The irony of the former Sauber F1 driver being awarded the Williams Renault Laguna seat alongside Jason Plato for 1999 was that he had originally been earmarked for the drive taken by Plato in ’97.
That story has been thoroughly told by JP, but J-CB finally got his chance when Alain Menu was tempted away by Ford largesse.
Boullion’s BTCC season suffered as Renault fell off the pace; he failed to win, but Plato did so only once. And the modest Frenchman’s tally of 97 points to Plato’s 122 was respectable. Under the radar and unspectacular, but solid. And he beat Menu.
7. Jonathan Palmer
Palmer had a one-off in the same Cheylesmore BMW 635 raced by Hans Stuck in 1983. Then, after an F1 career spent most successfully with Tyrrell, he returned to the BTCC for 1991 at the wheel of a Prodrive-run BMW M3.
That campaign is best remembered for the farcical clash with Nettan Lindgren at Snetterton – and Murray Walker’s commentary – and he was no match for Steve Soper when the BMW talisman drove the sister car.
But there’s no shame in that, and seventh in the championship with a peak of second at Thruxton are no disgrace. Fellow Zakspeed F1 alumnus Christian Danner also had a solo outing, in the Soper car, at Thruxton earlier in the season and took fifth place.
8. Jan Lammers
The diminutive Dutchman was better known as a Le Mans 24 Hours winner with Jaguar than for his stop-start F1 career with minnow teams when he rocked up in the BTCC in 1994 – with the brand-new Volvo 850 Estate run by TWR.
Lammers’s solitary season seemed a bit of a letdown at the time, but few recognised that his younger team-mate Rickard Rydell was an embryonic tin-top superstar.
A tally of 18 points to the Swede’s 27 was, in hindsight, not too shabby. And, with a fifth at Brands, he equalled the Estate’s best result of its time in the BTCC.
9. Johnny Cecotto
BMW’s 1995 programme in the BTCC was a big anti-climax. Out had gone the Schnitzer team led by the charismatic Charly Lamm, along with ’93 champion Jo Winkelhock; in had come Warthofer and a couple of ex-F1 drivers.
Cecotto, whose brief F1 career was spent at Theodore and Toleman, was a multi-title-winning touring car titan with BMW, but his single BTCC season was largely anonymous, peaking with fourth at Knockhill.
By dint of finishing one point ahead in the standings, he gets the nod over…
10. David Brabham
Brabham’s best result in the BTCC was a fourth place
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The Australian had just emerged from a harrowing F1 season at Simtek when he joined the Warthofer BMW squad for 1995. Dad Jack had, of course, won races in the series in Ford Galaxies and Mustangs back in the ’60s, and had even taken on Stirling Moss in the 1600cc class for the ’80 British GP support round at Brands Hatch – in a Renault 5 Gordini!
There was no such glory for Brabham Jr, but he did do a good job in running Cecotto close and, like the Venezuelan, peaked with fourth (at Brands and Knockhill).
11. Jean-Louis Schlesser
This French all-rounder had yet to attain F1 notoriety for his clash with Ayrton Senna in the 1988 Italian GP when he played cameo roles in mid-’80s BTCC.
Schlesser started three races in TWR-run Rover Vitesses (two in ’84, one in ’86) and his best effort was beating team-mate Jeff Allam to pole for the ’86 British GP support at Brands. He was second to Allam in the race, but the BTCC was pretty feeble at that time.
12. Gianni Morbidelli