Talk:1998 Rejects Touring Car Championship season

Old page for reference during re-structuring, if the time ever comes...

Teams and Drivers

Out of the 9 Marques avaialable, only 3 marques fielded works teams. Audi, on the back of a successful 1997 BTCC season, entered the RTCC with their non-4WD A4, the team being run by Spanish squad Phoenix Motorsports. Theo Lutz, Rafael Modena and Jody Radcliffe were signed for the drives. Racing conglomerate Il Barone Rampante attracted works status from Nissan, the team trading under the name Martini Nissan Racing, hiring BTCC champion John Cleland, young Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi, and the talented Rickard Rydell. Renault announced they would be represented in the RTCC by Twinings Earl Grey Racing, the cars decked out in the black and cream corporate colours of Twinings Tea. Englishman Percival "Porky" Carrington-Smythe attracted some controversy by establishing his seat in the upstart squad with hefty Twinings Sponsorship money. Porky, as he is jokingly known in the club racing community, claimed that he was not as slow as he might seem and was not going to be a touring car version of hapless Swissman Jean-Denis Deletraz. Twinings also secured the services of promising Englishman Paul Jenkins. Despite being hailed as 'the next big thing in Touring Cars', doubt has been cast over him after a series of under-par performances and several write-off crashes.

Of the 3 Constructors, Equipe de Course Belge looked promising, acheiving semi-works status from Peugeot and attracting several Belgian sponsors, notably telecoms supplier Belgacom. Belgians Aurelien Moll and Thomas De Bock were signed to drive for the Belgian outfit, with the team proudly stating that they would be "Racing for Belgium". English team Prism Motorsports announced that they would be receiving some support from Nissan. Prism, with Title sponsorship from Greggs and the services of Englishmen Mike Burns and Robbie Thorne. Team Ultimate, fielding two Ford Mondeos for French-German Michael Prost and American Cave Johnson, managed to attract big-name sponsorship to the series with the presence of insurance firm Norwich Union and looked confident for the year ahead.

Season

Testing

#	Track	Date	Fastest driver	Fastest team	Car	Class
1	Silverstone	12th April 1998	/ Michael Prost	Team Ultimate	Ford Mondeo	C
2	Oulton Park	14th May 1998	Rob Collard	Team Ultimate	Ford Mondeo	C

Races

Round	Track	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Class
1	Silverstone Circuit	1	Cave Johnson	Robert Anderson	/ Michael Prost	Team Ultimate	C
		2	Robbie Thorne	Robbie Thorne	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Martini Nissan Racing	M
2	Donington Park	1	Mike Burns	Garry Jones	Garry Jones	Sweetcorn Motorsports	I
		2	/ Michael Prost	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Martini Nissan Racing	M
3	Castle Combe Circuit	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
4	Rockingham Motor Speedway	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
5	Circuit Park Zandvoort	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
6	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
7	Hockenheimring	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
8	Norisring	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
9	Oulton Park	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
10	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
11	Thruxton Circuit	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
12	Croft Circuit	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
13	Mallory Park	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
14	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
15	Brands Hatch	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
16	Birmingham Superprix	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
17	Oran Park Raceway	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
		2	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
NC 1	1st Isle Of Man Touring 24hours TT	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED
NC 2	Inaugral Rockingham Touring TwoHundred	1	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED	CANCELLED

Standings

Points System

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Points	25	20	16	14	12	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Drivers Championship Standings

Pos. Driver SIL DON CAS ROC ZAN IMO HOC NOR OUL SNE THR MAL MON BHA SUP ORA Pts 1 Michael Prost 1 4 23 3 55 2 Cave Johnson 2 2 30 4 54 3 Fabrizio Giovanardi 17 1 18 1 50 4 Ben Fleet 3 3 21 5 44 5 John Zimmer 8 13 24 2 33 6 Robbie Thorne 5 8 5 23 32 7 Rob Collard 7 5 7 17 30 8 Garry Jones 18 14 1 20 27 9 Catalin Gheorghiu 19 20 6 6 20 = Michael Bartels Ret 24 2 24 20 11 Jody Radcliffe 6 19 8 26 18 12 Aurelien Moll 23 9 7 13 Thomas De Bock 9 25 7 14 Robert Anderson 25 10 6 15 Rafael Modena RET 11 5 16 Martin McFry 12 30 4 17 Mike Burns 21 12 3 18 Nathan Nurmester 13 35 3 19 Garry Jones 18 14 2 21 Nikolai Nurmovitsch 14 32 2 22 Rickard Rydell 15 17 1 Teams Championship Standings Pos. Team Class Make SIL DON CAS ROC ZAN IMO HOC NOR OUL SNE THR MAL MON BHA SUP ORA Pts 1 Team Ultimate C Ford Mondeo 2 2 100 1 4 BMW 320i 7 5 2 Touring Auto Racing Team I Vauxhall Vectra 3 3 36 12 30 22 26 3 Martini Nissan Racing M Nissan Primera 17 1 26 15 17 20 27 4 Prism Motorsports I Nissan Primera 5 8 23 21 12 5 Team Wales I Honda Accord 4 15 21 25 10 6 Audi Team Phoenix M Audi A4 6 19 15 RET 11 RET 23