HSCC Super Touring Car Championship 2014 in review

The inaugural season of the HSCC Super Touring Car Championship went down to the wire, with both title contenders involved in dramas at the final round.

Having previously been run as the successful Super Touring Trophy – a non points scoring series – in 2013, the HSCC awarded the series championship status for 2014, while there was also a guest spot at Oulton Park on the British Touring Car Championship support bill to entice further entries.

If there were to be any negatives from the season, however, it would be entry numbers. While there were impressive numbers at both the BTCC round and the Silverstone Classic, a field of eight cars at the Brands Hatch Superprix remained the low point of the year.

Despite the inconsistent numbers, one constant throughout the year was the quality of the racing. Even with the small grid at Brands Hatch, the drivers put on some fantastic battles, battles that harked back to the BTCC in the late 90s. It wasn’t only the single race duels that kept everyone on their toes, with James Dodd and Stewart Whyte taking their title fight down to the very last race of the year at the Oulton Park Gold Cup.

Making the championship even more authentic was the return of John Cleland and Patrick Watts, who once again stepped back in to their old machines, while former BTCC drivers Nick Whale and Mark Jones joined the fray, with Whale in his 1991 BMW M3 and Jones in a Vauxhall Cavalier and a Renault Laguna.

All eyes were on the Honda Accord of James Dodd, who dominated the Oulton Park Gold Cup the previous year, his first appearance in the then Super Touring Trophy, at the season opening Thruxton Easter Revival.

Dodd placed his car on pole for the start of the season, over half a second faster than nearest contender Patrick Watts. Unfortunately for Dodd, mechanical issues ended his weekend with just two minutes remaining in round one, allowing Cleland to take a popular victory and get the touring car community buzzing for the return of the two-time BTCC champion to the top step.

With Dodd’s car still out of action the following day, Patrick Watts ruled the damp conditions and took the honours in the second round of the year. Further down the order, Stewart Whyte, who would become Dodd’s main title rival come the end of the year, struggled in race one, blaming Cleland for contact causing Whyte’s Honda Accord to retire at Church. A recovery drive in race two saw Whyte battle back up to fifth to take some vital championship points.

The next round of the year saw 29 Super Tourers descend on Oulton Park for the first of two events at the Cheshire circuit, the former being their guest appearance at the BTCC. Masses of crowds flocked to the circuit to see touring cars old and new battle, and once again Cleland put on a show for those in attendance, storming to pole position on Saturday morning.

Cleland beat the younger (and faster) Hondas to pole by making the most of the conditions as rain, which would become a common feature of the weekend, poured down on to the tarmac. However, despite Cleland placing himself on pole, his place at the front of the field was put under threat by a broken wishbone, forcing him to rapidly arrange a meeting with a supplier at a motorway service station to collect the spare part. Cleland made the grid, but not without a mad dash to Coventry and back between qualifying and the race.

Cleland held back Dodd for the first half of the opening race, with the latter eventually finding his way past the pole sitter, holding their positions from then on until the flag. Behind them, Simon Garrad held on to take the final podium position in his Renault Laguna, while Patrick Watts, Keith Butcher and Alvin Powell traded places and very nearly wing mirrors.

The second race of the weekend, scheduled to be broadcast live on ITV4’s BTCC coverage, was delayed after a sudden downpour brought out the red flag on the pace lap. Despite some rapid pit work from the teams to fit wet tyres, the organisers decided to postpone the race until after the final BTCC encounter, and meaning fans at home had to wait for the footage on the ITV4 website.

Dodd completed a lights-to-flag victory to complete the double, while Cleland remained in the mirrors of the Honda for the duration of the race. Third place went to Stewart Whyte, who once again found himself at the back of the pack on Saturday after mechanical issues forced him out of qualifying, only managing to finish sixth in race one. Meanwhile, Patrick Watts was in the thick of the action once again, battling with Whyte and Neil Smith’s Alfa Romeo, before locking up at Knickerbrook and dropping out of reach.

The following meeting of the year, the Brands Hatch Superprix, featured the lowest grid numbers of the season. Only 10 drivers were on the entry list, but only 8 made it to the Kent circuit. The highest profile absentee was championship leader John Cleland, who was let down by a supplier and unable to prepare the car in time, a factor Cleland believes cost him a shot at the title.

Despite small numbers disappointing a number of fans at the circuit, what they did get was a thrilling encounter between James Dodd and Stewart Whyte, with both drivers having trouble free weekends and sharing the victories between them. While the Hondas went hammer and tongs at the sharp end, the remaining six drivers paired off for their own individual duels – one of the best featuring Mark Smith and Nick & Harry Whale battling in the pair of BMW M3s.

The diminished grid at Brands Hatch allowed James Dodd to leapfrog John Cleland in the title race, taking a small margin in to the highlight of the season – the Silverstone Classic.

A mammoth grid descended on the Home of British Motorsport for the “Worlds Biggest Classic Motor Racing Festival”, which even saw current top level touring car drivers Colin Turkington and Rob Huff join in the action, while Jason Plato and Barry Plowman, Team Dynamics’ Technical Director, were seen getting a closer look at the cars in the assembly area.

Once again the viewers were treated to a field full of fantastic racing, with Dodd and Whyte continuing their duel from Brands Hatch in the first race, while Cleland, Watts, Garrad and Neil Smith fought tooth and nail for the final spot on the podium. Eventually Cleland got the better of his rivals, keeping himself close to the top end of the points standings. Further down the order, Steve Soper put in an incredibly strong performance in a Ford Capri to work his way in to the top ten, while Turkington took a BMW CSL ‘Batmobile’ to 20th having started in 29th.

Race two saw the guest drive from Rob Huff in Richard Meins’ Ford Mondeo and despite starting from outside the top ten, the 2012 WTCC champion found himself in second after just half a lap. Dodd then turned up the style, impressing many, including Huff, by keeping him honest for the entire race, having successfully held Huff back for the opening couple of laps.

Both John Cleland and Patrick Watts put in impressive recovery drives, with Watts taking 5th after starting from the back following a retirement in race one, while Cleland, who suffered a hairy sideways moment at the first corner, took 4th to keep himself mathematically still in the title chase heading to Oulton Park.

Going in to the Oulton Park Gold Cup, James Dodd held a 12 point lead over Whyte, with Cleland a further 5 points back and 20 points still on offer. Although Cleland knew his best chance was to finish second overall, Whyte had his his sights set firmly on two victories, and a dominant lights-to-flag victory in race one showed he meant business. Meanwhile, James Dodd could only manage fourth after a crash in qualifying saw the championship leader start from the back of the grid.

The result left just five points between the two Hondas with one race to go, and when Dodd pulled in with a puncture on the pace lap, forcing him to start from the pit lane, it looked like Whyte may have been handed the title on a silver platter. However, further drama awaited just a few corners in to the season finale as Whyte went off and his race, and title charge, ended in the Island bend gravel trap.

John Cleland came through to take the final victory of the year to bookend his season with trips to the top step, joined on the podium by Paul Smith, in the 4WD Audi, and Mark Jones in the Renault Laguna. James Dodd worked his way back up to fourth once again, holding back after he saw that Whyte had retired. Cleland’s result was enough to tie him on points with Whyte for second.

In the ST2 category, three out of four victories at the Oulton Park races for Kingsley Ingram in the highly popular and rare Mazda 323F were enough to secure class honours, pipping Tony Absolom in the Vauxhall Cavalier by 9 points.

Finally, GA class honours went the way of Mark Wright, who scored a top-four points finish, partly down to being one of only four drivers to compete in every meeting of the season, in the GA5 category Zakspeed Escort MkII, while Mark Smith won the GA3 class ahead of Nick and Harry Whale.

Although grid numbers may have been small at times, the inaugural HSCC Super Touring Championship season should be hailed as a success, with some fantastic drivers putting on equally impressive displays throughout the year and up and down the field, even to the point that both John Cleland and Rob Huff went on record to state their belief that James Dodd should be competing in the British Touring Car Championship.

While the question of whether the championship will run with points again still remains, it is certain that it will return in some form in 2015, with contingency plans to try and stop the issue of small grids rearing its head again. However it returns, there are rumours of even more marques to be represented, including a Volvo S40, while existing drivers, such as Cleland, are looking to improve their current machines to fight at the front.