Club Motorsport
BTCC drivers have this year's title in their sights
The pages linked from this page have some information
on the earlier BTCC with the 850 and the S40 and are kept for historic
reference, and details of previous and current club motorsport events.
Current club motorsport reports and information are now incorporated in our club magazine, Volvo Driver, and are available in PDF format and will be made available here soon.
June 1999
VOLVO may have made a slow start to this year's British Touring
Car Championship (see back page), but hopes are high that fortunes will turn as
the season progresses, especially as the new, improved car turned in such good
performances in preseason testing. Rickard Rydell, in particular, is keen to
become the first man to retain the driver's crown, although he acknowledges the
task will not be easy The new car feels good and is certainly a sharper package
than last season, with improvements in the balance and brakes," the Swedish
driver said after testing in Jerez at the end of February. "But you don't
really know where you stand until you go against other cars.
Tough time ahead
"This is going to be the toughest championship ever and history is
certainly against me, since no other driver who has won the championship has
done very well the following year. "Every car in the BTCC has got a chance this
year, though, and we are confident that the car will get better and better as
the season progresses. Our aim this year is to get both cars performing well so
that we win the manufacturer's championship." Rickard's teammate this year is
highly-rated Belgian driver, Vincent Radermecker. A test driver with Volvo back
in 1997, he only found out that he had the BTCC drive as Rydell's number two at
this year's Jerez testing, less than a week before the official launch of the
championship at Silverstone in March. "It's a bit unbelievable. It's been my
goal for this year and for my career," the 31 year-old native of Liege said
after his appointment. "I hope I can do a good job and help Volvo win the
championship. The team were really friendly during my tests at Pembrey and
Jerez and I'm looking forward to working with both Volvo and Tom Walkinshaw
Racing." Tom Walkinshaw said: 'We expect Vincent to be a big asset in our
challenge for a second successive championship. We were very impressed with him
during testing and I think he will fit in well." After significant success in
karting events, Radermecker first hit the headlines when he won the Belgian
Formula Ford championship in 1991.
Formula racing
He moved into the British Formula Ford series the following year,
finishing fourth for the Van Diemen Workteam. 1993 brought a second place in
the Formula Opel, Lotus Euroseries, as well as victory in a Peugeot 306 at
Francorchamps during the Belgian Production Cars championship. From there he
graduated to Formula Three in Britain, claiming runners-up spot behind Jan
Magnussen during the 1994 season. But disappointment followed in 1995, when his
bid for the German Formula Three Championship was halted due to lack of budget.
After a year's sabbatical, Vincent returned to racing in 1997 and has spent the
past two years driving for Peugeot in the Belgian Procar Championship. He
recorded two wins and three pole positions in his first season and followed it
up with three wins and seven poles last year. "My time in British Formula Three
means I know all the circuits except Croft," he says. "That will be a help, but
I recognise that I still have a lot of learning to do. My aim is to learn
quickly, so that we can be realistic contenders for the manufacturer's title."
BTCC events:
June 20 - Donnington Park
July 4 - Croft
July 17 -
Snetterton
August 1 - Thruxton (Family Day)
August 15 - Knockhill
(Family Day)
August 30 - Brands Hatch
September 12 - Oulton Park
September 19 - Silverstone
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