Johannes Meles

Johannes Meles 	Johannes Meles
 	
 	
Nationality 	German
Born 	10th September 2002 (Aged 18)
Heinsberg (Germany)
British Touring Car Championship Career	British Touring Car Championship Career
Debut Season 	1991
Current Team 	Audi Sport UK
Car No. 	1
Former Teams 	BMW, Ecurie Ecosse, Renault, Honda
Starts 	145
Championships 	1 (1996)
Wins 	21
Poles 	4
Fastest Laps 	13
Best Finish 	1st in 1996
VW Vento Cup Career 	VW Vento Cup Career
Debut Season 	1992
Former Team 	Team Meles
Car No. 	12
Starts 	9
Wins 	1
Fastest Laps 	0
Best Finish 	4th in 1992
Johannes Meles (born 10th September 2002) is a German racing driver who races in the British Touring Car Championship for Audi.
==Early Life==
Meles was born on 10th September 2002 in Heinsberg, Germany.
==Touring Cars==
===British Touring Car Championship===
Meles arrived in the British Touring Car Championship in 1991 driving for the BMW Works Team in an e30 M3. Participating in selected rounds throughout the season, Meles achieved good results including a win at Castle Combe as well as four other podium finishes to finish 7th place in the Drivers championship.
For 1992, Meles left BMW and signed a deal with Ecurie Ecosse who were making their debut in the championship running Vauxhall Cavaliers. Meles achieved great results thoughout the year including wins at Oulton Park and Knockhill and another 10 podium finishes to end the season in a fantastic 4th position. However, Meles would leave Ecurie Ecosse at the end of 1992 and sign with the works Renault team for the following year.
Meles joined Renault for 1993 and would be partnered by one-time BTCC race winner, Michael Sneath. After two podiums in the first 2 weekends, he went on to score consistent 4th places untl the 3rd round of Brands Hatch Indy, where he finished 3rd. After he missed out Pembrey due to illness, he returned strongly and started a streak of podium finishes. High points of the season was the third race in Brands Hatch GP. In heavy rain conditions, Meles showed the enormous potential of the car and went on to pass Lorenzo Turri for the lead. He went on to win the race in style to gift Renault their first win in BTCO. Another win in Thruxton followed until his podium streak ended in Silverstone after he struggled to cope with the circuit and after an unfortunate DNF. Nevertheless, he finished the season in 3rd place, scoring 320 points, 8 more than his teammate Sneath.
He would remain with the Renault squad in 1994 partnering up with last years teammate Michael Sneath again in the brand new Renault Laguna. Hopes were high that the Renault team would improve even further. More drivers meant that this years championship was the hardest in the BTCO history. A solid start to the season meant that Meles was in contention for 3rd again. But an unfortunate disconnect in Silverstone hurt his fight alot. After yet another illness he missed the race in Snetterton. This would prove to be a huge turning point of the season, as he had to push even harder to reach his goal. His return in Oulton Park saw him taking his first, and only win of the season. Until his second non-participation he would only score one more podium in Donington Park after he had to defend against Lorenzo Turri for nearly half of the race. In Knockhill he would suffer his 2nd retirement of the season. After he misses the penultimate round in Oulton Park, he would return with three 3rd place finishes in Brands Hatch, finishing a disappointing season in 6th place only scoring 228 points, his worst season in the BTCO so far. He would leave the Renault team after he was frustrated with the car and it's behaviour with the tyres.
For 1995, he would join the Honda squad partnering up with Emile Taylor to form the "Team of Youtubers". His season was a great improvement from his 1994 season, as he managed to race in every single meeting for the first time of his career. His season got off to a great start by a 2nd place in the first race of the season, matching Lorenzo"s pace. Throughout this season he managed to improve his pace and his consistency to become part of the group of top drivers. He managed to win four races this year, including a start-to-finish win in Snetterton from his first ever pole position, his highest number of wins ever. He finished this season in 3rd, scoring 387 points, his highest ever points total in BTCO history. Also, he and Taylor managed to secure 2nd place for Honda in the teams championship, just edging out Ford by 5 points in the final round of the season.
For 1996, he left the Honda team and went on to join the Audi team, who are making their debut for the 1996 season, alongside former Toyota driver Jake Black. After a solid start to the season with a pole in Donington and a win in Brands Hatch, he managed to be a consistent front-runner and become a title candidate. For the rest of the season, he would secure a win at every race weekend he entered. Due to his consistent run and the misfortune of his rivals Daniel Hurlock and Lorenzo Turri, he would win his very first BTCO championship in race 2 of the final weekend in Oulton Park a race early. Also, he and his teammate Black would go on to win the constructors championship dominantly, nearly 200 points ahead of his former team, Renault. Overall, he won 11 races, claimed only 2 pole positions and claimed 10 fastests laps and finished the season with 446 points, 30 more than second placed driver, Hurlock.
In 1997, he remained with the Audi team and he was joined by Daniel Hurlock, replacing Jake Black, who moved to the independent class. His season got off to a good start, scoring two podiums at the season opener in Donington and winning the first two races in Silverstone. However, as the season progressed, it became clear that Meles and Hurlock were very close in terms of pace, with Hurlock having a slight edge over Meles. At Croft, he retired for the first time in a BTCO race since 1994, costing him a chance of getting closer to Hurlock in the championship, who even missed race 1. That was the turning point of his season, as from that point on, he was regularly beaten by his teammate. In Thruxton, he had to withdraw due to unknown reasons. However, it was rumored, that he needed a break because he just couldn't figure out, how to beat Hurlock and he was just stressed out because of it. After the Knockhill round, he would announce a sabbatical for 1998 because he lost his motivation in terms of driving. He would finish the season well, with two wins in the last two weekends. He still managed to finish second in the standings behind his teammate Hurlock, who beat him by over 116 points.
After a one-year break, it was announced that Meles would return for the 1999 season, driving for Arena International in the independent class, driving a Renault Laguna. Before that, he would do a guest appearence for the Nissan Works Team, driving a third Primera for the Silverstone round. 
==Team management==
Meles founded "Team Meles" to enable him to participate in the 1992 VW Vento Cup driving a Jägermeister sponsored car. He would win one race in Oulton Park and would overall finish the season in 4th place, scoring 52 points.
Meles also participated in the 1995 Yugo Challenge. Team Meles signed a one-year deal with Promarkt to sponsor his Yugo for the whole season. He managed to win one race and scored three more podiums to finish the season in third, only a few points behind Lorenzo.
==Motorsports career results==
===Complete British Touring Car Championship results===
Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded just for first race) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded)
Year	Team 	Car 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 	27 	28 	29 	30 	31 	DC 	Pts
1991	BMW Team Finance 	BMW M3 	THR1 	THR2 	THR3 	SIL1 	SIL2 	SIL3 	DON16	DON24	BRH1 	BRH2 	OUL14 	OUL28 	OUL33	BIR110	BIR27	KNO16	KNO26	KNO33	CAS14	CAS24	CAS31 	SIL1 	SIL2 	DON15	DON23	DON37	THR17 	THR23	BRH1 	BRH2 	BRH3	7th	230
1992	Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall	Vauxhall Cavalier GSi	SIL14	SIL28	SIL35	THR18 	THR2RET	OUL16	OUL21	OUL33	SNE14	SNE23	CAS1 	CAS2 	CAS3 	BRH13 	BRH23	DON13	DON24	DON36	KNO11	KNO23	KNO33 	BRH12	BRH24	BRH3C	SIL13	SIL22	SIL34 	 	 	 	 	4th	287
1993	Renault Dealer Racing 	Renault 19 	SIL13	SIL24	SIL35	DON14 	DON23 	SNE14	SNE24	SNE35	OUL14	OUL24	OUL34 	BRH1RET	BRH24	BRH33 	PEM1 	PEM2 	PEM3 	KNO13	KNO22	KNO32	BRH12 	BRH22	BRH31	THR13	THR21	SIL16	SIL210	SIL34	 	 	 	3rd	320
1994	Renault Dealer Racing 	Renault Laguna 	THR19	THR23	THR35	BRH13 	BRH23 	BRH34	CAS1C	CAS2C	CAS3C	SIL13	SIL2RET	SNE1 	SNE2 	SNE3 	OUL14	OUL21	OUL35	DON15	DON22	DON36	KNO1RET	KNO26	KNO34	OUL1 	OUL2 	OUL3 	BRH13 	BRH23	BRH33	 	 	6th	228
1995	Honda Team MSD 	Honda Accord 	BRH12	BRH25	BRH35	DON112	DON22 	DON39	THR15	THR21	THR35	SIL14	SIL21 	SIL37 	OUL14	OUL23 	OUL33	SNE11	SNE26	SNE36	KNO13	KNO25	KNO31 	OUL12	OUL23	OUL35	SIL13	SIL23	SIL33 	BRH13	BRH23	BRH35	 	3rd	387
1996	Audi Sport 	Audi A4 quattro 	DON12	DON24	DON33	BRH11 	BRH23 	BRH32	THR11	THR22	THR39	SIL11	SIL24 	SIL34 	OUL11	OUL23 	OUL3C	SNE11	SNE24	SNE34	BRH11	BRH22	BRH36 	KNO11	KNO27	KNO31	SIL11	SIL22	SIL33 	OUL11	OUL24	OUL31	 	1st	446
===Complete VW Vento Cup results===
(Key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year	Team Name 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	Points	Position
1992	Team Meles	SIL3	THR8	OUL1	SNE4	CAS	BRH4	SPA4	KNO4	BRH3	SIL6	52 	4th
===Career summary===
Season	Series 	Team 	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1991 	British Touring Car Championship	BMW Team Finance 	18 	1 	0 	0 	5 	230 	7th
1992 	British Touring Car Championship	Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall	23 	2 	0 	0 	12 	287 	4th
1992 	Touring Car World Cup 	Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall	2 	0 	0 	0 	1 	44 	3rd
1992 	VW Vento Cup 	Team Meles 	9 	1 	0 	0 	3 	52 	4th
1993 	British Touring Car Championship	Renault Dealer Racing 	25 	2 	0 	2 	11 	320 	3rd
1993 	Touring Car World Cup 	ROC Competition 	2 	0 	0 	0 	1 	50 	3rd
1994 	British Touring Car Championship	Renault Dealer Racing 	20 	1 	0 	0 	9 	228 	6th
1995 	British Touring Car Championship	Honda Team MSD 	30 	4 	1 	2 	16 	387 	3rd
1995 	Yugo Challenge 	Team Meles 	10 	3 	- 	6 	6 	71 	2nd
1995 	Touring Car World Cup 	Audi Sport 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
1996 	British Touring Car Championship	Audi Sport UK 	29 	11 	3 	9 	20 	446 	1st
Category:BTCC Drivers
Category:BTCC race winners
Category:BTCC Overall Drivers champions
Category:VW Vento Cup race winners
Category:Yugo Challenge race winners