John Cleland (racing driver)

For other uses, see John Cleland (disambiguation).

John Cleland
Cleland in 2017
Nationality	British
Born	(1952-07-15) 15 July 1952 (age 72) Wishaw, Scotland
BTCC record
Teams	Vauxhall
Drivers' championships	2
Wins	17 outright, plus 15 more in class
Podium finishes	98
Poles	19
Fastest laps	11
Debut season	1989
First win	1991 (outright), 1989 (class)
Best championship position	1st (1989, 1995)
Final season (1999) position	13th

John Cunningham Cleland (born 15 July 1952) is a retired British auto racing driver, best known for winning the British Touring Car Championship in 1989 and 1995.

Born in Wishaw, Cleland raced autocross and hillclimb in the 1970s, and won his class in the Scottish Rally Championship in 1976 driving a Mitsubishi Colt.^[1] He switched to circuit racing, achieving success in British Production Car and Thundersaloon championships in the 1980s, before joining Vauxhall for the 1989 British Touring Car Championship. He was most recently a co-commentator alongside Martin Haven on the English world feed of the World Touring Car Championship.

Racing career

Pre-BTCC

In the mid-1980s, Cleland's father Bill purchased the 1984 Bathurst 1000 2nd place Holden VK Commodore (an Australian car) from Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team for his son to race in Thundersaloons.^[2] During this time the Commodore ran as a Vauxhall Senator.

BTCC

Cleland adapted quickly to touring car racing and won the BTCC at his first attempt, in the days when the championship consisted of four separate classes, each in their own races but scoring points for the same title. Cleland won 11 of his 13 races in class C for 1.5l cars. The 2-litre Cavalier was introduced the next year, in readiness for the single 2-litre format in 1991. Cleland finished 2nd in class to his rival Frank Sytner in 1990 after a fierce season long battle, and 5th overall. The following year he won three races and finished second in the championship to Will Hoy, taking Vauxhall's first ever overall BTCC win.^[3] In 1992 Cleland battled with Hoy and Tim Harvey for the title, but was denied at the last round by a controversial collision with Steve Soper, the teammate of eventual champion Harvey. In 1993 and 1994 the championship was dominated by BMW and Alfa Romeo respectively, and Cleland had to make do with fourth overall in both years.^[4]

Cleland driving for Vauxhall in the 1996 British Touring Car Championship.

1995 proved to be the breakthrough year for the Cavalier, ironically in its last year of competition. Despite the Volvo 850 and Renault Laguna often having the edge in speed, in the hands of Rickard Rydell and Alain Menu respectively, Cleland's consistent run of points finishes allied to a four-race winning streak in the mid-season allowed him to beat both drivers to the title.^[5]

For 1996, the Cavalier was replaced by the new Vectra, which turned out to be a problematic package. Cleland finished 8th in the title chase. 1997 proved to be even worse, with Cleland slipping to 12th in the standings and Vauxhall finishing bottom of the Constructors' title. 1998 was better, and Cleland took two victories, both at Donington Park - a traditional happy hunting ground for the Scotsman - before a heavy crash at Snetterton interrupted his season. In 1999 Cleland was outpaced by team newcomer Yvan Muller and decided by mid-season to retire. He finished his last race at a wet Silverstone in tenth place, after being given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits, which provoked a typically belligerent reaction from Cleland over a live radio link to his car that had been set up by the BBC.^[6]

In a 2005 poll by Motorsport Magazine, Cleland was voted the 10th greatest touring car driver of all time.^[7]

Post BTCC

Cleland driving for Vauxhall in the 1998 British Touring Car Championship.

Aside running his long running car dealership, he has done several guest drives since retiring from the BTCC, including a season in a Dodge Viper in the British GT Championship in 2000, co driving with Dave Clark for the CSi Brookspeed team.^[8] He later drove in an ASCAR race at Rockingham, twelve Bathurst 1000s between 1993 and 2005 for Advantage Racing, Pinnacle Motorsport, Gibson Motorsport, Triple Eight, Greenfield Mowers Racing and Brad Jones Racing with a best finish of 2nd in the 2001 event, co driving with Brad Jones, and the BTCC Masters race in 2004.^[9] He now runs a Volvo dealership in Galashiels Scotland.^[10] His son Jamie has started a racing career. Cleland is also a co-commentator for Eurosport on their WTCC coverage. He replaced fellow Scot David Leslie after his death in 2008.

Cleland purchased his old Vauxhall Vectra super tourer, and now races in the Historic Super Touring championship,^[11] alongside his contemporaries Patrick Watts and Tim Harvey.^[12]

Racing record

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Pts
1980	Dealer Opel Team	Opel Monza 3.0E	MNZ	VAL	BRH	SAL	BRN	PER	NUR	SIL 17	ZOL						NC	0
1981	Dealer Opel Team	Opel Monza 3.0E	MNZ	VAL	DON	SAL	BRN	PER	SIL Ret	ZOL							NC	0
1982	Monorep Ltd. Vauxhall Opel Dealers	Opel Monza 3.0E	MNZ	VAL	DON	PER	MUG	BRN	SAL	NUR	SPA	SIL 24	ZOL				NC	0
1983	GM Dealer Sport	Opel Monza 3.0E	MNZ	VAL	DON	PER	MUG	BRN	ZEL	NUR	SAL	SPA	SIL 13	ZOL			NC	0
1986	GM Dealer Sport	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	MNZ	DON	HOC	MIS	AND	BRN	ZEL	NÜR	SPA	SIL Ret	NOG	ZOL	JAR	EST	NC	0

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded all races 1996 onwards, 1989–1990 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded all races - 1989–1990 in class) * signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap (1 point awarded - 1998 onwards)

Year	Team	Car	Class	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	Overall pos	Pts	Class pos
1989	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra GTE 16v	C	OUL 15	SIL 19	THR 19	DON 9	THR 15	SIL Ret	SIL 21	BRH 14	SNE 16	BRH 14	BIR 16	DON 17	SIL 20														1st	110	1st
1990	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Cavalier	B	OUL 7	DON Ret	THR 7	SIL 7	OUL Ret	SIL 9	BRH Ret	SNE 6	BRH 7	BIR Ret	DON 12	THR Ret	SIL 7														5th	128	2nd
1991	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier		SIL 3	SNE 9	DON 2	THR 1	SIL 1^1	BRH 12	SIL 6	DON 1 3	DON 2 10	OUL 1	BRH 1 4	BRH 2 3	DON 1	THR 8	SIL 9												2nd	132
1992	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier		SIL 1	THR 1	OUL 11	SNE 2	BRH 1	DON 1 2	DON 2 4	SIL 3	KNO 1 DSQ	KNO 2 3	PEM Ret	BRH 1 4	BRH 2 3	DON 3	SIL Ret												3rd	145
1993	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier		SIL 3	DON 4	SNE 10	DON 7	OUL 2	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 5	PEM 7	SIL 6	KNO 1 1	KNO 2 2	OUL 3	BRH 12	THR 8	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 6	SIL 7										4th	102
1994	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier 16v		THR 2	BRH 1 3	BRH 2 2	SNE Ret	SIL 1 7	SIL 2 4	OUL 7	DON 1 1	DON 2 1	BRH 1 5	BRH 2 4	SIL DNS	KNO 1 5	KNO 2 6	OUL Ret	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 DNS	SIL 1 4	SIL 2 4	DON 1 8	DON 2 5						4th	177
1995	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier 16v		DON 1 1	DON 2 2	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 Ret	THR 1 2	THR 2 5	SIL 1 3	SIL 2 5	OUL 1 2	OUL 2 3	BRH 1 2	BRH 2 1	DON 1 1	DON 2 1	SIL 1	KNO 1 5	KNO 2 6	BRH 1 3	BRH 2 1	SNE 1 13	SNE 2 3	OUL 1 3	OUL 2 2	SIL 1 3	SIL 2 3		1st	348
1996	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Vectra		DON 1 5	DON 2 6	BRH 1 7	BRH 2 Ret	THR 1 4	THR 2 4	SIL 1 10	SIL 2 Ret	OUL 1 Ret	OUL 2 9	SNE 1 3	SNE 2 2	BRH 1 10	BRH 2 4	SIL 1 10	SIL 2 Ret	KNO 1 Ret	KNO 2 6	OUL 1 7	OUL 2 7	THR 1 5	THR 2 7	DON 1 6	DON 2 8	BRH 1 6	BRH 2 Ret	8th	97
1997	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Vectra		DON 1 11	DON 2 Ret	SIL 1 6	SIL 2 6	THR 1 14	THR 2 9	BRH 1 11	BRH 2 9	OUL 1 5	OUL 2 12	DON 1 12	DON 2 8	CRO 1 6	CRO 2 5	KNO 1 10	KNO 2 6	SNE 1 7	SNE 2 16	THR 1 19	THR 2 11	BRH 1 13	BRH 2 12	SIL 1 12	SIL 2 11			12th	44
1998	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Vectra		THR 1 4	THR 2 6	SIL 1 6	SIL 2 7	DON 1 1	DON 2 3*	BRH 1 6	BRH 2 9*	OUL 1 7	OUL 2 6*	DON 1 5	DON 2 1*	CRO 1 6	CRO 2 8	SNE 1 9	SNE 2 Ret	THR 1	THR 2	KNO 1 13	KNO 2 Ret	BRH 1 8	BRH 2 Ret	OUL 1 9	OUL 2 11	SIL 1 8	SIL 2 Ret	8th	106
1999	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Vectra		DON 1 8	DON 2 4*	SIL 1 10	SIL 2 8	THR 1 7	THR 2 9	BRH 1 8	BRH 2 9	OUL 1 12	OUL 2 Ret	DON 1 6	DON 2 Ret	CRO 1 9	CRO 2 Ret	SNE 1 12	SNE 2 12	THR 1 12	THR 2 Ret	KNO 1 8	KNO 2 9	BRH 1 11	BRH 2 9	OUL 1 8	OUL 2 Ret	SIL 1 5	SIL 2 10	13th	51

1. ^ – Race was stopped due to heavy rain. No points were awarded.

Complete V8 Supercar Championship results

Supercars results
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	32	33	Position	Points
1999	Greenfield Mowers Racing	Ford Falcon EL	EAS R1	EAS R2	EAS R3	ADE R4	BAR R5	BAR R6	BAR R7	PHI R8	PHI R9	PHI R10	HID R11	HID R12	HID R13	SAN R14	SAN R15	SAN R16	QLD R17	QLD R18	QLD R19	CAL R20	CAL R21	CAL R22	SYM R23	SYM R24	SYM R25	WIN R26	WIN R27	WIN R28	ORA R29	ORA R30	ORA R31	QLD R32	BAT R33 Ret	NC	0
2000	Gibson Motor Sport	Holden Commodore VT	PHI R1	PHI R2	BAR R3	BAR R4	BAR R5	ADE R6	ADE R7	EAS R8	EAS R9	EAS R10	HID R11	HID R12	HID R13	CAN R14	CAN R15	CAN R16	QLD R17	QLD R18	QLD R19	WIN R20	WIN R21	WIN R22	ORA R23	ORA R24	ORA R25	CAL R26	CAL R27	CAL R28	QLD R29 14	SAN R30	SAN R31	SAN R32	BAT R33 Ret	51st	48
2001	Brad Jones Racing	Ford Falcon AU	PHI R1	PHI R2	ADE R3	ADE R4	EAS R5	EAS R6	HID R7	HID R8	HID R9	CAN R10	CAN R11	CAN R12	BAR R13	BAR R14	BAR R15	CAL R16	CAL R17	CAL R18	ORA R19	ORA R20	QLD R21 Ret	WIN R22	WIN R23	BAT R24 2	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SAN R28	SAN R29	SAN R30				37th	520
2002	Brad Jones Racing	Ford Falcon AU	ADE R1	ADE R2	PHI R3	PHI R4	EAS R5	EAS R6	EAS R7	HDV R8	HDV R9	HDV R10	CAN R11	CAN R12	CAN R13	BAR R14	BAR R15	BAR R16	ORA R17	ORA R18	WIN R19	WIN R20	QLD R21 17	BAT R22 19	SUR R23	SUR R24	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SAN R28	SAN R29					51st	60
2003	Brad Jones Racing	Ford Falcon BA	ADE R1	ADE R1	PHI R3	EAS R4	WIN R5	BAR R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	HDV R9	HDV R10	HDV R11	QLD R12	ORA R13	SAN R14 20	BAT R15 9	SUR R16	SUR R17	PUK R18	PUK R19	PUK R20	EAS R21	EAS R22												41st	160
2004	Brad Jones Racing	Ford Falcon BA	ADE R1	ADE R2	EAS R3	PUK R4	PUK R5	PUK R6	HDV R7	HDV R8	HDV R9	BAR R10	BAR R11	BAR R12	QLD R13	WIN R14	ORA R15	ORA R16	SAN R17 Ret	BAT R18 Ret	SUR R19	SUR R20	SYM R21	SYM R22	SYM R23	EAS R24	EAS R25	EAS R26								NC	0
2005	Brad Jones Racing	Ford Falcon BA	ADE R1	ADE R2	PUK R3	PUK R4	PUK R5	BAR R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	EAS R9	EAS R10	SHA R11	SHA R12	SHA R13	HDV R14	HDV R15	HDV R16	QLD R17	ORA R18	ORA R19	SAN R20 21	BAT R21 7	SUR R22	SUR R23	SUR R24	SYM R25	SYM R26	SYM R27	PHI R28	PHI R29	PHI R30				42nd	168

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-driver	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1993	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock	Holden Commodore VP	A	142	17th	17th
1995	Pinnacle Motorsport	Tony Scott	Holden Commodore VR		158	6th	6th
1996	Gibson Team Sega	Mark Skaife	Holden Commodore VR		159	7th	7th
1997*	Vauxhall Sport	James Kaye	Vauxhall Vectra		32	DNF	DNF
1998*	Vauxhall Sport	Derek Warwick	Vauxhall Vectra	ST	157	5th	5th
1999	Greenfield Mowers Racing	Cameron McLean	Ford Falcon EL		138	DNF	DNF
2000	Gibson Motorsport	Rodney Forbes	Holden Commodore VT		78	DNF	DNF
2001	OzEmail Racing Team	Brad Jones	Ford Falcon AU		161	2nd	2nd
2002	OzEmail Racing Team	Tim Leahey	Ford Falcon AU		157	19th	19th
2003	OzEmail Racing Team	Andrew Jones	Ford Falcon BA		160	9th	9th
2004	OzEmail Racing Team	Andrew Jones	Ford Falcon BA		29	DNF	DNF
2005	Team BOC	Dale Brede	Ford Falcon BA		159	7th	7th

* Super Touring race

Complete British GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2000	CSi Brookspeed Racing	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GT	THR 1	CRO 1	OUL 1 Ret	DON 1 4	SIL 1 3	BRH 1 WD	DON 1 3	CRO 1 WD	SIL 1	SNE 1	SPA 1	SIL 1	21st	28
	Cirtek Motorsport	Porsche 996 GT3-R	GTO	THR 1 5	CRO 1 WD	OUL 1	DON 1	SIL 1	BRH 1	DON 1	CRO 1	SIL 1	SNE 1	SPA 1	SIL 1	25th	12

References

1. "In the hot seat - John Cleland".
2. "Goodwood Festival of Speed 2005 Big Banger HDT VK Commodore". YouTube.
3. McGill, Jim (4 September 2006). "Podium finish for Shedden after surviving 100mph crash". Edinburgh Evening News. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
4. "Vauxhall in the BTCC: The Drivers - INSIDE BTCC". www.insidebtcc.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015.
5. "A Brief History of Cavaliers in BTCC - Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com".
6. "Gallery: 25 years of Vauxhall in the BTCC". 29 July 2014.
7. "Top 20 tin-top drivers".
8. "John Cleland quits British GT's - TenTenths Motorsport Forum".
9. "Six more star names for BTCC Masters grid". seatsportuk.co.uk. SEAT Sport. 16 August 2004. Archived from the original on 10 September 2004. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
10. "Clelands". Clelands Motors. Cleland of the Borders. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
11. "Home". supertcc.com.
12. "A Decade of the BTCC Relived with Super Tourers".

External links

• Profile at BTCCPages
• Official site
• BRDC Archive profile
• Clelands of the Borders car dealership

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Gabriele Tarquini	Autosport National Racing Driver of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Frank Biela
Sporting positions
Preceded by Frank Sytner	British Touring Car Champion 1989	Succeeded by Robb Gravett
Preceded by Gabriele Tarquini	British Touring Car Champion 1995	Succeeded by Frank Biela