David Leslie, who has died at the age of 54, was one of the star♋s of the British Touring Car💖 Championship during the hugely popular Super Touring era of the 1990s.

The Scot was a multiple title-winner in karting early 🎀in his career securing five Scottish Karting crowns before moving into single-seaters, where𝓰 he secured further title glory in both Formula Ford and F2000 in the late 1970's.

From there, Leslie moved into Formula Three and then into Sportscars, running with the Ecurie Ecosse team in the World Sportscar Championship - where he finished second i✱n the 🅺C2 Class in 1987 - and competing at Le Mans with Mazda.

Having made the move into the BTCC with a BMW in 1990 and 1991, Leslie was then r🌟eunited with the Ecosse team in 1992 in 🌼a Vauxhall Cavalier.

His firstಞ season with the team saw him start on pole position twice and finish seventh in the championship standings while a year later he tasted BTCC victory for the first time on his way▨ to eighth in the standings.

For 1994, Leslie moved over to Mazda but only ran selected races due to budgetary issues, before a full-time return 🦹to the series in 1995 spearheading Honda's challenge with the new Accord.

After a year of development with the car, Leslie was in a positꦬion to fight for hono🍰urs in 1996 and took the team's first victory in the British Grand Prix support race at Silverstone.

Three wins over the course of the year gave him what was then a personal best finish of fourth in the champio🍎nship s𒉰tandings.

♋A new challenge lay ahead for 1997 as Leslie moved to Nissan, a team that had endured years of und🌺erachievement to that point. The Scot ran alongside his countryman Anthony Reid for two seasons before being joined in 1999 by Frenchman Laurent Aiello.

The Primera was the dominant force over the🌜 course of the year and Leslie won on three occasions to finish second behind Aiello in the championship standings. Nissan also picked up the manufacturers' title before electing♑ to bow out of the BTCC on a high.

Selected races in the BTCC and sportscars over the following years was followed by a full-time return to the tourin𒐪g car scene in 2002 for Proton, as the Malaysian marque moved into the s🍸eries for the first time.

Two-seasons with the under-funded Impiaꦜn yielded a best finish of second at Croft in 2003 before the curtain came down on Leslie's time in the BTCC after a career that had given him nine wins, 35 podiums a🅺nd 16 poles from 220 starts.

Even after departing the BTCC, Leslie remained active on the racin📖g scene, contesting 💛a number of events at historic and club level, including outings in the Walter Hayes Trophy each year at Silverstone.

He also joined forces with Harry Handkammer to race a BMW in the Britcar Series, and it was in Britcar where he took his final victory on 22 March this yearꦫ - alongside Handkammer - at Silverstone despite atrocious weather conditions.

Leslie was also a respected commentator for Eurosport on its coverage of the World Touring Car Cha🌸mpionship.

He leaves a wife and two sons.