The 1998 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship featured 26 races across 13 rounds, it commenced at Thruxton on 13 April and ended at Silverstone on 20 September.^[1]

The championship was won by Rickard Rydell in a Volvo S40, the runner-up was Anthony Reid in a Nissan Primera and James Thompson finished in third driving a Honda Accord. The Autosport Cup for Independents, a championship for privateer entries was won by Tommy Rustad in a Renault Laguna.

The video game TOCA 2 Touring Cars is based on this championship season.

Background[edit]

There were three major rule changes to the championship prior to the start of the 1998 season. Race weekends were changed notably with two different types of races now elected: a shorter "sprint" race and a "feature" race, 25% longer than previous races featuring a mandatory two-tyre stop to be taken between 15 and 75% distance.^[2] Qualifying for the sprint race involved drivers holding a "shoot-out" style session where each driver was sent out one of a time and were given a single timed lap to determine their starting position with the slowest driver from feature qualifying going first and fastest going last.^[2] Qualifying for the feature race remained the same as the previous season.

Four wheel drive systems were also banned for 1998, a system used notably by 1996 champions Audi.

The independents trophy previously known as the 'Total Cup for Independents' became the 'Autosport Cup for Independents'. The £250,000 prize fund, introduced in 1997, remained in place however at the request of the independent competitors, prize money now will be awarded on the results of each individual round rather than as a lump sum to the top three overall finishers at the end of the season. In 1998, the first independent finisher in each of the 26 rounds will receive £2,500, while second and third past the chequered flag will receive £1,250 and £500 respectively.^[2]

Team and driver changes[edit]

Eight manufacturer backed teams contested the championship with no changes to the manufacturer - team line up.

1997 champions WilliamsRenault, now in their fourth year of partnership in the BTCC, retained their driver line up of Alain Menu and Jason Plato once again driving the Laguna.^[3] The familiar yellow and blue livery was replaced by the dark green of new title sponsor Nescafe Blend 37. The team entered a third car for the final round at Silverstone for independents cup winner Tommy Rustad.

Audi were forced to abandon their four-wheel-drive A4 which helped them to the 1996 title for a more conventional front-wheel drive car. 1995 French touring car champion Yvan Muller joined the team after helping German manufacturer develop the new FWD car in the Super Tourenwagen Cup in 1997. He was joined by John Bintcliffe now in his third season with Audi with Frank Biela moving back in to Super Tourenwagen Cup.

Nissan were another team to retain their driver line-up with the experience Scots David Leslie and Anthony Reid racing a pair of RML prepared Primeras. The team entered a third car at Brands Hatch in August for former driver and then Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell. This appeared as a feature on the popular motoring show.

Following a very promising winter test program^[4]Prodrive run Honda retained Yorkshire's James Thompson with ex BMW driver Peter Kox replacing 1994 champion Gabriele Tarquini, who moved to STW to spearhead Honda's assault on the 1998 Super Tourenwagen Cup.

TWR Volvo had also changed their lineup with former Ferrari, Footwork and Sauber F1 driver Gianni Morbidelli replacing Kelvin Burt, who switched to JTCC, to partner Swede Rickard Rydell who remained with the team for a fifth season.

Vauxhall engineered and run by Triple Eight continued with Derek Warwick and 1995 champion John Cleland racing the Vectra. Following the disaster with aerodynamics in 1997 Triple Eight developed the aero themselves for 1998.^[5]

One of the biggest stories going into the season was that Ford had signed 1992 Formula One champion Nigel Mansell to compete in three rounds of the championship.^[6] For all other rounds New Zealander Craig Baird, a former works BMW driver in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, will race alongside 1991 champion Will Hoy, now in his eleventh season of BTCC competition.

Switching from Ford Paul Radisich joined Tim Harvey at Peugeot whose 406's were again run by Motor Sport Developments (MSD).

Alfa Romeo announced that they would make a comeback to the BTCC by entering later rounds of the season. Fabrizio Giovanardi and Nicola Larini were scheduled to drive^[7] the new 156 but Alfa's plans fell through, and the team never appeared.

Reigning independents champion Robb Gravett again entered his 1996 Honda Accord^[8] now run by Brookes Motorsport. A second car was entered at Oulton Park in September for Lee Brookes but didn't start either race.

Matt Neal raced a 1997 Nissan Primera^[9] run by family outfit Team Dynamics.

D.C.Cook Motorsport entered the 1997 championship winning Renault Laguna for Norwegian Tommy Rustad and for the final two meetings they also entered a Honda Accord^[10] for Paula Cook.

Mardi Gras Motorsport entered a Honda Accord for Norwegian Roger Moen until team and driver went their separate ways after the Croft rounds. The team took over the running of Mark Lemmer's Vauxhall Vectra^[11] for three meetings in the second half of the season after he split with Mint Motorsport who had run the car until Croft.

Entry list[edit]

Volvo placed second in the Manufacturers Championship with its S40s

• ^1 Despite being on the entry list, the Alfa Romeo team did not contest any races.

Calendar[edit]

All races were held in the United Kingdom.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Winning Independent
1	R1	Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire	13 April	Rickard Rydell	Rickard Rydell	Rickard Rydell	Volvo S40 Racing	Mark Lemmer
	R2			Rickard Rydell	Alain Menu	Alain Menu	Blend 37 Williams Renault	Matt Neal
2	R3	Silverstone Circuit (International), Northamptonshire	26 April	James Thompson	David Leslie	David Leslie	Vodafone Nissan Racing	Robb Gravett
	R4			Jason Plato	James Thompson	Will Hoy	Ford Mondeo Racing	Robb Gravett
3	R5	Donington Park (National), Leicestershire	4 May	Rickard Rydell	David Leslie	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport	Matt Neal
	R6			David Leslie	David Leslie	David Leslie	Vodafone Nissan Racing	Matt Neal
4	R7	Brands Hatch (Indy), Kent	17 May	Rickard Rydell	Anthony Reid	Rickard Rydell	Volvo S40 Racing	Tommy Rustad
	R8			Rickard Rydell	Anthony Reid	Rickard Rydell	Volvo S40 Racing	Matt Neal
5	R9	Oulton Park (Fosters), Cheshire	25 May	Alain Menu	Alain Menu	Alain Menu	Blend 37 Williams Renault	Tommy Rustad
	R10			Anthony Reid	Anthony Reid	Jason Plato	Blend 37 Williams Renault	Tommy Rustad
6	R11	Donington Park (National), Leicestershire	14 June	Anthony Reid	Rickard Rydell	Anthony Reid	Vodafone Nissan Racing	Robb Gravett
	R12			Anthony Reid	Anthony Reid	John Cleland	Vauxhall Sport	Matt Neal
7	R13	Croft Circuit, North Yorkshire	28 June	James Thompson	James Thompson	James Thompson	Team Honda Sport	Matt Neal
	R14			David Leslie	David Leslie	Rickard Rydell	Volvo S40 Racing	Robb Gravett
8	R15	Snetterton Circuit, Norfolk	26 July	Anthony Reid	Matt Neal	Anthony Reid	Vodafone Nissan Racing	Robb Gravett
	R16			Anthony Reid	Anthony Reid	James Thompson	Team Honda Sport	Robb Gravett
9	R17	Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire	2 August	Rickard Rydell	Anthony Reid	Anthony Reid	Vodafone Nissan Racing	Matt Neal
	R18			Anthony Reid	Anthony Reid	Alain Menu	Blend 37 Williams Renault	Mark Lemmer
10	R19	Knockhill Circuit, Fife	16 August	Anthony Reid