2000 TOCA Winter Touring Car Shootout Trophy Report

The Super Touring Era May Have Ended At The Final Round Of The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, But The Super Touring Cars Would Have 2 More Race Meetings In Britain At The End Of The Year, Starting Off With The TOCA Winter Touring Car Shootout Trophy On The 10th Of December, And Then The FIA Winter Touring Car Trophy The Next Week, And In 2002, We Will Be Seeing New Regulations For The BTCC, As Well As Cars From The ETCC, And The Production Cars.
Many Turn Out At Their Thousands Of Donington Park To See Their Favorite Drivers Race, It’s A Massive Entry Of Touring Cars From Many Different Drivers, As Well As The Front Runners From 3 Different Classes, Also Racing In Ex Works Touring Cars As Well.
The Shootout Will Feature Drivers And Teams That Have Or Not Have Competed In The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship And Raced In Other National Touring Car Championships, It’s A 25 Lap Race Around The Donington GP Circuit, And There Are Rules, Whenever A Driver Is In A Lower Position, A Black And Orange Flag Will Be Given To The Driver While Crossing The Start Finish Straight, There Will Be A Rolling Start At The Start Of The Race.
But Anyways, Let’s See Who’s Entered In The Shootout.
Newly I B T C C Champion Rickard Rydell Is Again At The Ford Squad Who Have 3 Mondeos With Rydell, Menu And Reid.
Vauxhall Have Also Entered 3 Vectras, With Plato, Muller And Radermecker.
Honda Have Also Entered 3 Accords, Gabriele Tarquini, James Thompson And Tom Kristensen.
Other Teams Have Entered 2 Cars Each, Audi, Volvo, Renault, Fiat, Mercedes, Opel, Volkswagen, Mazda, Subaru And Saab.
Jenson Button Announced He Was Driving For The Benetton Squad For The 2001 Formula 1 Season, But This Is Last Race With The Williams Squad, Partnering With Will Hoy Driving The Renault Laguna.
Joachim Winkelhock Has Departed The BMW Team Schnitzer Squad At Silverstone, And Will Drive For Opel During Their DTM Program, He Had Driven For Them At This Year’s Championship, And He Has Joined Their Touring Car Team, Partnering With South African Racer Mike Briggs, A Former National Touring Car Champion.
While Derek Warwick Is Fresh From Winning The TOCA World Touring Car Championship, And He Is Partnered At Alfa Romeo By Fabrizio Giovanardi And Nicola Larini.
Toyota And Peugeot Have Entered 4 Cars Each.
Toyota Have Entered 4 Corolla Sedans With Julian Bailey, Tim Sugden, Gary Ayles And Bobby Verdon Roe, While Peugeot Have Entered A 406 And A 306 Sedan, With Patrick Watts, Eugene O Brien, Alan Morrison And Ian Flux. 
BMW Are Back On The Grid, Now A 3 Car Squad, Roberto Ravaglia, Johnny Cecotto, And Steve Soper.
Mercedes Are Another German Car Brand On The Grid, With Darren Turner And Peter Dumbreck.
While Proton Have Entered The Wira Aeroback, The Car Will Be Driven By Karamjit Singh And Ian Heward.
While Chrysler, Volkswagen, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi And Saab Round Up The Rest Of The Manufactuers.
There Would Be A Lot Of Drivers In Ex Works Cars In The Independent Class.
Newly Independent Champion Colin Blair Leads The Charge For Pro Motorsport In A Nissan Primera, Team Mate David Leslie Is Entered In The Shootout, As Well As Matt Neal In A Similar Primera For Team Dynamics, And He’s Partnered With Alex Portman, Who Had Joined From The Departed Rover Team, And Swedish Driver, Kari Makinen.
But There Also Front Runners From Both The Production And Touring Light Classes.
Simon Harrison Joins HTML Driving A Peugeot 406, And He Is Partnered With Norwegian Driver, Roger Moen, Who Will Be Driving In A Peugeot 306 In The Production Class Next Year, While Colin Turkington Joins GR Motorsport Driving A Ford Mondeo Zetec, And Partnering With Gareth Howell, Who Raced The Sister Car At The End Of The Season, And Making His Debut In The Championship In The Production Class Next Year, The Young Mat Jackson, Irish Drivers Dermot Carnegie And Lawrence Gibson Were Also On The Grid On Separated Ford Models, While James Kaye And Mark Lemmer Will Drive In Current Honda Accords That Were Used By Team Redstone, And Also Team Kaliber Sport, With Peter Cate, Simon Graves And Top Gear Tiff Needell.
And So With The Entries Sorted, Many Different Manufactuers, Works And Independent Teams Would Make This An Entertaining Touring Car Race.
In Qualifying, Ford Were Quickest During The Session, With Rickard Rydell Snatching Pole Position Away From Alain Menu, While Anthony Reid Had A Poor Run By Going Into The Gravel At The Craner Curves, He Will Start The Race From 16th On The Grid, While Vauxhall Had A Strong Run, Yvan Muller Lining Up 3rd, With Jason Plato 4th, Honda Were Also Proving Strongly, However, Gabriele Tarquini’s Session Had Ended When He Beached His Accord Into The Gravel At Red Gate, He Will Start In 32nd Place, While James Thompson Lined Up 5th, And Tom Kristensen Lining Up 6th, And So With Qualifying Over, And The Grid Lined Up, It’s Now Time To Get To The Race.
The Race.
At The Start, Rydell Makes A Slow Start, Allowing Team Menu To Pass Going Into Redgate, While At The Back, Giampiero Simoni’s Seat Gets Spun Out At The First Corner, And Would Resume In Last Place, Going Into The Craner Curves, It’s Menu In Front, With Rydell 2nd, Plato In 3rd, Muller In 4th And Thompson In 5th, But At The Back Going Into Coppice, There Was Chaos, Mike Briggs’s Opel Gets Tagged At The Back And Into The Gravel Trap By David Leslie’s Pro Motorsport Nissan Primera, Bringing Out The Safety Car, The First Black And Orange Flag Was Given To Subaru’s Hamish Irvine, Just A Lap Later After The Safety Car Period, At The Restart, Menu Continues To Lead From His Team Rydell, And Jason Plato Still In 3rd, Tarquini Was Making Great Process From 33rd On The Grid, As He Passes Will Hoy’s Renault To Take 11th At Melbourne Harpin On Lap 4, The 2nd Black And Orange Is Now Be Given To Tomas Engstrom’s Chrysler On Lap 7, Making It Another Car To Drop Out, While Karamjit Singh’s Race Was Over On Lap 9, When His Proton Wira Suffered A Broken Driveshaft, And Ian Cadwell’s Mazda Familia Goes Off At McLeans, Leading Into Another Safety Car Period, 2 Laps Later, Another Black And Orange Has Been Given To David Leslie, Meaning That He’s The Next Driver To Pull Out, And Pay The Price For His Collision With Mike Briggs’s Opel Vectra, In The Independent Class, Simon Harrison Is Leading The Race In The Peugeot 406 For HTML, This Is His Return Drive In A Touring Car Since The Last Time He Raced It Was In A Works 405 Back In 1995, The Production Class Champion Is In Front Of Matt Neal, Who Is Running Second, And Champion Colin Blair Running 3rd, In A Battle For 10th, Alan Morrison Is Chasing Hoy’s Renault, The 306 Sedan Is Faster Than The Laguna In A Battle Of The French Car Companies, While Morrison’s Team Mate Ian Flux Was The Next Driver To Be Showing The Black And Orange Flag On Lap 12, Which It Means He’s The Next Driver To Drop Out, While Dan Eaves’s First Drive In A Touring Peugeot Didn’t Improve, He Had A Spin Going Into To Goddards, And Then He Span Again Going Into Melbourne Harpin, But There Are More Drivers Dropping Out Of The Race, By A Mechanical Problem, Going Off The Track Or Been Showing The Black And Orange Flag, Only 29 DNF’s Were On The List So Far, And Then Followed By A Few More, At The Front, Menu Still Leads At The End Of Lap 14, With Rydell Still In 2nd, And Plato, Still Running In 3rd, With Muller 4th, Thompson 5th And John Bintcliffe In An Impressive 6th Place For Audi With Only 1 Super Touring In Britain Remaining For Them, Jenson Button’s Final Drive For The Williams Squad Was Over, As He Pulled Off The Track At The Melbourne Harpin On Lap 15, With Damage To The Front And Back Of His Car, The F1 Rookie Still Proves Strongly Driving For The Renault Squad For Some Races In The 2000 Imaginary British Touring Car Championship, It Was Great Seeing Colin Turkington Driving A Touring Car For The First Time Ever Since Winning The Touring Light Class, He Is Driving A Ford Mondeo Zetec Which Is Ran By GR Motorsport, Next Year, We Will Be Driving A MG ZS For MG’s Junior Team, He Is Running In 6th In The Independents And In 24th Overall, While Another Champion, Simon Harrison Continues To Lead The Independents, With Matt Neal In 2nd, And Colin Blair In 3rd, Back At The Front, Rydell Is Getting Closer To His Team Mate Menu, While Tom Kristensen’s Bad Luck Strikes Again As Mechanical Problems Forces Him Out Of The Race, While Steve Soper Drops Out With Gearbox Problems In His BMW, Laurent Aiello, Paula Cook, Tom Ferrier, Paula Cook, Peter Cunningham And Much More Are Dropping Out Of The Race By Mechanical Trouble, Accident, Damage Or Even Given The Black And Orange Flag, Vincent Radermecker And Anthony Reid Have Also Joined The List Of DNF’s, Radermecker’s Engine Stops On Lap 19, And Anthony Reid With Brake Problems, Derek Warwick Is Proving Strongly, The Reigning TOCA World Touring Car Champions Is Now The Highest Placed Alfa Romeo 156, He Is Running In 8th Position, With Teams Giovanardi In 12th, And Larini In 16th, On Lap 20, Rickard Rydell Finally Passes His Team Mate Menu Going Into Red Gate, After The Swiss Driver Ran Wide, While The Next Black And Orange Flag Was Given To Independent Peter Cate In His Team Kaliber Sport Honda Accord, And Then The Next Few Drivers Were Showing The Flag, Meaning They Have Also Been Dropped Out, But The Dramas Weren’t Over Yet, Tarquini Pulls Into The Garage The Retire, Kelvin Burt Has Also Retired, When He Pulled Off At Melbourne Harpin, Some More Cars Were Also Dropping Out As Well Including Steve Robertson’s Volkswagen, Mark Hales’s Mitsubishi And Per Eklund’s Saab, Who Have Been Involved In A Collision At Goddards, Causing Too Much Damage To Their Cars, With 3 Laps To Go, Menu Now Has Plato Behind, With Rydell Now Leading The Race And With Reid Out, Ford Could Get A 1-2 Finish At This Shootout, Frank Biela Is The Last One To Be Shown The Black And Orange With Only 2 Laps To Go, It’s A Drag Race Going Into Melbourne Harpin, And Plato And Menu Make Contact, Causing The Swiss Driver To Go Off Wide And Handing 2nd Place To The Vauxhall, On The Final Lap, Rickard Rydell Is Heading For Victory, With Jason Plato Now In 2nd, And Alain Menu Down To 3rd, As Rydell Crosses Goddards For The Last Time, Rydell Takes The Chequered Flag, With Plato Finishing 2nd, And Menu 3rd, James Thompson In The Sole Remaining Honda Finished 4th, With Jon Bintcliffe In 5th For, Tim Harvey In 6th For, Derek Warwick Finished In 7th In His Alfa Romeo, With Roberto Ravaglia 8th For BMW, Will Hoy Finished 9th For Renault And Alan Morrison Finished 10th In The Peugeot 306 Sedan, 
The Independent Class Was Won By Production Class Champion Simon Harrison In His HTML Peugeot 406, With Matt Neal 2nd For Team Dynamics Nissan, Champion Colin Blair Finishing 3rd For Pro Motorsport In His Nissan, Ahead Of James Kaye’s Barwell Motorsport Honda Accord In 4th, Robb Gravett Finished 5th In His Brookes Motorsport Honda Accord, Colin Turkington Finished 6th In His GR Motorsport Ford Mondeo, Ahead Of Dermot Carnegie’s JW Carengie Ford Focus Sedan, Roger Moen In The Sister HTML Peugeot 406 Finished In 8th, With Austin McHale In 8th For Toyota Team Ireland In His Toyota Avensis, Colin Gallie Finished 9th In His Team DCRS BMW 318i, And Simon Graves Completes The Top 10 In His Team Kaliber Sport Honda Accord.
With Only 55 Cars Finishing This Shootout Due To Others Dropping Out By A Mechanical Problem, Accident, Or Showing The Black And Orange Flag, Rydell Not Only Won The 2000 I B T C C Season But Also The Winter Touring Car Shootout, With Plato Finishing In 2nd, And Menu Finishing 3rd.
Race Result.
1 Rickard Rydell, Ford Team Mondeo, Ford Mondeo.
2 Jason Plato, Vauxhall Motorsport, Vauxhall Vectra.
3 Alain Menu, Ford Team Mondeo, Ford Mondeo.
4 James Thompson, Team Redstone Honda, Honda Accord.
5 Jon Bintcliffe, Audi Sport UK, Audi A4.
6 Tim Harvey, Volvo Team S40, Volvo S40.
7 Derek Warwick, Alfa Romeo, Alfa Romeo 156.
8 Roberto Ravaglia, BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW 320i.
9 Will Hoy, Blend 37 Williams Renault, Renault Laguna.
10 Alan Morrison, Esso Ultron Team Peugeot, Peugeot 306 Sedan.
Independents.
1 Simon Harrison, HTML, Peugeot 406
2 Matt Neal, Team Dynamics Max Power Racing, Nissan Primera.
3 Colin Blair, Pro Motorsport, Nissan Primera.
4 James Kaye, Barwell Motorsport, Honda Accord LS.
5 Robb Gravett, Brookes Motorsport, Honda Accord.
6 Colin Turkington, GR Motorsport, Ford Mondeo Zetec.
7 Dermot Carnegie, JW Carnegie, Ford Focus Sedan.
8 Austin McHale, Toyota Team Ireland, Toyota Avensis.
9 Colin Gallie, Team DCRS, BMW 318i.
10 Simon Graves, Team Kaliber Sport, Honda Accord.
Driver’s Standings.
1 Rickard Rydell, 80 Pts.
2 Jason Plato, 54 Pts.
3 Alain Menu, 33 Pts.
Independents.
1 Simon Harrison, 80 Pts.
2 Matt Neal, 54 Pts.
3 Colin Blair, 33 Pts. 
Manufactuers.
1 Ford, 80 Pts.                                                                                            
2 Vauxhall, 54 Pts.
3 Honda, 33 Pts.
And So 1 Out Of 2 Final Race Meetings Of The Super Touring Era Is Complete With Rickard Rydell And Ford Taking The Win, But There Will Be Another Challenge Next Weekend, As The Last Super Touring Race In Britain Is The FIA Winter Touring Car Trophy, Which Will See Drivers From Many Different Touring Car Championships Around From Works And Manufactuer Teams Take Part In The 35 Lap Race Around Donington Park On December 17.
We’ll See You There.