John Cleland

John Cleland (born 15 July, 1952 in Wishaw, Scotland) is a British former racing driver. He is known for his appearances in the WTCM and BTCC. Cleland developed a reputation as an extremely feisty personality which saw his popularity soar in the 1990s.

Outside of racing, Cleland is the proprietor of a large Volvo dealership in Galashiels, Scotland.

WTCM

After a number of years in the British Thundersaloons series with the Vauxhall-Opel team, Cleland was selected by the Union Saver Developments Toyota team to join their assault on the 1988 World Touring Car Masters season. Cleland was joined by fellow Brits David Leslie and John Llewellyn as well as Argentine Juan María Traverso. Toyota were fairly outgunned in Class B for much of 1988 - being well and truly beaten by the likes of the Nissan Skyline R31 and Volvo 240. Cleland did manage a single class win however, taking the flag in the Endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps on his way to ninth the class standings.

1989 saw Cleland being joined by former Formula One star Keke Rosberg as well as Traverso and Leslie. Toyota were by far the strongest Class B package in 1989 and Cleland managed to take six wins in class throughout the year - being enough to take third in the class standings behind Leslie and Rosberg.

Cleland stuck around for a third season in 1990 - this time with Will Hoy making the full time switch from the British championship into the World series. Cleland only managed the single win in class as Audi dominated but he finished the season fourth in class - the best of the non-Audi runners.

Cleland returned to his old employers at Vauxhall in 1991 - initially leading the Luton marque's assault on the British Touring Car Championship alongside Jeff Allam. Cleland was called upon midway through the year to replace Bernd Schneider who suffered a serious injury in the sprint race at Watkins Glen. Cleland took a pair of wins at the first time of asking at the following round in Nigeria which heightened calls for him to make the switch permanent.

Complete WTCM Results

Year	Team	Car	Class																								WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
1988	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Supra Turbo	B	Template:AUS				Template:USA								Template:FRA		Template:GBR				Template:BEL					36th	10	9th	160
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				BAT 24	BAT 26	FUJ DNQ	FUJ DNQ	GLN 24	GLN 27	NOR Ret	NOR Ret	KYA Ret	KYA 29	HOC 19	HOC Ret	CHA DNQ	CHA DNQ	BIR 15	BIR 22	MNZ Ret	MNZ 23	SPA 13	SPA 23	NUR Ret
1989	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Supra Turbo	B			Template:USA				Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS			16th	73	3rd	288
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ Ret	FUJ 12	GLN 9	GLN 12	KYA 11	KYA 11	PAU Ret	PAU 10	BRN Ret	BRN 13	MNZ 7	MNZ 10	CHA 4	CHA 7	BIR 9	BIR 11	SPA Ret	SPA Ret	NUR Ret	NUR 13	BAT Ret
1990	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Supra Turbo	B			Template:USA				Template:GBR		Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS	15th	81	4th	284
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ Ret	FUJ 18	GLN 11	GLN 16	LAG 11	LAG 11	BRH 12	BRH 14	PAU 3	PAU 5	BRN 12	BRN Ret	MNZ 15	MNZ Ret	CHA 9	CHA 15	BIR 8	BIR 31†	SPA Ret	SPA 19	NUR Ret	NUR 20	BAT Ret