Date Of Birth: Lives: Nationality: Seasons in BTCC: Championship Wins: Synopsis:

15th July, 1952 (Wishaw, Scotland) Galashields, Scotland Scotish 1989 - 1999 (always with Vauxhall) 1989, 1995 An agressive 'never-say-die' racer who was often outspoken off the track, but exciting to watch on it. A great sportsman and ambasador for the sport of SuperTouring racing.

Driver History

John Cleland began competing in speed events and hill climbs in his native Scotland as far back as the early 1970s. His first title was in the Scottish Hillclimb Championship in 1978, where he took overall victory in the Road Car class. He moved into saloon car racing in 1980 and drove exclusively in GM products from then onwards, mainly due to his links with the official Dealer Sport Team.

1984 saw Cleland drive in the British Production Saloon Championship in an Opel Monza prepared by the Dave Cooke Racing team. Cleland achieved good results in the championship and the association between Cleland and Cooke was to continue when GM began racing in the UK Thundersaloons series. GM took the title in both 1987 and 1988, both times with Cleland and team mate Vince Woodman at the wheel of an Opel Omega, before making the decision to move up to the BTCC.

GM had been watching the BTCC for sometime, and had realised that they could use the lack of competition in the lower classes to their advantage. If they could take regular class wins then the prospect of a class, or even championship, title was a distinct possibility. So with this as the target and using the UK based Vauxhall marque, GM entered the BTCC for the first time with Cleland driving an Astra GTE 16V. The season all went to plan and Cleland managed to win the overall title at his first attempt, taking eleven class victories on the way. The little Astra performed so well that it often battled with the slower of the Class B BMW M3s during the race.

Although the victory went to Cleland, it was overshadowed by the season long fight between Rouse and Gravett for overall race wins, and he was keen to prove that he could win the championship from the front.