Menu satisfies hunger for victory

Alain Menu gave the Williams-Renault team a second reason to celebrate following Damon Hill's win in the French Grand Prix yesterday. Menu scored the outfit's first victories of the British Touring Car Championship with a pair of successes here yesterday.

The Swiss driver, runner-up in the series for the past two seasons, has struggled for success for much of this year. But it all came right at the Kent track. "I knew it would be good," said Menu, who started from pole position in each of the 17-lap races. "We went testing last week, improved the car and after qualifying I was sure that two wins were possible."

Such was his domination that both races became something of a procession. Menu led the Audi of the championship leader, Frank Biela, for every lap of round 13, the German struggling to keep Rickard Rydell's Volvo behind. "I couldn't catch Alain today but for me second place was as good a result as I could expect," said Biela, who kept his series lead with the result.

The second race of the day was again dominated by Menu. His nearest rival, some six seconds behind, was the former champion Jo Winkelhock who made a stunning start in his BMW to rub body panels with the Renault of Will Hoy and David Leslie's Honda all the way to the first corner. Hoy survived their collision to take third place at the end while Leslie suffered a late race spin, dropping to seventh at the finish. However, he came home ahead of the series leader Biela, who had a bad race in eighth place.

Results, Digest, page 23