Eight drivers who came to Super Touring from other disciplines

Joachim Winkelhock

You would be forgiven for forgetting ‘Smokin’ Jo’ Winkelhock’s short-lived Formula 1 career. His 1989 campaign for AGS saw him fail to pre-quality for seven rounds and he was replaced mid-season by Yannick Dalmas, having failed to start a single Grand Prix. It was a far cry from his German F3 Championship a year prior in which he took the title. He would also taste victory at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours driving for BMW.

And it was BMW that gave him his shot after that F1 season. Winklehock cut his teeth in tin-tops with the Renault 5 single-make Championship in 1979, but he’s probably best known for making BMW 3-series go as fast as they could in saloon car championships around the world. His name appeared in entry lists in the European Touring Car Championship, DTM, the World Touring Car Champion and domestic series in Italy, Japan and, of course, the UK.

He competed for the works BMW team in the BTCC from 1993 and took the title that year. He returned to defend the crown in 1994 and raced agaon for the final time in 1996. After contesting Le Mans, Winklehock went bacl to DTM for four seasons in this century, rounding out a long career in saloon car racing.

Gabriele Tarquini

Gabriele Tarquini failed to qualify for forty Grands Prix, which is a record he’d probably rather forget. Statistics only tell part of the story, though. He competed in F1 from 1987 to ’95, but always for teams that struggled for finances and resources. But, given the limitations of the machinery at his disposal, he had some remarkable results. During his stint with AGS, he outpaced other drivers from teams that were exempt from failing to disqualify (as a new team, AGS was on the chopping block) and he recorded the best ever result for Coloni with an eighth-place finish at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix.

British motorsport fans remember him instead for his performance with Alfa Corse in the 1994 British Touring Car Championship. The Alfa Romeo team had a cheeky advantage with a wing that it described as standard, but was supplied to customers in the boot of their 155 saloon rather than mounted on the lid. Tarquini won the BTCC title on his first attempt, and returned to the UK Championship the following year.

He had further outings with Honda in 1997 and 2009, and claimed the European Touring Car Championship in 2003 and the World Touring Car Championship in 2009. Today he is the Sporting Director of Genesis Magma Racing in the World Endurance Championship.

Frank Biela

Frank Biela’s career can be neatly divided into two segments: before Audi, and after. Note I didn’t say two halves; his professional career started in 1987 with Ford and then Mercedes-Benz, but since 1990 every car he has raced has worn four rings. He had his first DTM Championship win with Audi in 1991 before making the move to the British Touring Car Championship in 1996. He won the title at his first attempt, and came second the following season.

On the world stage, he is best known for winning Le Mans no fewer than five times. He and co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro had three consecutive wins from 2000 to 2002, and Pirro and Biela picked up the mantle (and the silverware) in 2006 and 2007, on these occasions driving with Marco Werner. Biela also has four Sebring 12 Hours wins to his name.

Many of the BTCC stars in this list came to saloon car racing having made their name elsewhere, but for Biela his tin-top racing was just the start.

Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen’s name is so synonymous with Le Mans that it’s difficult to think of him in any other motorsport context. He showed early promise at the start of his career when he beat future F1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen in the Nordic Formula A series, and took his first victory at La Sarthe in 1997 for Joest. 

He returned to Le Mans with Audi in 2000 when he started a run of six consecutive wins for the German team, topping up his total in 2008 and 2013, again at the wheel of an Audi prototype. He also has six wins at Sebring to his name, all but one of them with Audi.

But before joining the German team, Kristensen completed one season in the BTCC. Driving a Honda Accord, he claimed three outright wins and, even with six retirements in the season, was able to take the title. But we’ll still always know this Goodwood Revival regular as ‘Mr Le Mans.’

Jan Lammers

While he is perhaps better known for his sportscar exploits, Jan Lammers raced in F1 for four seasons, always for teams that struggled to qualify. However he did have several rather creditable top ten finishes under his belt by the time he left F1 for good.

In 1994, he tried his hand at touring car racing with Volvo in a season that is particularly memorable for being the one in which Volvo entered an estate. For marketing reasons, Volvo decided the 850 estate would be the car they raced with in 1994, and they picked Lammers to race alongside Swedish ace Rickard Rydell in all the races that season.

While the 850 was undoubtedly cool, it was not actually a very good racing car. Lammers and Rydell managed to score points at only 11 of the 21 races and never troubled the podium. Lammers' highest finish was fifth at Brands Hatch, but the image of the 850’s boxy shape bouncing around the various circuits of the UK endures.

Nigel Mansell

Perhaps the most famous BTCC/F1 crossover began in 1993, when reigning F1 champion Nigel Mansell signed on to have a go at the national tin top championship with Ford, as part of the special TOCA Shootout at Donington Park.

Mansell had been racing in IndyCar — and become Champion at the first attempt — so wasn’t exactly out of racing practice. However, wearing the Red 55, Mansell crashed with just six laps remaining. Losing control of his car he hit Tiff Needell’s Cavalier and crashed into the barrier at the bridge, knocking Mansell unconscious.

Somehow this didn’t put ‘Il Leone’ off, and he returned to the BTCC, again with Ford, in 1998, racing in three rounds. While most of his performances were particularly memorable, one wet race, again at Donington, saw the former F1 champ lead for several laps and come home fifth, in perhaps the best BTCC race in history.

Derek Warwick

Derek Warwick’s F1 career probably deserved more credit than it received, although his 1992 Le Mans win likely made up for any disappointments. When he retired from F1 fully he switched his attention to the BTCC, first racing for the formerly dominant Alfa Romeo team.

Unfortunately for Warwick, his time with Alfa coincided with the main Alfa Course team quitting the BTCC and the rest of the field catching up with the 155 that had dominated the year before. As a result, Warwick’s 1995 was a bit of a trial, with just six points finishes for his efforts.After a year away in 1996 he returned, not only to race, but co-founding Triple Eight Engineering, which took over the running of Vauxhall’s works BTCC team.

While Triple Eight would go on to become one of the greatest teams in BTCC history, Warwick’s time in the Vauxhall hot seat would last just two seasons. In 1997 both he and team-mate John Cleland struggled with a Vectra that hadn’t managed to keep up the speed of its predecessor, the title-winning Cavalier. Neither driver won a race and they finished 14^th and 12^th respectively. The following season fared better, Cleland won twice and Warwick would add a third at Knockhill, an emotional victory after years of hard work. At the end of the season Warwick retired for good.

Gianni Morbidelli

Italian Gianni Modbidelli has a bit more touring car pedigree than most on this list, but his main tin top successes came after his single season in the BTCC with Volvo in 1998. Mobidelli’s F1 career had been steady, with very little of note other than a surprise podium finish at the final race of the season in 1995 in a Footwork — a race where he finished several laps down on the winner Damon Hill.

After he left F1 in 1997, Morbidelli was picked up by the factory Volvo squad to race its S40 alongside Volvo stalwart Rickard Rydell. Morbidelli was a regular points finisher, more often than not appearing inside the top eight, but was unable to match Rydell, who went several steps better and won the five races and the title.

Perhaps Morbidelli’s most famous moment was when he raced from pretty much the back of the field at Thruxton to finish fourth, a result that looked like it might help kickstart his season. As it was, he finished 11^th in the following race at Knockhill and retired from the next four in a row. He clearly got the bug though, going on to race in the European Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Championship, International Superstars Series (which he won), V8 Supercars and TCR.

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