Education
Cleland finished 2nd in class in 1990 and 5th overall.
Cleland finished 2nd in class in 1990 and 5th overall.
He is currently a co-commentator alongside Martin Haven on the English world feed of the World Touring Carolina Championship which is used by Eurosport. During this time the Commodore ran as a Vauxhall Senator. The 2-litre Cavalier was introduced the next year, in readiness for the single 2-litre format in 1991.
In 1993 and 1994 the championship was dominated by Bayerische Motoren Werke and Alfa Romeo respectively, and John had to make do with fourth overall in both years.
1995 proved to be the breakthrough year for the Cavalier, ironically in its last year of competition. Despite the Volvo 850 and Renault Laguna often having the edge in speed, in the hands of Rickard Rydell and Alain Menu respectively, Cleland"s consistent run of points finishes allied to a four-race winning streak in the mid-season allowed him to beat both drivers to the title.
Foreign 1996, the Cavalier was replaced by the new Vectra, which turned out to be a problematic package. Cleland finished 8th in the title chase.
1997 proved to be even worse, with John slipping to 12th in the standings and Vauxhall finishing bottom of the Constructors" title.
1998 was better, and John took two victories, both at Donington Park - a traditional happy hunting ground for the Scotsman - before a heavy crash at Snetterton interrupted his season. In 1999 Cleland was outpaced by team newcomer Yvan Muller and decided by mid-season to retire. He finished his last race at a wet Silverstone in tenth place, after being given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits, which provoked a typically belligerent reaction from Cleland over a live radio link to his car that had been set up by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Aside running his long running car dealership, he has done several guest drives since, including appearances in a Dodge Viper in the British GT series, an ASCAR race at Rockingham, twelve Bathurst 1000s between 1993 and 2005 for Advantage Racing, Pinnacle Motorsport, Gibson Motorsport, Triple Eight, Greenfield Mowers Racing and Brad Jones Racing with a best finish of 2nd in the 2001 event, co driving with Brad Jones, and the BTCC Masters race in 2004.
He now runs a Volvo and Jaguar dealership.
John is also a co-commentator for Eurosport on their WTCC coverage. He replaced fellow Scot David Leslie after his death in 2008.
Complete British Touring Carolina Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded all races 1996 onwards, 1989-1990 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded all races - 1989-1990 in class) * signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap (1 point awarded - 1998 onwards)
– Race was stopped due to heavy rain. Number points were awarded.