Johannes Meles

**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)

### Complete VW Vento Cup results

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