won His Class In The Independents, And Is Getting Closer To The Title, As Too Was Neil Wearden In The Kit Car Class, Rob Collard Took Victory In The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Takes Victory In The Touring Light Class Again, And Getting Closer To The Title,
It’s Back To England For Round 20 At Lydden Hill, Rickard Rydell Goes Into The Race Weekend Still The Championship Leader, With Ford Still Leading In The Manufacturers Race.
Round 20, Lydden Hill.
The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads Back To Kent For Round 20 At Lydden Hill, And The News Was Confirmed That Mercedes Will Return At Oulton Park After Missing Rounds 13 And 18 Due To DTM Duties, But Will Miss Rounds 22, 23 And 24 Due To More DTM Duties, And Seat Will Miss The Next 4 Rounds After Lydden Hill To Focus On World Rally Duties, As Well As Marc Gene’s F1 Season With Minardi, Seat Would Still Also Compete In The World, European And Spanish Touring Car Championships,
Qualifying Saw A Honda Setting The Pace, But It Was Peter Kox Who Took Pole For The Sprint Race, While Team Mate James Thompson Will Line Up 2nd Next To Him, Championship Contenders Rydell, Menu, And Plato Lined Up 3rd, 5th And 6th, With Yvan Muller In The 2nd Of The Vauxhalls Lining Up 4th, Meanwhile Anthony Reid In The 3rd Of The Fords Went Off The Track At Devil’s Elbow, But Despite This, He Will Start On Pole For Ford In The Feature,
Race 1, At The Start, Plato Makes A Good Start Up To 2nd Going Into Pilgrims, While John Bintcliffe Sustained Damaged After Contact With Will Hoy’s Renault, Resulting Of A Broken Wheel Sending Him Spinning Backwards Into The Tyres At Devil’s Elbow, Bringing Out The Safety Car, At The Restart, Kox Leads From Plato At The End Of Lap 4, While Rydell Is Followed By Ekstrom’s Volvo, Biela’s Audi And Tarquini’s Honda, The Lexus GS300 Hasn’t Been Proving Strongly, And Steve Sutcliffe Retires With An Engine Problem On Lap 12, While Frank Biela Goes Around The Outside Of Mattias Ekstrom To Take 7th At North Bend On Lap 14, Plato Is On The Heals Of Kox’s Honda For The Lead, Until Lap 16, Kox Was Beginning To Go Slowly, Allowing Plato To Take The Lead At Devil’s Elbow, Followed By Team Mate Thompson, Who Goes Into 2nd, Muller Goes Into 3rd, Kox’s Impressive Run Comes To An End With A Broken Clutch Which Leads Him Limping Back To The Pits, While Championship Leader Rydell Suffers Another Retirement Of 2000, When His Engine Stopped On Lap 20, Leaving Him Stranded At Hairy Hill, But At The Front, Jason Plato Was Heading For His 3rd Victory Of The Season, Finishing Ahead Of His Team Mate Muller, And James Thompson Finishing 3rd For Honda, While Matt Neal Took Victory In The Independent Class, Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, While Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Mark Lemmer Won The Production Class, And Nick Leeson Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, Anthony Reid Was On Pole, And At The Start, The Fords Make A Great Getaway, With Reid Leading Rydell Going Into Pilgrims, It’s A Tough Race For Rydell, He Needs To Finish This Race To Extend His Lead In The Drivers Championship, Despite Retiring In Race 1, Lap 5, Reid Still Has The Control Of The Race Over His Team Mate, The Vauxhalls Of Muller And Plato Are On A Dice Of Their Own, Fighting Over 4th Place, Ahead Of Menu’s Ford In 6th, But On Lap 9, A Safety Car Was Out After An Accident By Steve Sutcliffe’s Lexus GS300 At Canterbury Straight, After Contact With Nick Whale’s Auto Trader Backed Tech-Speed Ford Scorpio, Sending The Black And White Car Into The Barrier, And In A Serious Of Barrell Rolls, At The Pitstops, Rydell Was In From 2nd On Lap 12, He’ll Dropped To 5th, While Lap By Lap, The Vauxhalls Have Made Their Pits, Promoting The Swede Back To 2nd, Reid Was Yet To Pit, But Is Still Leading, With Rydell In 2nd, The Other Mondeo Of Menu Was In 4th Behind Plato, A Few Laps Later, Reid Was In The Pits, Rydell Is Just Coming Out Of The First Corner, Is It Close?, Not Too Close As Reid Comes Out Of The Pitlane, But Rydell Looks Like He Has The Advantage Of The Race, Now Leading, No More Dramas Now, As They Crossed The Finish Line, Rydell Takes Victory At The Feature Race At Lydden Hill, To Extend His Lead In The Drivers Championship By 5 Points, David Leslie Took Victory In The Independent Class Ahead Of His Team Mate Colin Blair, While Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, James Kaye Won The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Won The Touring Light Class,
The Next Round Is Back At Oulton Park, And Rydell Still Leads Away In The Driver’s Championship.
Round 21, Oulton Park.
Round 21 Of The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Is Back In Cheshire For Oulton Park, Qualifying Saw Peter Kox In His Honda On Pole Position In The Sprint Race Again, Ahead Of Team Mate Tom Kristensen, Rickard Rydell Goes Into Round 21 As The Leader Of The Drivers Championship, He Lines Up 3rd In The Sprint Race, While Team Mates Menu And Reid Are 5th And 7th, With The Vauxhalls Of Muller And Plato Lining Up 4th And 6th, Gabriele Tarquini In 3rd Of The Hondas Lines Up 11th, While James Thompson’s Pour Qualifying Left Him 10th On The Grid, Behind Both Volvos Of Ekstrom And Harvey, And Nilsson Is The Fastest Of The Volvos Lining Up 7th, With Burt In 12th,
Race 1, At The Start, Kox Makes A Terrible Start And Down To 2nd As Team Mate Tom Kristensen Takes The Lead, Going Into The First Corner, Passed The Avenue And Into Cascades, Kristensen Has The Lead Over Team Mate Kox, While At The Back, Roberto Ravaglia’s BMW Gets Tagged By Gary Ayles’s Toyota At Cascades Sending The BMW Spinning Into The Gravel, At The End Of Lap 1, Kristensen Still Leads His Team Mate Kox With Rydell 3rd, And Plato 4th, But A Few Laps Later, Kox Was Beginning To Go Slowly, Allowing Rydell, Plato, Menu, Muller, Tarquini And Thompson To Go By Him, His Race Came To End With The Same Broken Clutch That Retired Him Last Time Out At Lydden Hill, He Was Forced To Limp Into The Pits Into Retirement, But He’ll Be On The Grid For Race 2, While On Lap 12,  Steve Robertson Gets Tagged At Cascades By Tommy Rustad’s Nissan, Sending The Passat Into The Gravel, While Team Mate Kris Nissen Retired His Volkswagen With Transmission Failure On Lap 16, But At The Front, Tom Kristensen Was Heading For Victory, His 2nd Of 2000, Finishing Ahead Of Rickard Rydell And Jason Plato, David Leslie Took Victory In The Independent Class, While Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, James Kaye Took Another Win In The Production Class, While Colin Turkington Once Again Won The Touring Light Class,
Race 2, The Sun Began To Set, And It Was An All Volvo Front Row With Mattias Ekstrom On Pole With Tim Harvey Along Beside, At The Start, Anthony Reid Makes A Great Start From 4th On The Grid Into 1st Going Into Old Hall Corner And Into The Avenue, But At The Next Corner At Cascades, Championship Leader Rickard Rydell Gets Sideways, And Hits James Thompson’s Honda, Damaging Both Cars, Ending Their Race, And Rydell’s Championship Hopes, Thompson Was Able To Limp Back To The Pits, At The Front, Rydell’s Team Mate Menu Gets A Message From The Team That Rydell Was Out Early, And Could Win The Race The Close The Gap On His Lead In The Championship, The Pitstops Were Early, Ekstrom, Harvey, Reid, Menu, Plato, Muller, Nilsson, Tarquini And Kristensen Have All Made Their Pitstops, On Lap 12 Out Of 29, Ekstrom Was Chasing Race Leader Reid Going Into Island Bend, And The Swede Passed The Scot At Lodge, Causing Major Delight To His Team, While At The Back Muller Was Chasing Menu Going Into Druids Corner, But At Warrick Bridge, The Vauxhall Tags The Swiss Driver, Sending Him Sliding Through The Grass, And Backwards Into The Frenchmen, Causing A Little Damage To The Back Of His Car, And Taking Muller Out Of The Race, Menu’s Team Look In Horror, As Alain Rejoins The Track In 20th Place, While At The Front, Tim Harvey Is Challenging 2nd Place With The Only Front Running Ford Of Reid, The 1992 British Touring Car Champion Needs To Pass Reid, And Give Volvo Another Best Result Of The Year, Into Going Into Old Hall Corner, Harvey Races Reid Going Into The Avenue And Into Cascades, But At Cascades, Both Cars Contact, Sending Harvey On The Grass, And Reid Back Through In 2nd, The Other Volvo Of Kelvin Burt Was Struggling With Brake Problems Going Into Old Hall Corner, He Lets Plato And Tarquini Through, As Well As Independent Leader Colin Blair, But At The Front, Mattias Ekstrom Was Heading For Victory In The Victory Race At Oulton, With Reid 2nd, And Team Mate Tim Harvey Finishing 3rd, Tom Kristensen Finished 4th, Ahead Of Plato, Thompson, Tarquini, Blair, Burt And Neal, As Well As Bintcliffe, Biela, Winkelhock And Hoy, With Alain Menu, Finishing 15th, With Damage To The Back Of His Mondeo, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, With Justin Dale Taking Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Is Getting Closer To Winning The Production Class Title By Taking Victory In Race 2, And Colin Turkington Took Another Victory In The Touring Light Class, Also Stepping To The Title In The Class,
Heading For Bishopscourt For The Next Meeting, Ford’s Rickard Rydell And Alain Menu Are Fighting It Out For The Title, Despite Accidents In Race 2 At Oulton Park.
Round 22, Bishopscourt.
The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Heads Back To Ireland For 2 Meetings, First At Bishopscourt In County Down, It’s A Fight For The Title Between Rickard Rydell, Alain Menu And Jason Plato In The Drivers Championship, While Ford Are Battling Vauxhall In The Manufacturers Championship, But There Was A Surprise During Qualifying, Colin Blair Is Starting On Pole In The Sprint Race, And Also Leading The Championship In The Independents, He’ll Be Joined On The Grid By The Volvos Of Tim Harvey And Kelvin Burt, Meanwhile Alain Menu Went Off The Track At Dunsfort, And Leaving Him Alot Of Work To Do From 12th On The Grid, In Order To Chase Rickard Rydell In The Championship, The Swede Lines Up 5th, Behind Fellow Title Contender Jason Plato, In The Fastest Of The Vauxhalls,
Race 1, At The Start, The Volvos Of Harvey And Burt Make Great Starts, And Into The Lead And 2nd As They Lead Into Brocks, Menu Is Making Great Progress, Up To 8th Just From 12th On The Grid, While Team Mate Anthony Reid Also Did Poorly In Qualifying, Lined Up Near The Back Of The Tourers Was Also Making It Up The Field In 23rd, Overtaking Cars By A Few Laps, Colin Blair’s Pro Motorsport Nissan Was Beginning To Struggle, Plato Passed Him At Islandagore On Lap 7, Followed By Rickard Rydell At The Harpin, A Few Laps Later, Many Drivers Were Pushing The White Nissan Down The Order, Blair Was Beginning To Have Problems Keeping Cars Behind Him, This Was A Disaster For The Independent Championship Leader, But Rickard Rydell’s Championship Hopes Are Ending Upside Down, As He Pulled Into The Pits, And Suffered Another Non Finish Of The Year, While Team Mate Alain Menu, Was Making Up The Field, Now Up To 5th Behind Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall, While Anthony Reid Climbed From The Back Of The Touring Grid To Move Up 6th, But At The Front, Tim Harvey Takes Victory For Volvo, And His First Of 2000, Ahead Of Team Mate Kelvin Burt, With Jason Plato Taking 3rd, Alain Menu Finished 5th To Edge Closer To Rydell’s Lead In The Championship, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class To Edge Closer To The Title, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class And Get Much Further From Taking The Title, Simon Harrison Will Be Champion Of The Production Championship If He Wins At Silverstone, He Takes Another Victory In The Class, Simply Followed By Colin Turkington, Who Is Also Getting Closer Of Winning The Touring Light Championship,
Race 2, The Volvos At The Front Again, And Harvey Gets Away Well Going Into Brocks, It’s Getting Into A Very Packed Race, With Teams And Drivers Entered By 5 Classes, And It’s A Very Long Field, But There Exits Along The Way, By Accident, Mechanical Problem, Or Damage By Going Off The Track Or Contact With Another Car, After The Pit Stops, The Volvo Strike Ahead Of The Field, And Look For Another Win For The 2nd Time Today, Rickard Rydell’s Weekend Was Going From Bad To Worse, Another Mechanical Problem Sees Him Limp To The Pits And Retirement, This Means A Dent To His Championship Hopes, While Team Mate Alain Menu Is Still Chasing Plato For 3rd Place, While The Hondas Of Thompson And Tarquini Are In A Battle For Their Own For 5th Place, It’s Going To Be A Double For Tim Harvey, With Kelvin Burt Finishing 2nd, While Plato Defends 3rd Place From Alain Menu, Who Edges More Closer To Rydell’s Lead In The Championship, Robb Gravett Took Victory In The Independent Class, Ahead Of Championship Leader Colin Blair, Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class To Edge Closer To Championship Leader Wearden, Dan Eaves Takes Victory In The Production Class, And Glenn Board Took Victory In The Touring Light Class, Finishing Ahead Of Colin Turkington,
With Only 3 Race Meetings To Go, Ford Could Win The Manufacturers Championship At Silverstone As Well As The Drivers Championship Between Rydell And Menu, As Next Up, Kirkistown In Northern Ireland.
Round 23, Kirkistown.
The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Stays In Northern Ireland For Kirkistown For Round 23,
Race 1, Qualifying Saw Frank Biela On Pole For The First Time This Year, And First For Audi Ahead Of Team Mate Jon Bintcliffe, With Kelvin Burt Starting 3rd In 1st Of The Volvos, But At The Start, Rydell’s Engine Stops, Leaving Him Stranded On The Grid, Heading For Debtors, Bintcliffe Made A Great Start, Leading From Team Mate Biela, Menu Is 4th, And Knows That Rydell Is Out In The 1st Lap, Ahead Of Team Mate Reid, Plato, Muller, Tarquini, Kristensen And Morrison, But On Lap 7, Bintcliffe’s Lead Was Short Lived, Spinning Out At Debtors, A Few Laps Later, Reid Ran Into The Back Of His Team Mate, Forcing The Swiss Driver Into The Pits To Fix His Rear Bumper, But There Are No More Dramas, As Frank Biela Was About To Take His 1st Win Of 2000, Ahead Of Ekstrom, And Reid Finishing 3rd For Ford, While Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class And Was Getting Closer To The Title, Justin Dale Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, While James Kaye Took Victory In The Production Class, And Colin Turkington Took Victory At His Home Circuit In The Touring Light Class, And Get Closer To The Championship Title,
Race 2, Jan Nilsson Was On Pole, And At The Start, Rydell Makes A Good Start From 4th Into 2nd, Ahead Of Ekstrom, Biela Was Near The Top 3  In 4th, While Muller, Plato, Menu And Reid Were Also In The Mix, On Lap 12, It Was Time For The Pitstops, With Rydell First Of The Front Runners, Followed By Ekstrom, Nilsson, Menu, Reid, Biela, Bintcliffe And Tarquini, Nilsson Still Leads After His Pit Stop, With Rydell Dropping Back To 3rd Behind Ekstrom, For Ford, Things Were Going From Bad To Worse, On Lap 14, Gabriele Tarquini Braked Very Late Going Into Chicane, Slamming Into The Back Of Menu’s Ford, But Cars Sustained Major Damage, And Forcing Them To Retire, While Menu Limping Back To The Pits, With A Very Damage Rear Of The Mondeo, While Team Mate Rickard Rydell Looks Safe In 3rd, And Ending His Run Of Retirements, And Getting 5 More Points To Extend His Lead In The Championship, While At The Front, The Volvos Are Heading For Another 1-2 Finish Of The Year, With Nilsson Winning, And Ekstrom 2nd, And Rydell Taking 3rd, Making It Another Swedish 1-2-3 Finish Of The Season, Colin Blair Retired From The Race, So Matt Neal Took Victory In The Independent Class, With Martin Rowe Taking Victory In The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Has 2 More Race Meetings Left Before Taking The Title In The Production Championship, He Took Another Victory, While Colin Turkington Was 2 Meetings Away From Taking The Title In The Touring Light Class, He Takes His 2nd Win Of The Day In The Class,
So With 2 Race Meetings Remaining, Rickard Rydell Could Edge Closer To The Title Over Team Mate Alain Menu, While Ford Could Also Beat Vauxhall In The Manufacturers Championship.
Round 24, Monza.
Round 24 Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader British Touring Car Championship Takes The Teams To Italy For Monza, Many Italian Fans Are Cheering Out For Their Local Hero, Gabriele Tarquini, Who Didn’t Disappoint By Taking Pole For The Sprint Race, Ahead Of Championship Leader Rickard Rydell, And Team Mate James Thompson,
Race 1, At The Start, Tarquini Makes A Great Start, From Pole, While Alain Menu’s Ford Mondeo Gets Span Into Both Barriers At The Start Finish Straight, Forcing Him Out Of The Race, While At Variante Del Rettifilo, There Was Chaos, As The Cars Try To Make It Through, The Safety Car Came Out At The End Of The Lap, While They Try And Get Menu’s Badly Damaged Mondeo Off The Track, His Championship Hopes Are All But Dented, At The Restart, Tarquini Continues To Lead Away Ahead Of Rydell And Thompson, While Plato, Muller, Reid And Kristensen Compete The Rest Of The Top 7, Tarquini Has Set The Fastest Lap Of The Race, Leading From Every Lap, While Fellow Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi Was Flying, The 1998 Champion Tags Peter Kox’s Honda At Lesmo 2 On Lap 11, Thompson Is Chasing Rydell For 2nd, Trying To Pass The Championship Leader On Lap 14, But 2 Laps Later, Thompson Hits The Back Of Rydell Sending The Mondeo Into A Slide At Parabolica, But Managed To Control The Car, Thompson Is Up To 2nd, With Rydell Down To 3rd, On The Final Lap Of The Race, Tarquini Has Been Cheered By Many Of His Home Fans, As He Crosses The Line To Win At His Home Circuit, With James Thompson Making It A Honda 1-2 Finish, While Championship Leader Rickard Rydell Finished 3rd, And Grabs 5 More Points Closer To The Championship Title, Colin Blair Took Victory In The Independent Class, And Is Almost Getting Closer Taking The Championship, Neil Wearden Took Victory In The Kit Car Class, Also Getting Closer To Winning His Championship, Simon Harrison Could Be Champion Of The Production Class At Silverstone As He Takes Another Victory In The Class, While Colin Turkington Is Also Almost Getting Closer To Winning His Championship In The Touring Light Class As He Wins The Sprint,
Race 2, Rydell Was On Pole, And At The Start Gets Away Well, Going Into The First Couple Of Corners, It’s Looking Good For The Swede Going Into The Final Race Meeting At Silverstone, Home Hero Tarquini Had Crashed Early In The Race, Bringing Out The Safety Car, As A Few More Cars Were Also Involved In Incidents Earlier In The Race, Fabrizio Giovinardi’s Alfa Was Quick On The Pace, On Lap 5, He Passed Muller At Variante Del Rettifilo Into 2nd, And Challenging For The Lead With Rydell, But A Lap Later, The 1998 Champion Passed The Championship Leader At Variante Del Rettifilo, Morrison Was Fighting Over 6th Place With Jason Plato, But On Lap 8, Plato Tags The 306 Sedan At Curva Vialone, Morrison Made A Great Recovery, But Was Dropping Many Places Down The Order, Rydell Then Was The First Of The Front Runners To Pit, While Muller, Plato, Morrison,, Hoy, Kristensen, Thompson And Radermecker Were Also On Laps By Laps,
The Race Had A New Race Leader, Steve Robertson In His Works Volkswagen Passat In The Same Blue Coloured Car As The Golf Kit Car, And Same Livery, While On Lap 15, Jon Bintcliffe, Goes Off Lesmo 2, Into The Barrier, Causing Terminal Damage To The Front Of His Audi A4, While He Was Chasing Team Mate Frank Biela For 9th Place, When Robertson Made His Stop, He Promotes Will Hoy Into The Lead Of The Race, But His Brakes Were Broken On Lap 16, Sending The 1991 BTCC Champion’s Renault Laguna Into The Barrier At Parabolica, Luckily, He Was Lucky To Get Away Unhurt, While Kris Nissen Limped His Volkswagen Into Retirement With Mechanical Troubles On Lap 18, Giovanardi Is Chasing Rydell For 2nd On Lap 20, Alfa Romeo Could Get A Podium On Their Home Track Since Their Return To The IBTCC At Monza, While At The Back Morrison’s Challenging Mattias Ekstrom For 10th, But Gets A Little Bit Too Close To The Volvo Driver On Lap 21 At Variante Ascari, Handing Another Place To Ekstrom’s Team Mate Nilsson, Luckily, 2 Drivers Stayed On The Track, Rydell Is Now Chasing Steve Robertson For The Lead, Until A Few Laps Later, He Passed The Volkswagen Driver At Variante Della Roggia, And Then Fabrizio Giovanardi And Yvan Muller Were Also Catching The Blue Passat, And Passing Him At Different Corners, Followed By Jason Plato And James Thompson, With Only A Few Laps To Go, Muller Has Now Caught Giovanardi In A Fight For 2nd, Into At Variante Ascari With 2 Laps To Go, The Frenchman Squeezes Passed The 1998 Champion’s Alfa Into 2nd, While At The Front, Rickard Rydell Was Heading For Victory, To Almost Take The Title Heading Into Silverstone, With Yvan Muller Taking 2nd, While Fabrizio Giovanardi Took Alfa Romeo Their First Podium Of 2000 By Taking 3rd Place, Matt Neal Took Victory Again In The Independent Class, While Justin Dale Won The Kit Car Class, Simon Harrison Is Almost Production Class Champion As He Won Again, While Nick Leeson Took Victory In The Touring Light Class,
And So Going Into The Final Race Meeting At Silverstone, Can Ford And Rydell Take Championships In Both The Manufacturers And Drivers Championships?, Find Out When The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Reaches It’s Climax.
Round 25, SIlverstone.
And So Back At Silverstone For The Final Round Of The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, And The Last Ever Super Touring Race In The IBTCC Will Be Run Under The Lights For The Feature, But In Qualifying, There Was Chaos, Very Heavy Rain Was Causing Havoc, Causing Cars To Go Off At Many Different Corners, The Session Was Cancelled, As They Wait For The Weather To Clear Up, But Taking Pole Position For The Sprint Race, Was Mattias Ekstrom In The First Of The Volvos, It Was An All Volvo Front Row, With Tim Harvey Lining Up Beside Him, Frank Biela Lined Up 3rd In The First Of The Audis, Ahead Of Jan Nilsson’s Volvo, While Rickard Rydell Will Line Up 5th, And If He Finishes In This Race, Ford Will Become Manufacturers Champions, Rydell Will Have The Wait Until The End Of The Feature, To Take The Drivers Championship, While Team Mates Menu And Reid Lined Up 6th And 8th, With The Vauxhalls Of Plato And Muller Down In 9th And 10th Places.
Race 1, It Was A Lovely Sunset Evening For The Sprint Race, And At The Start, Biela Makes A Great Getaway From 3rd On The Grid Into 2nd Going Into Copse, Going Into  Maggots And Becketts, And Ekstrom Has The Control Of The Race, Rydell Is Up To 3rd Going Passed Nilsson At Abbey Corner, At The End Of The Lap, It Was Ekstrom Still Leading With Biela In 2nd And Rydell In 3rd, Menu Is Also Chasing Harvey For 4th, Going Into Maggots And Becketts, The Swiss Driver Could Not Quite Get Passed The Volvo, However, Oil Was Left On The Track After Paula Cook’s Engine Failed Sending The Brookes Motorsport Independent Honda Accord Off The Track At Becketts On Lap 7, Many Drivers Were Going Off At Becketts, The Yellow Flags Came Out, Followed By The Safety Car, At The Restart, There Was A Fierce Battle Between Jason Plato, Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini, Tom Kristensen, James Thompson, Alan Morrison, Joachim Winkelhock, Bernd Schneider, John Bintcliffe, Peter Kox, The Fords Of Anthony Reid And Newbie Jens Edman,  And The Independent Ford Mondeo Of Gareth Howell, In His 2nd Meeting For GR Motorsport In The Touring Class, After Switching From The Production Class, Tommy Rustad’s Nissan Was Also In The Fight As Well As The Volkswagens Of Nissen And Robertson, Kelvin Burt’s Volvo, Slim Borgudd’s Mazda, And Roberto Ravaglia’s BMW, Also In The Mix, Fighting It Out For A Few Laps, There Was Bumping And Boring Going On During The Race, Plato Hits The Back Of Tarquini’s Honda Sending It Into A Slide At Abbey On Lap 10, With Both Cars Going Off The Track, And Losing Places, Plato Rejoined Behind Kristensen’s Honda, While He Has The 2 Fords Of Edman And Howell, But A Few Laps Later, It Was Skittles, When Peter Kox Gets Tagged At Becketts, And Then Gareth Howell Gets Tagged A Few Laps Later At Maggots, Behind Rustad Goes Ahead Of The Two Volkswagens Of Nissen And Robertson, With His Bumper Trailing At The Back Of His Car, With A Few Laps To Go, Plato Was Chasing Edman For 8th, But At Abbey He Hits The Back Of The Swede’s Ford Going Off The Track, He Was Lucky To Rejoin, So To Was Edman, But In Lower Places, Plato’s Championship Hopes Are Dented, While Still In 3rd, Rydell Is Still 5 Points Ahead Of Team Mate Menu Who Is Still In 4th, While At The Front, Mattias Ekstrom Is Heading For Victory In The Sprint Race, With Frank Biela Taking 2nd For Audi, While Rydell Takes 3rd, As Ford Wrap Up The Manufactuers Championship Ahead Of Vauxhall, Colin Blair Is The Independent Champion By Winning The Sprint Race, Also The Champion, Neil Wearden In The Kit Car Class, By Taking Victory In Race 1, While Simon Harrison Became The Production Class Champion, By Winning The 1st Race In The Class, And The Touring Light Championship Goes To Young Ulsterman From Portadown, Colin Turkington, Who Will Be Switching To The Touring Class In 2001, Rydell Will Have To Wait Until The End Of The Feature Race To Become Champion In The Night Race, While Jason Plato Got Into A Fight With Jens Edman About Their Collision At Abbey Corner, While Menu And Muller Kept A Come Ahead Of The Last Ever Race With The Super Touring Regulations For Both Ford And Vauxhall,
Race 2, So Here We Are, The Last Race Of The Super Touring Era In The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, Held Under The Lights, It’s The Fight For The Title Between These 3, Rickard Rydell, Alain Menu, And Jason Plato, But There Was Drama Just Before The Race Started, Anthony Reid Pulled His Ford Mondeo Into The Garage With Some Sort Of A Problem, He Was Due To Start The Race From P5, But It Was Year Over For The Scotsman, Frank Biela Was On Pole For The Second And Last Time Of The Year For Audi, With Jon Bintcliffe Alongside Him, In An All Audi Front Row, With Rickard Rydell 3rd On The Grid, And Would Be Able To Get Closer To The Title, It Was A Good Clean Start, With The Audis Pulling Away Going Into Copse, Biela Would Take His 2nd Win Of The Year, With Audi Pulling Out Of The IBTCC After This Race, After A Troublesome 1st Race, Plato Was Fighting Tarquini For 5th Place, He Chased The Italian By Lap, While Team Mate Peter Kox Also Having A Strong End To The Season, Was In 8th Place Behind Muller’s Vauxhall, At The Pits, Plato Bumps Into The Back Of Tarquini, Nearly Taking Them Both Out At The Entrance To The Pits, Look Good, And They Rejoin The Track, While Alain Menu Is Getting Really Mad As He Rams The Back Of Tom Kristensen’s Honda At Abbey On Lap 9 In A Battle For 5th, While Tomas Engstrom’s Chrysler Was Out With Smoke Coming From The Brake Discs Coming Into The Pits On Lap 13, Many Drivers Have Pitted, Both Audis, Menu, Muller, Kox, Thompson, Kristensen, Radermecker, The Volvos, And Finally Rydell, But There Was Drama As Newly Touring Light Champion Colin Turkington’s Ford Fiesta Was Crawling With Gearbox Failure On Lap 17, Forcing Him To Retire, While Muller Slides Into The Gravel At Becketts, Lucky To Recover And Rejoin The Track, But He Is Ahead Of Peter Kox In This Battle For 5th, And At Priory On Lap 22, They Both Contact And Go Sideways, Very Lucky To Keep Their Positions, But Kox Got Ahead Of Muller To Take 5th Behind Menu’s Ford, There Was Alot Of Action In This Last Race Of The 2000 Season, And The Last Ever Super Touring Race Of The Season, Jens Edman’s Drive For The Fords Came To An End When He Pulls Into The Pits On Their Last Drive With The Mondeo On Lap 24, While Peter Kox Is Now Chasing Menu For 4th, But A Few Laps Later, Menu’s Title Hopes Are Over When Kox Tags Him At Becketts, Sending The Mondeo Into the Gravel And Ending The Swiss Driver’s Race, And The Title Will Be Giving To Rydell At The End Of The Race, Who Still In 2nd, Behind Race Leader Biela, With Bintcliffe Behind Him 3rd, Giving Audi A Good Result At Their Last Ever IBTCC Race Before Leaving The Series, But At Abbey With 2 Laps To Go, Bintcliffe Passes Rydell For 2nd, But Rydell Is Still Going To Win The Championship Going Into The Final Lap, Jason Plato Is Now In 5th, Behind Peter Kox’s Honda, Who Was Looking For A Good End To The Season, But At The Front, Biela Enters Woodcote For The Last Time, And Takes Victory For Audi At Their Last Ever Race, While John Bintcliffe Takes 2nd, To Give The 4 Circles A Last 1-2 Finish In Britain, While Rickard Rydell Finishing 3rd Is Claimed The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Champion, Beating Team Mate Menu To The Title, With Jason Plato Ending Up 3rd In The Championship, After A Disappointing 5th Position In The Feature, Colin Blair May Have Won The Indenpendent Class But Team Mate David Leslie Takes The Final Win Of The Year In The Class, Neil Wearden Took The Final Win In The Kitcar Class, While James Kaye Is Runner Up In The Production Class By Winning The Feature, And Eoin Murray Claiming The Last Win In The Touring Light Class,
But It’s All Joy At Ford, Taking Both The Manufactuers And Drivers Championships, And It Was Rickard Rydell’s Day, Night, Weekend And Year, As He Takes His 2nd Career Touring Car Championship Title, Hopefully, He Will Still Be Able To Offend His Title In 2001,
Drivers Championship,
So Rickard Rydell Wins The Drivers Championship By 195 Points Ahead Of Team Mate Menu, With 193 Points, And Jason Plato With 178.
1     Rickard Rydell 195
2     Alain Menu 193
3    Jason Plato 178Manufacturers Championship
Ford Have Won The Manufacturers Championship By 515 Points, With Vauxhall In 2nd With 411 Points And Honda In 3rd With 399 Points.
1     Ford           515
2     Vauxhall    411
3     Honda        399Independents Championship.
It Was A Great Year For Colin Blair And For Pro Motorsport In The Independent Championship, Finishing Ahead With 345 Points, Matt Neal Finishing 2nd With 300 Points, And Robb Gravett 3rd With 255 Points.
1 Colin Blair 345
2 Matt Neal 300
3 Robb Gravett 255
Kit Car Class.
A Great Year For Vauxhall And For Neil Wearden In The Kit Car Class, Finishing Ahead With 264 Points, Justin Dale In 2nd With 260 Points, And Martin Rowe In 3rd With 185 Points.
1 Neil Wearden 264
2 Justin Dale     260
3 Martin Rowe  185
Production Class.
Simon Harrison Is The Champion In The Production Class With 264 Points, James Kaye 2nd With 260 Points, And Dan Eaves 3rd With 185 Points.
1 Simon Harrison 264
2 James Kaye      260
3 Dan Eaves        185
Touring Light Class.
While In The Newly Formed Touring Light Class, Colin Turkington Is The Champion, Winning By 345 Points, With Tom Chilton In 2nd With 141 Points, And Glenn Board 3rd With 36 Points.
1 Colin Turkington 345
2 Tom Chilton       141
3 Glenn Board      36
But Again It Was Rickard Rydell’s Day, Night, Weekend And Year As The 2000 Whatcar-Auto Trader Imaginary British Touring Car Champion, Making The Series The Best National Auto Racing Series Of The Year, With A Lot Of Action, Crashes, Side By Side Action, Door Banging And Overtakes Throughout The Championship, What Could Be Better Than A Climax To This Season, And What It Has Been,
2001 Will Also See The Arrival Of New Regulations, BTC Touring Was The Name Of The Regulations And The Series Will Split Into 4 Classes, BTC-T For The Touring Class, BTC-P For The Production Class, BTC-TL For The Touring Light Class, And BTC-S1600 For The New Super 1600 Class Which Replaces The Kit Car Class For The 2001 Season, But Will Still Have Kit cars Racing With The Super 1600 Cars,  Manufacturers Like Alfa Romeo, Ford, Honda, Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot, Mercedes, Proton And Lexus Have All Introduced Their Cars For Next Year, While We Will Be Seeing A New Manufacturer On The Grid, Which That Is MG, Which Will Run The ZS With A V6 Engine, BMW, Citroen And Renault Would Also Be Likely To Join The Grid In 2002,  And There Will Also Be Cars From The ETCC Joining The Grid From 2002 With Cars Build On Super 2000 Regulations, But For 2001, It Will Be A 25 Race Meeting Season With 2 New Rounds, But In 2000, It Was A Remarkable Year Of The Super Touring Era Finishing The Last Ever Season Of These Cars On A High Note, Thanks To Ford And Their V6 Powering Mondeo.
R I P
The Super Touring Era.
1991-2000(In Some International And National Touring Car Championships, While Some Touring Car Championship Would Continue Using SuperTouring Regulations For At Least A Bit Longer).
See You Next Year, When The Imaginary British Touring Car Championship Begins All Again Next March At Brands Hatch, For The 2001 Season.