Greatest BTCC Drivers never to win a raceTouring Cars

[Har1MAS1415]

Just been watching Bobby Thompson being interviewed on the grid for Race 2 of the Brands Hatch Indy leg of the 2024 British Touring Car Championship. He's got to be one of the greatest BTCC drivers of recent times who has yet to win a race in the series.

Can anyone think of any others?

As well as Bobby T, I was also thinking of Adam Jones earlier on today.

 

[Liquid]

I can only speak very knowledgably on the supertouring era and from that time you'd have to say Patrick Watts.

Whether you rate them or not, many drivers such as Julian Bailey, John Bintcliffe, Kelvin Burt, Tim Sugden, Derek Warwick and Peter Kox got that one win, two in Bintcliffe and Burt's cases, but Watts' pace with Mazda and effort with Peugeot never got the rewards they deserved.

Johnny Cecotto would also be on this list in pure touring car terms, a superstar in Germany, but he had just one season in a bad BMW car so his efforts in the BTCC don't earn him enough credit.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

I can only speak very knowledgably on the supertouring era and from that time you'd have to say Patrick Watts.

Whether you rate them or not, many drivers such as Julian Bailey, John Bintcliffe, Kelvin Burt, Tim Sugden, Derek Warwick and Peter Kox got that one win, two in Bintcliffe and Burt's cases, but Watts' pace with Mazda and effort with Peugeot never got the rewards they deserved.

Johnny Cecotto would also be on this list in pure touring car terms, a superstar in Germany and Italy, but he had just one season in a bad BMW car so his efforts in the BTCC don't earn him enough credit.

I was thinking of confining this thread to the Supertouring era onwards anyway.

It would have been nice to see Jonathan Adam get a win in 2009 and actually keep it.

 

[MagpieRacer]

In terms of great drivers who raced in BTCC and didn't win, Nigel Mansell, Colin McRae, Johnny Herbert.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Just having a quick look through some stats, perhaps James Kaye - Production class winner and champion, occasional highest finisher without an overall win.

edit: Also, just thinking about it, in the recent era, with 30ish races per season, and reverse grids, we're seeing somewhere between a third and half the grid winning at least one race in a season the chance of having a genuinely great driver not rack up at least one win after a couple of years is pretty slim.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Maybe I should extend this thread to podiums as well as wins?

Gianni Morbidelli springs to mind. Didn't even get a podium in 1998 while his teammate won the title.

 

[Liquid]

In terms of great drivers who raced in BTCC and didn't win, Nigel Mansell, Colin McRae, Johnny Herbert.

Their achievements in the BTCC were pretty mediocre though. If you're talking about the BTCC, it has to be based on BTCC achievements.

It's like saying Sebastian Loeb is the best driver to never win a DTM race (two races in 2022). He's not a DTM driver.

Maybe I should extend this thread to podiums as well as wins?

Gianni Morbidelli springs to mind. Didn't even get a podium in 1998 while his teammate won the title.

He was too slow on tracks he'd never raced on. Wasn't close to Top 6 pace, never mind Rydell's. Vincent Radermecker did much better than Morbidelli did and Radermecker's Volvo was less competitive.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

From F1/GP Rejects:

Rejects of the BTCC - Grand Prix Rejects

The British Touring Car Championship celebrates its sixtieth year in 2018. From its humble beginnings as the British Saloon Car Championship in 1958, the championship has passed through many iterations, including the Ford Sierra RS500 monsters of the 1980s, through the exotic and expensive Super

gprejects.com

I agree about Jan Lammers and Eric van de Poele.

 

[Liquid]

Just having a quick look through some stats, perhaps James Kaye - Production class winner and champion, occasional highest finisher without an overall win.

I thought about Kaye too. Won the independents title twice in three years, 1992 and 1994, but never got a fair crack at a works drive. He drove for Honda in their debut year in 1995 and just as the car came good at the back end of 1996, he got lost in the shuffle and disappeared until 2000's production class.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

I thought about Kaye too. Won the independents title twice in three years, 1992 and 1994, but never got a fair crack at a works drive. He drove for Honda in their debut year in 1995 and just as the car came good at the back end of 1996, he got lost in the shuffle and disappeared until 2000's production class.

Happened again with Kaye in the mid-2000s. Didn't even manage to finish 1st outright in 2001 when it was possible for the Production Class entries to do that.

Also, just when he and Synchro Motorsport were coming good and finally scored a podium, the series switched to Super 2000 regs and they were forced to drop out. Couldn't raise the funds for a suitable S2000 car obviously.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Jeff Uren, John Love and Alec Poole, simply because, thanks to the multiclass system, they each won a title but never actually won a race.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Just been watching Bobby Thompson being interviewed on the grid for Race 2 of the Brands Hatch Indy leg of the 2024 British Touring Car Championship. He's got to be one of the greatest BTCC drivers of recent times who has yet to win a race in the series.

Can anyone think of any others?

As well as Bobby T, I was also thinking of Adam Jones earlier on today.

That could all be about to change...

Bobby’s Back! Thompson Joins Zeus Cloud Racing With WSR • BTCC

Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR will debut at next weekend’s Snetterton British Touring Car Championship round with fan favourite Bobby Thompson at the wheel of a

btcc.net

 

[Har1MAS1415]

He was too slow on tracks he'd never raced on. Wasn't close to Top 6 pace, never mind Rydell's. Vincent Radermecker did much better than Morbidelli did and Radermecker's Volvo was less competitive.

Might have been a different story if Gianni Morbidelli had got the Renault seat in 1997. Same goes for Jean-Christophe Boullion as it could have been either one of those two replacing the late Will Hoy and partnering Alain Menu, instead of Jason Plato. At least JCB managed to get a podium in the 1999 Renault.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

I can only speak very knowledgably on the supertouring era and from that time you'd have to say Patrick Watts.

Whether you rate them or not, many drivers such as Julian Bailey, John Bintcliffe, Kelvin Burt, Tim Sugden, Derek Warwick and Peter Kox got that one win, two in Bintcliffe and Burt's cases, but Watts' pace with Mazda and effort with Peugeot never got the rewards they deserved.

Johnny Cecotto would also be on this list in pure touring car terms, a superstar in Germany, but he had just one season in a bad BMW car so his efforts in the BTCC don't earn him enough credit.

Cecotto and his 1995 team-mate David Brabham.

 

[Liquid]

Cecotto and his 1995 team-mate David Brabham.

In the BTCC, the two of them are nowhere. It's like the Mansell post I wrote about a few weeks ago; you accentuate their qualities as a driver in the BTCC rather than their actual qualities as a BTCC driver.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

In the BTCC, the two of them are nowhere. It's like the Mansell post I wrote about a few weeks ago; you accentuate their qualities as a driver in the BTCC rather than their actual qualities as a BTCC driver.

Well, they might have at least stood a chance if the BMW had been more competitive in 1995.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Out of the current crop, I think Andrew Watson is the most likely candidate to remove himself from this category now that Ronan Pearson has broken his duck

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Out of the current crop, I think Andrew Watson is the most likely candidate to remove himself from this category now that Ronan Pearson has broken his duck

Or possibly Mikey Doble.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Not sure either can be defined as great BTCC drivers yet. Simply decent drivers who haven't won yet.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Not sure either can be defined as great BTCC drivers yet. Simply decent drivers who haven't won yet.

I did say "out of the current crop" because there aren't many who haven't won yet in that respect.

Hope the summer break gives Bobby Thompson enough time to find another sponsor so he can rejoin WSR.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

If his performances at Toyota last year and in 2018 when he stood in for his father at WSR were anything to go by, Ricky Collard deserved a win and to actually keep it, stupid track limits.