European Touring Car Challenge
1965 index
The ETCC of 1965 was all about Alan Mann's Lotus Cortina and its driver, Sir John Whitmore. They were the class of the field, as Paddy McNally's end-of-season review in Autosport tells us:
"In the European Touring Car Challenge, Sir John Whitmore was outstandingly succesful, his Alan Mann Lotus Ford Cortina proving to be both fast and reliable. The popular racing baronet often won his races outright as well as the class, and shattered course and circuit records everywhere he went."
But, as we know now, this was not to last: Alfa Romeo was going to enter the ETCC in full force in 1966, after some attemps in this year. The Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA was going to be formidable opposition.
For the first time, the championship was divided into three divisions. Division 1 champ was Ed Swart (Abarth), Division 2 and overall champion was Whitmore, and in division 3 the young Belgian Ickx collected most of the points, but since only two races counted towards the championship there was no official title for him.