Ginetta Junior dominator Freddie Slater had led the way since early June but he has finally been demoted to second after calling time on his Ginetta campaign to instead enable him to race in Formula 4 machinery.
But, while he suffered the disappointment of losing top spot on Autosport's leaderboard, he did seal the Junior title last weekend as his nearest rivals failed to score sufficient points at Brands Hatch.
New table-topper McLeish achieved the second of his two Knockhill victories with a charging performance during the reversed-grid finale, a result that enables him to climb from third to first.
He is tied with Slater on 16 2023 victories but moves ahead courtesy of there being a higher average number of starters for his triumphs.
McLeish's main Scottish Legends rival, Stewart Black, scored three wins over the weekend - which featured action on both the clockwise and anti-clockwise Knockhill layouts - to take his own tally to 12 victories and he moves up 11 places into eighth.
While McLeish took advantage of Slater not racing in the UK, a number of other leading top 10 contenders failed to do so. Lucas Romanek, Aidan Hills, Steve Foden and Elliot Lettis all missed out on the chance to boost their positions after a rare weekend where they were not victorious.
One driver who did enjoy some success was Michael Cullen. Although he did not achieve any Fiesta firsts at Mondello Park, he did top both Irish Stryker races to move to 14 wins for the year and climb from seventh to fifth.
The other change inside the top 10 is two Ginetta GT victories for Luke Reade at Brands not only sealing him the championship but also taking him from 14th to ninth on the table.
Further back, there was a Ginetta GT Academy hat-trick for Nick White, as main rival Ravi Ramyead faltered, which moves him above Ramyead in the rankings as he gains 18 spots to 12th.
Another Legends racer to enjoy success was Peter Barrable in the Irish category. His brace sends him from 22nd to 15th.
Also improving inside the top half of the table is Tom Mills. He continued his GB4 domination with another two victories and this meant he was another champion to be crowned at Brands, while he also jumps up 11 places to 18th in Autosport's table.
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 | 0 | 14 |
| 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) | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 7 | Steve Foden (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 8 | Stewart Black (Legends Ford Coupe) | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 9 | Luke Reade (Ginetta G56 GT4) | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 10 | Elliot Lettis (Peugeot 107) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 11 | Daire Flock (Citroen Saxo VTR) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 12 | Nick White (Ginetta G56 GTA) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 13 | Ravi Ramyead (Ginetta G56 GTA) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 14 | Jonathan Lovell (Porsche Boxster S) | 10 | 1 | 11 |
| 15 | Peter Barrable (Legends Ford Coupe) | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| 16 | Graham Fennymore (Reynard SF81) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 17 | Jason West (BMW M3 E46) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 18 | Tom Mills (Tatuus F4-TO14) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 19 | Gordon Duncan (Radical PR6) | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| 20 | Dan Silvester (Toyota MR2 Mk2/Honda Civic) | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| 21 | Ash Sutton (Ford Focus ST) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 22 | Freddie Chiddicks (Caterham 7 270R) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 23 | Jake Hill (BMW 330e M Sport/Nissan Primera GT/Ford Capri III 3.0S) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 24 | Stewart Place (Peugeot 205 GTI) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 25 | Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk20A) | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| 26 | Mathieu Gauthier-Thornton (Phantom P94) | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| 27 | Joe Jessup (Honda Civic Type R) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 28 | James Lay (Radical SR3) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 29 | Dan Zelos (Mini Cooper JCW) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 30 | Samuel Harrison (Brabham BT21B) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 31 | Andrew Graham (Triumph TR8/MGB) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 32 | Charles Hall (Mittell MC-41R) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 33 | Horatio Fitz-Simon (Lotus 22/Lotus Elan/Lotus Elan 26R) | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 34 | Bryan Bransom (BMW M3 E46) | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 35 | Kian O’Brien (Mini Cooper/Ford Fiesta ST) | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 36 | Cameron Fenton (Global GT Light) | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 37 | Gary Prebble (Honda Civic/SEAT Leon Cupra 20v T) | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 38 | Karl O’Brien (Dallara F307) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 39 | Michael Gibbins (MCR S2n) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 40 | Ben Wheatley (Caterham 7 Sigma 135) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 | Neil Fowler (MGB GTV8) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 42 | Charlie Lower (Caterham 7 270R) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 | Liam McGill (Ford Fiesta ST/Honda Civic EP3) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | Jordan Kelly (Van Diemen RF06) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 45 | Steven Larkham (Radical PR6) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 46 | Phil Wright (Honda Civic EP3) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 47 | Nigel Greensall (TVR Griffith 200/Shelby Cobra/Ford Capri/Lotus Elan GTS/Lister-Jaguar Knobbly/Jaguar E-type) | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 48 | Stuart Waite (BMW M3 E36) | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 49 | Matthew Hyde (AHS Dominator) | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 50 | Mike Jordan (Mini Se7en) | 6 | 1 | 7 |
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.
