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Template:Wikify-date The 1993 British Touring Car Championship was fought over 17 races taking place on 14 weekends. Nissan, Renault, Ford, BMW, Peugeot, Toyota, Mazda and Vauxhall all took part making the season the most unpredictable for years. It all started at Silverstone and the forst race was a taster for the season ahead, with BMW dominating, taking a 1-2 with Soper leading home his new team mate Jo Winkelhock. The second round was a washout but the race went ahead as it was a support race to the European Grand Prix at Donington Park. Soper led early on but soon was passed by 1992 champion Tim Harvey in his Renault 19, who came through from 14th on the grid. Harvey won from his team mate Alain Menu after Soper had a late race off, but he still managed to take 3rd place. Soper won again at the next round at Snetterton, having survived the start line crash which took out many cars. Julian Bailey and David Leslie were the other podium finishers. Round 4 and round 5 were won by Jo winkelhock, which put him ahead of Soper in the Championship by 2 points. Rounds 6&7 were both at Brands Hatch allowing the spectators to see double the action. Round 6 was very close and it looked set to see Leslie in the Vauxhall Cavalier win his first race of the season, but then 7 laps from the end, Leslie collided with Winkelhock's BMW sending the Scot well down the order. This enabled Winkelhock to win his third race of the season and extend his championship lead. Will Hoy's Toyota and Keith O'Dor's Nissan were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Round 7 looked very much like it would go to round 6 winner, Winkelhock but the German made an error on a downchange whilst being pressured by Soper, sending the BMW man off into the barriers and out of the race. Soper then led but was pressured all the time by Hoy and O'Dor until Hoy went off just like Winkelhock and in exactly the same place. This left O'dor to attack Soper but he couldn't quite manage it, meaning Soper won and moved back into the lead of the Championship. Round 8 saw the series move to Wales at the Pembrey circuit. It also saw the Ford team arrive with the Mondeo, which was now competitive. The race was again a disappointment for Leslie who led from pole but retired with a mechanical problem, giving the lead to Winkelhock who had done a great start from 6th to lead by the 1st corner. He went on to win his 4th race of the 8 so far with Hoy getting a good result in 2nd for Toyota. Round 9 was a support race for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Nissan showed great form and took a 1-2 with O'dor leading home Win Percy. But the race was remembered for some spectacular crashes. Toyota drivers Hoy and Bailey were leading 1-2 until Bailey tried to overtake. However he locked up and tipped Hoy upside down infront of the Grandstands. Bailey also retired. Then later on in the race, Soper whilst behind O'dor went off and hit the barriers hard, putting him out too. Winkelhock managed to keep on the track and extended his lead in the process. Rounds 10 & 11 were north of the border in Scotland at the Knockhill circuit. Round 10 got off to a bad start when Percy’s Nissan collided with Ian Khan at the chicane putting both out of the meeting. The restart was much better and it was a battle between Bailey and Cleland all the way with the latter winning. Further back Soper lost valuable points to Winkelhock as he was hit off by Radisich in the Mondeo. However Winkelhock didn’t start round 11 as his clutch was destroyed allowing Soper to close the gap. Up front Bailey won this time, with Cleland 2nd. Despite this good weekend for both men, they were still a long way behing the BMW’s. Round 12 was the Gold cup meeting at Oulton Park. Winkelhock led from start to finish with Soper second and Cleland 3rd. Menu in 4th showed that Renault were improving too. Round 13 took the BTCC back to Brands Hatch. Leslie took his 3rd pole and hoped to win this time. Radisich took the lead early on though, with Winkelhock barging past Leslie as well on the opening lap. However things soon boiled over. Leslie trying to re pass Winkelhock, knocked off the German losing them both dozens of places. This allowed Rouse into 2nd to give Ford a 1-2 lead with Gravet’s Peugeot 3rd and Soper 4th. Then Rouse dropped back with tyre trouble and this allowed Radisich to win his 1st BTCC race but Ford’s 200th touring car win. Gravet was given 2nd after stewards penalised Soper 1 place for and unfair overtaking manoeuvre. Despite this, Soper still closed on Winkelhock in the championship. Round 14 was at Thruxton and Leslie took his 4th pole position. He led off too with Radisich and Rouse in pursuit. Winkelhock struggled though down in 14th and finishing 13th, out of the points. At the flag, Leslie finally got a win with the 2 Ford’s in 2nd and 3rd. Gravet took 4th with his teammate 5th. Soper took 6th which meant he closed the gap to Winkelhock by 8 points meaning that only 12 points separated them. Even so, at the next double header round at Donington, Winkelhock could win the championship. Rounds 15 and 16 were wet but the racing still went on. Round 15 was dominated by Radisich in the Mondeo who won by over 10 seconds. The Renaults showed their wet weather form by finishing 2nd and 3rd. Winkelhock was 5th and with Soper not finishing the race due to a puncture, it meant the German was in with a good chance of winning the championship in race 2 (round16). Round 16 was led off again by Radisich but Menu soon passed the Ford to lead. Then Radisich re-passed Menu, only to slide wide on a kerb and lose the lead again. Despite a last lap lunge at the haipin, Radisich had to settle for second as Menu won his forst BTCC race. Winkelhock was 3rd but with Soper managing to finish 5th, it meant the championship would be decided in the final round. So the championship came down to the final race, round 17 at the Silverstone national circuit. Winkelhock had an 18 point lead so was favourite. Radisich and Hoy led away until Gravet had a nasty off bringing out the red flags. Hoy led again at the restart but Radisich soon took the lead and scampered off into the distance for his 3rd win of the year. Rouse passed Hoy later on as the Toyota struggled to give Ford a 1-2. Hoy held on to 3rd. Soper however didn’t get the win he needed and even tough he finished 5th and Winkelhock finished 9th, it wasn’t enough and Winkelhock took the title. A big surprise was Radisich who took 3rd in the championship ahead of Cleland, O’dor and Hoy despite not doing the 1st 7 races of the season. What could have been the result if he had done all 17 rounds? 1993 was a very competitive season with 10 different winners driving 6 different cars, the figures speak for themselves.

• Motorsport in the United Kingdom
• Touring car racing