Steven Soper (born 27 September 1951) is a British racing driver.

Soper raced in major sports car and touring car categories in the 1980s and 1990s. He was Japanese Touring Car Champion in 1995, and also won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1987, the 24 Hours of Spa in 1992 and 1995 and the Guia Race in 1997. He achieved many of his successes through his longest association, with BMW, and is widely regarded as one of the best Touring car racers of all time.

Career Across just over two decades, Soper won three major races: the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1987, the 24 Hours of Spa in 1995 and the Guia Race in 1997.

One-Make Racing Soper was successful in one make series, notably winning the inaugural MG Metro Challenge in 1981.

Touring Car Racing

Soper made his British Saloon Car Championship debut in 1982 in an Austin Metro. His talent was spotted by Tom Walkinshaw and he joined TWR in 1983. He won the championship in his first season with the works Austin Rover team but rival Frank Sytner protested the TWR team and his Rover Vitesse was later deemed illegal due to an issue with the engine installation. TWR was disqualified and the title was awarded to Andy Rouse. He later joined Eggenberger Motorsport and finished as runner-up in the series in 1988 in a Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth, enjoying many on-track battles with Andy Rouse in the process.

Soper challenged for the title in 1991, finishing fourth and in 1993, finishing as runner up behind teammate Joachim Winkelhock for BMW. Soper had led the championship for most of the season but a run of bad luck towards the end of the year damaged his title challenge. During the season finale of the 1992 championship, Soper was involved in the infamous collision with John Cleland, which cost Cleland the title and famously led him to label Soper 'an animal'. 1995 saw Soper race in the Japanese Super Touring championship for Schnitzer BMW, winning the championship outright that year.

Soper raced in the German Super Tourenwagen Cup in 1996, challenging for the title until an incident late in the season with his team mate ended his championship chances. He finished second overall to Emanuele Pirro. In 1997 he came second in the FIA GT Championship. Soper finished fifth driving a Ford Sierra for Eggenberger Motorsport in the one-off World Touring Car Championship in 1987 run under Group A regulations. That year, he won the Bathurst 1000, but was later disqualified for a technical infringement Soper was offered a works drive for BMW, and competed in the night European, Japanese and German Touring Car Championships. During the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, he expressed dislike of the 24-hour classic race, established in the early 20th century.

By 2000, Soper fell out of favour with Gerhard Berger, who was in charge of BMW's motorsport operations and retired from racing as he was solely interested in racing BMWs and acquired a BMW dealership in Lincoln. For 2001, he reluctantly made a surprise return to the British Touring Car Championship with Peugeot. The car's build rendered it less successful than the Vauxhall Astra. He finished 6th in a thin field and was advised to retire on medical grounds after a heavy crash in the final round.

In 2013, Soper, who had earned the nickname "Soperman" (with final syllable stress to sound like "superman") from his fans during his career, announced plans, on medical clearance, to race.

In 2005, Soper was ranked as the greatest touring car driver ever by a panel of experts in Motor Sport Magazine. In 2024, Autosport ranked him as the greatest BTCC driver to not have won the title.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon / Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1973–1990 in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DC Pts Class 1982 Hepolite Glacier Racing Austin Metro 1300 HLS SILovr:?cls:3 MALRet† OULovr:6†cls:2† THRovr:12cls:1 THRRet SILRet DONovr:10cls:1 BRHovr:17cls:2 DONovr:9cls:1 BRHovr:6cls:1 SILovr:14cls:1 3rd 65 2nd 1983 Team Sanyo Racing with Esso Rover Vitesse SILovr:1cls:1 OULovr:3cls:3 THRovr:7cls:5 BRHovr:1cls:1 THR SILovr:1cls:1 DONRet SILovr:1cls:1 DONovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:2cls:2 SILovr:2cls:2 DSQ 68 DSQ 1984 Team Sanyo Racing with Esso Rover Vitesse DONovr:2cls:2 SIL OUL THR THRovr:1cls:1 SIL SNE BRH BRH DON SIL WD 0 WD 1985 Roger Dowson Engineering MG Metro Turbo SILRet OUL THR DON THR SIL DON SIL SNE BRH BRH SIL NC 0 NC 1988 Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 SIL OUL THRovr:1cls:1 DON THR SIL SIL BRHovr:2cls:2 SNE BRH BIR DONovr:2cls:2 SIL 15th 21 6th 1989 BMW Team Finance BMW M3 OUL SIL THR DONovr:11‡cls:4‡ THR SIL SIL BRH SNE BRH BIR DON SIL 43rd 4 10th 1991 BMW Team Finance BMW M3 SIL18 SNE DON1 THR SIL BRH SIL1 DON12 DON2Ret OUL3 BRH16 BRH2Ret DON THR1 SIL 4th 96 1992 M Team Shell Racingwith Listerine BMW 318is SIL THR5 OUL8 SNE BRH3 DON117 DON23 SIL KNO14 KNO26 PEM2 BRH1Ret BRH25 DON2 SILRet 6th 77 1993 BMW Motorsport Team BMW 318i SIL1 DON3 SNE1 DON3 OULRet BRH14 BRH21 PEM3 SILRet KNO112 KNO28 OUL2 BRH3 THR6 DON1Ret DON25 SIL5 2nd 150 1994 BMW MotorsportTeam Schnitzer BMW 318i THR4 BRH110 BRH26 SNE8 SIL1 SIL2 OUL4 DON1 DON2 BRH14 BRH214 SIL KNO13 KNO21 OUL BRH15 BRH24 SIL122 SIL25 DON112 DON2Ret 7th 102 2001 Peugeot Sport UK Peugeot 406 Coupé BRH17† BRH2ovr:4*cls:4 THR1 THR2 OUL1ovr:16cls:5 OUL2 SIL1ovr:11cls:6 SIL2ovr:6cls:6 MON1ovr:4cls:3 MON2 DON1ovr:6cls:6 DON2ovr:5*cls:5 KNO1 KNO2ovr:4*cls:4 SNE1ovr:20cls:5 SNE2ovr:4cls:4 CRO1ovr:12cls:5 CRO2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1ovr:20cls:10 SIL2ovr:8cls:8 DON1ovr:20cls:9 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 6th 93 – Race was stopped due to heavy rain. No points were awarded.

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

‡ Endurance driver.

Complete European Touring Car Championship results Source:

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 1986 Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra XR4Ti MNZRet DONRet HOC3 MISRet AND BRNRet ZELRet NURRet SPA7 SILRet NOG4 ZOL11 JARRet EST1 30th 69 1987 Ford Texaco Racing Team Ford Sierra RS Cosworth DON EST2† AND ZOL1† ZEL IMO NOG NC 0 1988 Ford Texaco Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 MNZ1 DONRet EST1 JAR1 DIJ1 VALRet NUR1 SPA4 ZOLRet SIL2 NOG1 2nd 290 † Not eligible for points.

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points 1987 Ford Texaco Racing Team Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MNZDSQ JARovr:5cls:6 DIJovr:3cls:1 NURRet SPARet 5th 193 Ford Sierra RS500 BNOovr:2cls:2 SILovr:13cls:5 BATDSQ CLDovr:1cls:1 WELovr:3cls:2 FJIovr:5cls:3 * Overall race position shown. Registered WTCC points paying position may differ.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Pts 1987 Ford Grab Motorsport Ford Sierra XR4Ti HOC ZOL NÜR AVU MFA NOR NÜR WUN DIE SAL 27th 16 1988 Ford Ringhausen Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRN1 BRN2 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1 MFA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 WUN1 WUN2 SAL1 SAL2 HUN1 HUN2 HOC1 HOC2 24th 36 1989 BMW M Team Zakspeed BMW M3 Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MFA1 MFA2 AVU1 AVU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 HOC1 HOC2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 5th 233 1990 BMW M Team Bigazzi BMW M3 Sport Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1 MFA2 WUN1 WUN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 4th 152 1991 BMW M Team Bigazzi BMW M3 Sport Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 WUN1 WUN2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ALE1 ALE2 HOC1 HOC2 BRN1 BRN2 DON1 DON2 5th 133 1992 BMW M Team Bigazzi BMW M3 Sport Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 WUN1 WUN2 AVU1 AVU2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 BRN1 BRN2 DIE1 DIE2 ALE1 ALE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 9th 109

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 1988 Miedecke Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 BATRet WELNC PUK1† FUJ NC 0 1994 BMW Team Schnitzer BMW 318i FUJ1 FUJ2 MAC1 MAC2 SEN1 SEN2 WEL1 WEL2 CLD1 CLD2 CHE1 CHE2 3rd ? † Not eligible for points.

Complete Italian Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts 1990 Bigazzi M Team BMW M3 Sport Evolution A1 MNZ12 MNZ24 VAR1 VAR2 PER2 PER1 MAG1 MAG2 VAL1 VAL2 MIS1 MIS2 MIS1 MIS2 IMO13 IMO22 VAR1 VAR2 MNZ1Ret MNZ26 13th 58 1992 CiBiEmme Engineering BMW M3 Sport Evolution S1 MNZ13 MNZ29 MAG1 MAG2 MUG1 MUG2 BIN1 BIN2 VAL1 VAL2 IMO1 IMO2 MIS1 MIS2 PER1 PER2 VAR1 VAR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 16th 14 1996 Scuderia Bigazzi BMW 320i MUG1 MUG2 MAG1 MAG2 MNZ1 MNZ2 BIN1 BIN2 MIS1 MIS2 IMO1 IMO2 PER1 PER2 PER1 PER2 VAR1 VAR2 VAL18 VAL22 14th 18

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1994 BMW Team Schnitzer BMW 318i AUT1 AUT2 SUG1 SUG2 TOK1 TOK2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 AID1 AID2 TSU1 TSU2 SEN1 SEN2 FUJ1 FUJ2 3rd 132 1995 BMW Team Schnitzer BMW 318i FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 TOK1 TOK2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 AID1 AID2 SEN1 SEN2 FUJ1 FUJ2 1st 124

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results Source: (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car1234567891011121314151617181920 Pos Pts 1995 BMW Team Schnitzer BMW 318is ZOL1 ZOL2 SPA1 SPA2 ÖST1 ÖST2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2SAL111SAL27 AVU122 AVU220 NÜR13 NÜR24 21st 90 1996 BMW Team Bigazzi BMW 320i ZOL17 ZOL24 ASS11 ASS23 HOC16 HOC23 SAC15 SAC22 WUN11 WUN23 ZWE13 ZWE22 SAL11 SAL22 AVU1Ret AVU26 NÜR113 NÜR2Ret 2nd 491 1997 Isert BMW-Team BMW 320i HOC1 HOC2 ZOL1 ZOL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAC1 SAC2 NOR1 NOR2 WUN1 WUN2 ZWE1 ZWE2 SAL1 SAL2 REG1 REG2 NÜR116 NÜR212 30th 23

Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1984 Mobil Rover Racing Ron Dickson Rover Vitesse Group A 116 29th 8th 1987* Ford Texaco Racing Team Pierre Dieudonné Ford Sierra RS500 1 161 DSQ DSQ 1988 Miedecke Motorsport Andrew Miedecke Ford Sierra RS500 A 102 DNF DNF 1993 Benson & Hedges Racing Tony Longhurst BMW M3 Evolution A 79 DNF DNF * 1987 finished 1st on the road but later disqualified.

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1983 Mazdaspeed Jeff Allam James Weaver Mazda 717C C Jr. 267 18th 2nd 1996 Team Bigazzi Team BMW Motorsport Jacques Laffite Marc Duez McLaren F1 GTR GT1 318 11th 9th 1997 Team BMW Motorsport BMW Team Schnitzer JJ Lehto Nelson Piquet McLaren F1 GTR GT1 236 DNF DNF 1998 Team BMW Motorsport Hans-Joachim Stuck Tom Kristensen BMW V12 LM LMP1 60 DNF DNF 1999 Price+Bscher Thomas Bscher Bill Auberlen BMW V12 LM LMP 345 5th 4th

Macau Grand Prix Guia Race results YearTeamCarClassHeat 1Heat 21993 Watson’s Team SchnitzerBMW 318iFIA Class 2 - -DNF1994 San Miguel Team SchnitzerBMW 318isFIA Class 22nd2nd2nd1995 BMW Team SchnitzerBMW 318isFIA Class 25th2nd2nd1996 BMW Team BigazziBMW 320iFIA Class 2DNF1st12th1997 BMW Team BigazziBMW 320iFIA Class 21st1st1st1998 BMW Team SchnitzerBMW 320iFIA Class 21st1st1st2001 WK Longman RacingPeugeot 306Super Production3rdDNF -

References

External links

Official Steve Soper Website