AUTOSPORT’S TOP 10 DRIVERS

1 MIKE BUSHELL

“Perfect” is how Bushell describes his 2017 season. You can’t help but agree with his assessment. Nine wins. Twelve poles. Fifteen podiums. And a 135-point winning margin – a record in the modern era of the Clio Cup (after it replaced the Spider

Cup series of the late 1990s).

It’s very difficult to find fault with his performances, and he carried on winning even after securing the title. Quite simply, he was the best of a field full of drivers with star quality. And as the only champion to seal a crown before the Brands Hatch finale, he has to be number one.

2 DAN CAMMISH

Even though he missed Snetterton, Cammish should still have won a third Carrera Cup crown this year. Without some bad luck – such as his clash with Charlie Eastwood at Knockhill and his freak fire at Silverstone – he would have been champion. Eastwood and Dino Zamparelli took a step forward this season but Cammish remained the class of the field. Winning eight of the 13 races he started again meant he had the best winning percentage of any TOCA series driver and he ends his period of dominance with 40 podiums from 45 races. It’s just that third title that eludes him.

3 JAMIE CAROLINE

Any driver who wins three races in a single-seater around the slipstreaming classic that is Thruxton clearly has talent. And Caroline produced some breathtaking passes to seal an F4 hat-trick. The Carlin driver was unstoppable in the early stages of the season, striking fear into the hearts of his rivals. But when things got difficult in the second half of the year, and when his competitors found their feet in the series, he could easily have thrown it all away. Instead he took fewer risks to ensure he ended the year as a comfortable champion.

4 DINO ZAMPARELLI

Zamparelli and eventual Carrera Cup champion Charlie Eastwood were evenly matched all season. The fact that the pair tied on points demonstrates this. But one of them has to be higher in the rankings and Zamparelli just gets the nod. He was a little off the pace at the start of the year as his JTR team learned the ropes in its first sportscar foray. In the end it was an error from the team that ultimately cost him the title as incorrect camber levels caused him to be excluded from the Donington opener – and that zero score couldn’t be dropped.

5 CHARLIE EASTWOOD

Porsche has an eye for future champions when picking Scholarship drivers.

The previous incumbent,

Josh Webster, won the Carrera Cup in his first year while 2016/17 chosen one Eastwood delivered this season. His progress over the two-year scheme has been impressive, getting ever closer to team-mate Cammish. But the pair got too close at Knockhill as Eastwood appeared to force Cammish off. It was a low point of what was otherwise a bright season. Arguably he should have won the title even more comfortably with Cammish and Zamparelli missing races.

6 TOM GAMBLE

Ginetta Junior is a series that has developed a reputation for having chaotic races. So to win two encounters in a weekend is a very good achievement, but to triumph in all three is something special. Gamble proved this season that he is a special driver as he became the first racer to achieve that feat, and his Silverstone hat-trick was crucial to title glory. He also showed great mental resilience in his recovery from the gravel to seventh in race one of the Brands Hatch finale. Coped admirably with the switch to Elite from JHR too.

7 SEB PRIAULX

It’s fair to say that Priaulx had rather a lot thrown at him during 2017.

And considering he’s only 16 years old, he handled it remarkably well. He could easily have given up on the Ginetta Junior title after being excluded from the Thruxton meeting and docked over 100 points for a suspected illegal engine. Instead he won the next four races. Then, after his points were reinstated, he had to deal with JHR being suspended from the series and was forced to switch teams, choosing HHC. To emerge in second place after all that is a credit to his ability.

8 CALLUM POINTON

Pointon is the lowest of the five champions in the list simply because he won the fewest races – just two.

But aside from that, the GT4 Supercup champion was impressive, consistent, and able to stay out of trouble. Crucially, he brought the car home in every race he started. It’s all very well taking plenty of victories but it’s how a driver performs in the races they aren’t winning that is really significant. Also, if other drivers were more consistent then Pointon might have been forced into taking risks to claim more wins. Instead, he didn’t need to.

9 BEN GREEN

Claiming three and a half times the number of victories of your nearest rival normally puts you in a pretty good place to win the title. Green’s seven GT4 Supercup wins in 2017 was certainly an impressive achievement, but he never really looked like clinching the crown. He was unable to match the consistency of Pointon, and the opening round at Brands Hatch set the tone for the year. He was a strong second in the opener, but was unable to start race two with a loss of drive and then got caught up in a collision with Carl Boardley in the finale.

10 DAN HARPER

With Gamble and Priaulx taking 15 wins between them, you would perhaps expect the remaining 11 Ginetta Junior wins to be spread out fairly evenly. But that wasn’t the case. Harper won seven races in 2017 and was a genuine title contender for much of the season, playing his part in a number of thrilling races – including in a brilliant battle with Kiern Jewiss at Knockhill. In the end it was two podium-less meetings at Oulton Park and Croft that proved costly, but that just underlines how competitive the category was this year.