Volvo (1994 - 1999)

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
850 Estate 850 Saloon 850 Saloon S40 Saloon S40 Saloon S40 Saloon
R. Rydell R. Rydell R. Rydell R. Rydell R. Rydell R. Rydell
J. Lammers T. Harvey K. Burt K. Burt G. Morbidelli V. Radermecker

Rickard Rydell - 1994 Volvo 850 Estate

 Volvo first entered the BTCC in 1994, with one aim: To win the championship within three years. This proved to be a little optimistic, taking a further two years than anticipated to realise their aims. Tom Walkinshaw's firm TWR were recruited to run the team, with drivers Rickard Rydell and Jan Lammers piloting the rather unusual choice of the Volvo 850 estate.  The Volvos were only just ready in time for the first race of the season and consequently the 24 strong team, with little 2-litre touring class racing experience, had no time in which to test and shakedown the cars prior to racing.  After an unremarkable first season the saloon variant of the 850 range was chosen for the start of the 1995 championship, with '92 champion Tim Harvey replacing Jan Lammers.  Unlike '94 the team put in more pre-season testing than anyone else and were fully prepared by the start of the '95 season.  Rickard Rydell showed the new cars potential from the start of the season by taking pole position in the first two races at Donington Park. After finishing fourth in the first race, Rydell gave Volvo their first win in race two with Tim Harvey coming in third. The '95 season was a huge success for the Volvo team with both drivers doing well, Rydell finally finishing the championship in a creditable third place.
1996 saw Kelvin Burt join Rydell for the start of the season, with Tim Harvey moving onto Peugeot.  Volvo had every reason to believe that this was going to be their year after the results of the previous year.  When Rickard Rydell secured pole position at  Donington Park for the first race of the championship everything seemed to be going to plan.  Unfortunately for Volvo a certain German racer by the name of Frank Biela, in an Audi A4, had other plans.  The Audis were in dominant form throughout the season and even though Rydell took four race wins it wasn't to be Volvos championship year as hoped.  The team also suffered a set back at Oulton Park where Kelvin Burt was involved in a massive 'shunt' leaving Rydell to shoulder a lot of the work throughout the rest of the season.  Snetterton stand-in driver Jamie Davies damaged another car when it had to be cut from around him after a crash during testing.  With all the 'goings on' at Volvo it is to Rydell's credit that he was just beaten to second place in the championship by Alain Menu at Brands Hatch, the last meeting of the season.  Consolation for Volvo was the fact that they were the best front wheel drive marque, in the manufacturers' championship, finishing third overall.

Rickard Rydell - 1995 Volvo 850 Saloon
The same driver line-up remained for the start of the '97 season but the car was different.  Volvo and TWR unveilled the new S40 after some promising winter testing.  The S40s debut year brought some success, but a good deal less than the TWR-run Volvo operation had experienced with the 850.  Rydell finished second in three of the first four races and quickly became Alain Menu's early season challenger.  However after round 5, at Thruxton, the S40 seemed to lose pace and both Rydell and Burt spent much of the middle part of the year in the mid-field.  Rydell took the car's debut win at Brands Hatch and after a long and hard fought season finally finished in fourth place in the drivers' championship.

Rickard Rydell - 1998 Volvo S40

 In December 1997, Italian F1 driver Gianni Morbidelli switched to Touring car racing, and replaced Kelvin Burt in the number two S40, for 1998. Designer Brendan Gribben produced a much-improved second generation S40, and it certainly proved to be the car to beat that year.  Whilst the S40 was by no means the quickest car at all venues the new feature race format gave the pit crews a chance to make a difference.  The TWR team got things right from race one and consequently Rydell finished on the podium 17 times during the season finishing as champion with 254 points, and Volvo taking second in the Manufacturers' table.  The only blot on what turned out to be a near perfect year for Volvo was the poor season had by Gianni Morbidelli who finally finished in 11th place.  Much was hoped for in 1999, with Rydell hoping to be the first driver to retain the championship since the advent of the super tourer class in 1991. Although a strong contender all season he suffered from unreliability problems with the car and was unable to break the dominance of the Nissan Primeras of Aiello and Leslie.  He eventually ended the season in 3rd place.  Vincent Radermecker's BTCC debut having replaced Morbidelli, was impressive, finishing in 8th place gaining three 3rd place finishes and one 2nd place.  Overall it was a good but not perfect final year for Volvo having decided to quit the BTCC at the end of 1999.
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