RENAULT this afternoon (Sun) snatched the Auto Trader RAC British
Touring Car Championship manufacturers' title with a pair of dominant
race victories at Silverstone.
   Alain Menu and Will Hoy shared the wins in their Renault Lagunas to
beat Vauxhall into second place in the points table, despite the best
efforts of newly crowned drivers' champion John Cleland.
   Renault finished the season with 419 points -- five more than
Vauxhall, with Volvo beaten into third place.
   The first of the afternoon's races was a lights-to-flag
demonstration run by Swiss ace Menu, who took advantage of pole man
Cleland's poor start to drive home his car's superiority on the
opening lap, chased by team-mate Hoy, Cleland, Julian Bailey (Toyota)
and Kelvin Burt (Ford).
   Bailey faded fast at one-third distance with accident damage,
leaving Burt to bring the challenge to Cleland. The Ford man slipped
past him and into third place on lap 12, holding the champion off
until three laps from home, when Cleland outbraked him into Luffield
corner.
   But by this time the Renaults were well in command, Menu finishing
just over a second ahead of Hoy, with Cleland third a further four
seconds down. Burt was fourth ahead of David Leslie's Honda and Mike
Briggs in the second Vauxhall.
   With Cleland starting from sixth on the grid in the 25th and final
round of the championship, and with Menu on pole, the Vauxhall man was
always going to have his work cut out. Nonetheless, the Scot tried his
hardest, fighting through to fourth place by mid-distance.
   At the front, the battle was between Hoy, Menu and Leslie, the
Honda man snatching second from Menu to split the Renaults on lap 11.
   For six laps it looked as though Leslie might manage to get on
terms with leader Hoy, but then Menu reasserted Renault's superiority
to follow his team-mate home for their second one-two of the day.
Leslie then fell into Cleland's clutches with four laps remaing.
   Menu's second place was enough to confirm him as runner-up in the
drivers' championship to Cleland.
   Third place was not enough, however, for Cleland to prevent the
Renault bid for the manufacturers' title -- but it did give the
Vauxhall Sport squad the teams' prize.
   Leslie hung on for fourth ahead of Bailey and Tim Sugden in the
second Toyota.
   Total Cup privateers' honours went to Richard Kaye (Ford) in the
first race and Matt Neal (Ford) in the second. Neal had already
wrapped up the Total Cup honours, with Kaye finishing the season as
his runner-up.

RESULTS
1995 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship, round 24
Silverstone, Northants, 24/9/95
29 laps -- 47.62 miles
1 Alain Menu (Switz), Renault Laguna, 32m 34.72s, 87.69mph;
2 Will Hoy (GB), Renault Laguna, +1.11s;
3 John Cleland (GB), Vauxhall Cavalier 16V, +5.75s;
4 Kelvin Burt (GB), Ford Mondeo Ghia, +6.72s;
5 David Leslie (GB), Honda Accord, +15.39s;
6 Mike Briggs (South Africa), Vauxhall Cavalier 16V, +16.65s;
7 Rickard Rydell (Swe), Volvo 850 20v, +19.72s;
8 Derek Warwick (GB), Alfa Romeo 155, +21.43s;
9 David Brabham (AUS), BMW 318i, +24.48s;
10 Tim Harvey (GB), Volvo 850 20v, +26.05s.
Total Cup Privateers: Richard Kaye (GB), Ford Mondeo Ghia.
Fastest lap: Menu, 1m 01.43s, 96.22mph.
Pole position: Cleland, 1m 00.677s, 97.42mph.

Round 25
28 laps -- 45.98 miles
1 Hoy, 31m 55.43s, 86.41mph;
2 Menu, +0.54s;
3 Cleland, +3.19s;
4 Leslie, +5.80s;
5 Julian Bailey (GB), Toyota Carina E, +7.56s;
6 Tim Sugden (GB), Toyota Carina E, +18.05s;
7 Harvey, +19.59s;
8 Patrick Watts (GB), Peugeot 405, +20.21s;
9 James Kaye (GB), Honda Accord, +20.85s;
10 Warwick, +22.26s.
Total Cup Privateers: Matt Neal (GB), Ford Mondeo Ghia.
Fastest lap: Menu, 1m 01.26s, 96.49mph.
Pole position: Menu, 1m 00.713s, 97.36mph.

Final championship positions
Drivers: 1 Cleland, 348 points; 2 Menu, 305; 3 Rydell, 255; 4 Hoy,
195; 5 Harvey, 176; 6 Paul Radisich (NZ/Ford), 130.
Manufacturers: 1 Renault, 419; 2 Vauxhall, 414; 3 Volvo, 359; 4 Ford,
236; 5 Toyota, 172; 6 BMW, 144.
Total Cup Privateers: 1 Neal, 430; 2 Richard Kaye, 342; 3 Nigel Smith
(GB/Vauxhall), 298.

-- 
Max Communications
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