Biela fired by new believers

Andrew Baker reports on an import's impact on the British touring car championship

Monte Carlo is a traffic policeman's paradise: point a radar gun at a line of traffic, and the odds are that it will contain a professional racing driver on his way home at speed. The tiny principality is where Johnny Herbert, David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve and Gerhard Berger put their feet up after a hard weekend's work. It is also the domicile of two world champions from Germany: Michael Schumacher and Frank Biela.

If one of those names is unfamiliar, it may not be so for long. Frank Biela is a former world champion touring car driver, a form of motor sport that is becoming more popular with every passing season. Races in the British Touring Car Championship, the most competitive in the world, regularly attract crowds of more than 30,000 and television viewing figures of pounds 4.5m.

The appeal of the series, for saloon cars based on high street models, has always been close racing, but Biela and his four-wheel-drive Audi are threatening the tradition. So far this year, Biela has won four races out of six, and already his rivals are starting to suggest that he be allocated handicap weights.

"In terms of touring car racing Frank seems almost ideal," his team manager, John Wickham, said. "He's quick, he's calm and he understands the car very well. He has had a lot of new circuits to learn but I have been surprised by how quickly he has adapted." Biela's team-mate, the comparatively inexperienced British driver John Bintcliffe, draws a simple comparison: "Frank is the Michael Schumacher of touring car racing."

Biela himself is dismissive of the idea that he is running away with the championship. "This is a very close series," he insisted during a break from testing at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire. "We can have 17 cars covered by no more than a second, even on a long circuit like Silverstone. The competition is bigger than in any other championship, there's no doubt."

Biela should know. The life of a touring car driver with a factory contract is peripatetic. Biela kicked off his Audi career in the German Touring Car Championship in 1991, which he won. He then moved on to the French championship in 1993, winning that also. Last year he won the World Cup, held in France, and an international event in South Africa. He is said to have demanded a posting to the British series this year.

"The circuits in this country are more interesting than the others that I have driven on," he said. "More difficult or tricky." The other appeal for the laconic 31-year-old is the profusion of golf courses in Britain. "It is really necessary to play golf at the moment," he said, with a very straight face. Had he found that his swing benefited his rhythm behind the wheel? "No, it is because right now my handicap is not so good."

When he can be prised away from the fairways, Biela returns to Monte Carlo, where he lives with his partner Michaela and their daughter Isabell. But even at home, sport dominates. "I see a lot of the other racing drivers who live there," he admitted. "We have a lot of fun."

Biela has fun at work, as well, even in trying circumstances. His favourite meeting so far this year was at Thruxton, where he all but destroyed his Audi in practice, then won a race in the rebuilt car, and drove it from the back of the grid to finish third in the weekend's other race. Eventful stuff.

Murray Walker, who commentates on BTCC races for the BBC, is a big fan of the series. "I think it is absolutely stunning," he said. "The organisers have put together a superb, fast-moving, high-stepping package." He reckons the appeal of the series to the punter is based on the "I've got one of those" mentality: Mondeo, Vectra and Cavalier owners like the thought of cars resembling their own hurtling around the circuits. And his opinion of Frank Biela? "A charming bloke."

Walker has a point. Schumacher may be faster, but Biela seems to have more friends. "He is not the intense type at all," John Wickham said. "He's very easy to get on with. He was off playing golf with some of the other drivers before we came up to Oulton." Who won? "Frank."