Peugeot was a long-time manufacturer entry in the British Touring Car Championship and never cracked a win, until it came down to Australia.
The French manufacturer joined the BTCC during the early stages of the 2.0-litre formula in 1992 spearheaded by Robb Gravett, who had won the title two years earlier.
Peugeot used the 405 for its initial seasons in the BTCC where it proved a strong package between 1993-1994 for five podiums and new recruit Patrick Watts scored eighth in the title.
An aging 405 was replaced at the end of 1995 with the new 406 and the first win appeared closer, but this wasn’t the case.
Peugeot’s factory squad competed in the German STW series and there was a clear divide between the British program run by MSD.
Data sharing was non-existent, homologation and updates were produced for the faster STW circuits rather than those in Britain, plus the UK budget was significantly less.
Noted rain master and 1992 BTCC champion Tim Harvey nearly gave Peugeot a win in changeable conditions at Thruxton during the 1997 season, but just fell short.
The Peugeot program in the BTCC came to a quiet end in 1998 as the Super Touring era began to close.
It wasn’t the end of the pair of Peugeots though.
Australian fans had witnessed a team of two Peugeots take on Bathurst for the first Super Touring 1000 in 1997, but a return was to occur in 1999.
Watts was commissioned to drive the opening two rounds of the Australian Super Touring Championship in one of the 1998 406s to find a new home at Paul Grimm’s Station Enterprises squad.
Opening the season at Lakeside, Watts made an auspicious start to his Australian tour by failing to start the opening race after scoring pole.
Watts returned for the second race and took his first Peugeot victory after five seasons to enter the second round of the title at Oran Park matching the leading local drivers in Paul Morris, Jim Richards and Brad Jones.
Two seconds at Oran Park concluded Watts’ program in Australia as the two 406s stayed back until 2010. It was Watts, who purchased the pair and restored both 406s back to 1998 specification.
Find the full story in the linked video below.