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Autosport
Autosport
National
Marcus Simmons

BTCC champion Sutton charges into Autosport National Driver Rankings top 10

The Ford Focus racer ended his season in style with two further victories at Brands Hatch last weekend to take his tally to a remarkable 12 for the season.

And, as well as cementing his championship success, those wins also enable him to jump up nine places on Autosport's winners' table to 10th spot.

While Sutton is the highest-placed improver following a busy weekend of national motorsport, he was not the only driver inside the top 10 to add to their victory total.

Both Mazda MX-5 Supercup champion Aidan Hills (at Silverstone) and Toyota MR2 Mk2 ace Dan Silvester (at Oulton Park) took a further win but these were not enough to allow them to rise from their respective sixth and seventh positions.

One driver who has improved without even racing last weekend is Junior Saloon Car star Daire Flock. A hearing into a controversial Oulton Park weekend in July resulted in him being credited with an extra 13th win of the year.

That in turn has sent him up a place to eighth on the leaderboard - and he has his mum to thank for his elevated ranking after she informed Autosport of the result change!

Further back, there was a rare defeat for Jonathan Lovell in the Porsche Boxster Cup opener at Snetterton thanks to a track-limits penalty. He did return to winning ways in race two, however, to climb three places to 13th.

Meanwhile, Jake Hill battled illness to take the last win of the BTCC season after an entertaining finale, which therefore takes him from 21st to 15th.

Steve McDermid (Photo by: Ollie Read)

He is one place ahead of Steve McDermid, who rocketed 25 spots up the table after claiming three MG Owners' Club triumphs at Pembrey. But it was not enough for him to retain his title, however, as a trio of class podiums instead handed that honour to Will Sharpe.

Matthew Hyde was another to finish their season with a flourish. He had already secured the Formula Vee championship but still added two more wins at Oulton to take his tally to 11 and means he rises from 33rd to 19th.

Autosport's most successful national racers so far in 2023

Pos Driver (Car) Overall wins Class wins Total
1 Ryan McLeish (Legends Ford Coupe) 16 0 16
2 Freddie Slater (Ginetta G40 Junior) 16 0 16
3 James Clarke (Phantom PR22) 14 1 15
4 Lucas Romanek (Van Diemen JL13) 14 0 14
5 Michael Cullen (Raw Stryker/Ford Fiesta ST/Austin Mini Cooper S) 14 0 14
6 Aidan Hills (Mazda MX-5 Mk3/Ginetta G40 GT5) 13 1 14
7 Dan Silvester (Toyota MR2 Mk2/Honda Civic) 4 10 14
8 Daire Flock (Citroen Saxo VTR) 13 0 13
9 Steve Foden (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 12 0 12
10 Ash Sutton (Ford Focus ST) 12 0 12
11 Stewart Black (Legends Ford Coupe) 12 0 12
12 Luke Reade (Ginetta G56 GT4) 12 0 12
13 Jonathan Lovell (Porsche Boxster S) 11 1 12
14 Elliot Lettis (Peugeot 107) 11 0 11
15 Jake Hill (BMW 330e M Sport/Nissan Primera GT/Ford Capri III 3.0S) 11 0 11
16 Steve McDermid (MG ZR 170/MG ZR 190) 11 0 11
17 Nick White (Ginetta G56 GTA) 11 0 11
18 Ravi Ramyead (Ginetta G56 GTA) 11 0 11
19 Matthew Hyde (AHS Dominator) 10 1 11
20 Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk20A/Van Diemen RF91) 10 1 11
21 Peter Barrable (Legends Ford Coupe) 9 2 11
22 Mathieu Gauthier-Thornton (Phantom P94) 0 11 11
23 Graham Fennymore (Reynard SF81) 10 0 10
24 Dan Zelos (Mini Cooper JCW) 10 0 10
25 Jason West (BMW M3 E46) 10 0 10
26 Andrew Graham (Triumph TR8/MGB) 10 0 10
27 Tom Mills (Tatuus F4-TO14) 10 0 10
28 Gordon Duncan (Radical PR6) 9 1 10
29 Scott Parkin (Volkswagen Golf TDI/Audi TTCR) 2 8 10
30 Andrew Young (MGC GT) 0 10 10
31 James Lay (Radical SR3) 9 0 9
32 Freddie Chiddicks (Caterham 7 270R) 9 0 9
33 Michael Gibbins (MCR S2n) 9 0 9
34 Shaun Traynor (Toyota MR2 Roadster) 9 0 9
35 Neil Fowler (MGB GTV8) 9 0 9
36 Stewart Place (Peugeot 205 GTI) 9 0 9
37= Jordan Kelly (Van Diemen RF06) 9 0 9
37= Steven Larkham (Radical PR6) 9 0 9
39 Phil Wright (Honda Civic EP3) 9 0 9
40 Bryan Bransom (BMW M3 E46) 7 2 9
41 Cameron Fenton (Global GT Light) 5 4 9
42 Graham Moore (GMS Fireblade) 2 7 9
43 Theo Micouris (Radical SR1) 0 9 9
44 Joe Jessup (Honda Civic Type R) 8 0 8
45 Stuart Bliss (Toyota Aygo) 8 0 8
46 Andy Southcott (MG Midget Lenham) 8 0 8
47 Samuel Harrison (Brabham BT21B) 8 0 8
48 Ronan Doherty (Sheane FV94) 8 0 8
49 John Village (Village V2) 8 0 8
50 Charles Hall (Mittell MC-41R) 8 0 8

All car races in UK and Ireland are included except qualification/repechage, consolation and handicap races. No races in other countries.

Class wins are only counted when there are at least six starters in the class. Only classes divided by car characteristics are included. Classes divided by driver characteristics such as ability, professional status, age, experience (for example rookie or Pro-Am classes) are not included. Each race counts only once, so an overall winner’s class win is not added.

Where there is a tie, overall wins take precedence. Where there is still a tie, average grid size for a driver’s wins determines the order.

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