Cleland wins first touring car race at Knockhill for 25 years, but has limited opposition

Double British Touring Car champion John Cleland scored his first victory at Knockhill for 25 years in the Super Touring Festival last weekend, but had limited competition.

The former Vauxhall works driver, racing his original Vectra with which he drove in the 1997 BTCC season, profited from misfortune for Stewart Whyte’s Honda Accord to take the win in the opening race.

Of the nine cars entered in the meeting, only three reached the chequered flag as Cleland headed Jason Hughes’ MG ZF and Ian Flux’s Mazda 323F.

Cleland, who claimed the BTCC title in 1989 and 1995 famously only ever managed to win once at his home circuit, in 1993, driving a Vauxhall Cavalier.

“Knockhill were supporters of mine all through my career and I only ever won once here. I won it in 1993 and then after that: b***** all!” said Cleland. “I could never get this place right in all my time here. But in ’93, we had a great battle with Julian Bailey and a number of others.”

Former Super Touring champion Whyte had been the dominant force all weekend and was heading for a certain win when he suffered punctures on both his front tyres.

The local driver also suffered a bearing failure which damaged the gearbox, forcing him out of race two which Cleland won from Alistair Mcmillan’s Nissan Primera.