Michael Sneath

**Michael James Sneath** (born 25 August 1987) is a British racing driver who races in the British Touring Car Championship for Atford LTD.

## Early Life

Sneath was born on 25 August 1987 in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England.

## Touring Cars

### British Touring Car Championship

With the creation of the STSR British Touring Car Championship in 1991, Sneath signed for the Andy Rouse Engineering ran Toyota team driving a Carina. The Carina was fast out the block and Sneath played a supporting role to teammate Vik Rune's championship charge. Sneath achieved his first win at the tenth race of the season at Brands Hatch. However, after 1991 British Touring Car Championship Round 6, Rune was disqualified from the championship and Sneath became the lead driver. Dimitris Gkaras arrived at Toyota to partner Sneath at selected rounds for the remainder of the 1991 season. Sneath managed to hold off Independent driver Mike Bell to secure 2nd place in the championship.

Sneath continued with Team Securicor ICS Toyota in 1992, being partnered with 1991 champion, Roy Cop. It was a disappointing season compared to 1991 with only two podium finishes early in the season at the first round at Silverstone and round 3 at Oulton Park. Cop outperformed Sneath all year and even though Sneath missed round 6 at Brands Hatch, Sneath finished 126 points adrift of Cop in 6th position. At the end of the season, it was announced that Sneath would leave Toyota and join the Renault's works team for 1993.

For 1993, Sneath would be joined at Renault by BTCC race winner Johannes Meles from Germany. The pair had a good working relationship and helped develop the Renault 19. Sneath performed much better than in his 1992 campaign taking 6 podiums as he finished one place and eight points behind his teammate in 4th. Renault finished an impressive 3rd place in their debut season finishing behind the Nissan and Ford teams.

Sneath spent another year at Renault alongside Meles in 1994, but the team switched from using Renault 19s to Lagunas. Sneath didn't gel with the Laguna and was more often than not, was out performed by Meles. Sneath missed rounds 4 and 5 at Silverstone and Snetterton respectively. He didn't achieve a podium finish all season, with 4th place at Knockhill, his best finish. Sneath finished 8th in the championship, which disappointed Renault, as they dropped him at the end of the year.

For 1995, Sneath would join Mint Motorsport, competing in the 'Total Cup for Privateers' in an ex-works Ford Mondeo.

## Team management

Sneath founded Michael Sneath Racing in 1992 to enable himself to enter the 1992 VW Vento Cup. Competing in 8 of the 10 rounds, Sneath finished 5th in the championship including a race win at the final round of the season at Silverstone.

In 1995, MSR entered the UK Yugo Challenge with Sneath at the wheel. Competing in every round, Sneath finished 4th in the championship including a podium at the fourth round at Thruxton. MSR entered the 1995 World Touring Car Manager Championship with John Newhouse piloting a Toyota Carina E. MSR also entered the 1995 Touring Car World Cup winning both the Class B (Joshua Anderson) and Class C (Sneath) championships.

## 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)

## Complete Touring Car World Cup results

(Key) (results are overall/class and in **bold** indicate pole position; results in *italics* indicate fastest lap)

## Complete Super Touring Cup results

(Key) (results are overall/class and in **bold** indicate pole position; results in *italics* indicate fastest lap)

### Complete VW Vento Cup results

(Key) (results in **bold** indicate pole position; results in *italics* indicate fastest lap)

### Complete Yugo Challenge results

(Key) (results in **bold** indicate pole position; results in *italics* indicate fastest lap)