David Leslie

David Leslie (born 9th November 1953 in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, died 30th March 2008 in Farnborough, Kent, UK) was a British racing driver most notable for his appearances Touring Car and Sportscar racing. He was particularly noted for his qualifying pace over a lap and his development skill, being a key figure in Toyota's Group A program in the late 80's and early 90's.

World Touring Car Masters

1988-1991: Toyota

Good performances in the World Sportscar Championship and a performance in the Oulton Park round of the 1987 BTCC saw David Leslie getting signed by Union Saver Developments, the factory team entered by Toyota in the 1988 World Touring Car Masters.

Leslie had a regular if unspectacular season - he started the year with a B Class podium at Bathurst, before taking his first class pole position at Watkins Glen - his first of 8 class poles that year, the most of any driver in the field. He took his first class victory in the Hockenheim sprint race, where he also took pole position and fastest lap, and on the next weekend at Charade scored his first endurance race class victory, taking pole position and fastest lap as well. He finished the season ranked 4th in B Class, on 247 points and as the leading Toyota in the standings. In overall terms speaking, Leslie obtained a best result of 10th place at the Charade Endurance Race, ending the season ranked 28th, scoring 21 points.

In 1989, Leslie was able to continue his development of the Supra Turbo and as such was able to take the Class B title, including a total of 9 class wins that year.

Leslie's third season with Toyota was slightly more frustrating in 1990 - with the Toyota being mostly outgunned in Class B by the Audi team. Leslie was only able to take a single class win all year and finished fifth in class.

A switch to the new Super Touring ruleset beckoned in 1991 - with Toyota changing from the Supra Turbo to the more modest Carina saloon. The new Toyotas of Leslie and new teammate Patrick Watts were among the front runners in the early stages of the season and Leslie even managed a second place finish at the Sprint race in the opening round in Australia.

Later life

Prior to his untimely death, Leslie was mainly occupied as a commentator for Eurosport as well as a Motorsports Management lecturer at Swansea Metropolitan.

Leslie, along with four others, died in March 2008 when they were involved in a plane crash in Kent whilst travelling to the Nogaro circuit in France.

Complete World Touring Car Masters Results

Year	Team	Car	Class
1988	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Supra Turbo	B M	Template:AUS				Template:USA								Template:FRA		Template:GBR				Template:BEL					WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E			28th	21	4th	247
				BAT 25	BAT 32	FUJ 26	FUJ 25	GLN 22	GLN 25	NOR DNQ	NOR DNQ	KYA Ret	KYA 28	HOC 14	HOC 15	CHA 10	CHA 24	BIR Ret	BIR 18	MNZ Ret	MNZ 26	SPA Ret	SPA 27	NUR 12
1989	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Supra Turbo	B M			Template:USA				Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS			WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E			8th	96	1st	359
				FUJ Ret	FUJ 13	GLN 6	GLN 14	KYA 7	KYA 10	PAU DNQ	PAU DNQ	BRN Ret	BRN 11	MNZ 5	MNZ 14	CHA 3	CHA 10	BIR Ret	BIR 24	SPA 14	SPA 8	NUR 2	NUR 9	BAT Ret
1990	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Supra Turbo	B M			Template:USA				Template:GBR		Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS	WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	20th	51	5th	280
				FUJ 10	FUJ 14	GLN Ret	GLN 17	LAG Ret	LAG 14	BRH 9	BRH 10	PAU Ret	PAU 14	BRN Ret	BRN 11	MNZ DNQ	MNZ DNQ	CHA 6	CHA 12	BIR 11	BIR 16	SPA 14	SPA 13	NUR Ret	NUR 21	BAT Ret
1991	Union Saver Developments	Toyota Carina	M	Template:AUS				Template:USA				Template:GBR	Template:FRA					Template:GBR				Template:BEL					WDC		Pts
				F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	E	F	F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	E	F	S	F		6th		129
				AUS 4	AUS 2	JPN 8	JPN 3	USA Ret	USA 8	AFR Ret	AFR 14	RAC Ret	PAU 7	CZE 2	CZE Ret	ITA 5	ITA 7	GBR Ret	GBR 3	SWE 1	SWE 2	SPA Ret	GER 1	GER 8	MAC Ret