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Autosport
Autosport
National
Marcus Simmons

Drinkwater storms into Autosport National Driver Rankings top six

Drinkwater has been the driver to beat in Class C of the 750 Motor Club championship for the past four years and is on the march towards a fourth crown this season.

The BMW Compact pilot has only been beaten once so far in 2022 and the latest three successes last weekend have taken his tally for the year to 14 and enables him to climb up 10 places on the leaderboard.

However, he was fortunate that his latest wins count towards the rankings, as there were just six Class C starters - the minimum number required by the rules.

The only other driver to improve inside the top 20 is another to have secured three class wins at Anglesey.

Lee Piercey's E36 has been the pacesetter in Class 6 of the BMW Car Club Racing championship - and that proved to be the case again at Anglesey.

He claimed the divisional spoils in all three races to jump an impressive 33 spots up the rankings and into 17th.

While both Drinkwater and Piercey appear destined for title success, one driver to have already sewn up championship glory is BCV8 dominator James Wheeler.

He took his 2022 total to 10 wins with another brace at Silverstone last weekend, which also sends him climbing from 42nd to 21st in the table.

James Wheeler, MGB GTV8 (Photo by: Mick Walker)

Wheeler is one place ahead of another improver, Michael Cullen, who won the opening Stryker race at Mondello Park.
He also crossed the line first in the second contest, but was stripped of that win due to a spectacular oil leak sending smoke everywhere.

Cullen still improves from 25th to 22nd, but would have climbed to 16th had both victories counted.

Further back, TVR Griffith ace Jamie Boot moves to nine wins for the year with his latest success coming in Classic K at Donington Park. That has boosted him by eight places, rising to 26th.

Two paces behind Boot is BMW Compact Cup star Mikey Doble. He picked up his first Ginetta GT5 Challenge triumph at Brands Hatch, after Harley Haughton was penalised, to improve his ranking by 11 spots.

In 29th is a driver returning to the winners' table. While Piercey has been racking up the BMW Car Club class spoils, Graham Crowhurst's E46 M3 has been doing much of the outright winning.

And that was the case again at Anglesey, as he claimed a hat-trick to enter the top 50 for only the second week this year.

Autosport's most successful national racers so far in 2022

Pos Driver (Car) Overall wins Class wins Total
1 Samuel Harrison (Merlyn Mk20/Chevron B15) 16 0 16
2 Lucky Khera (Ferrari 488 Challenge/BMW E46/Lamborghini Huracan GT3/McLaren 720S GT3) 10 6 16
3 Jon Woolfitt (Spire GTR) 14 0 14
4 Liam McGill (Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI Zetec S/Ford Fiesta ST) 14 0 14
5 Jamie Winrow (Caterham 7 Sigma 135) 11 3 14
6 David Drinkwater (BMW Compact) 0 14 14
7 Ben Short (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 12 0 12
8 Will Gibson (34 Ford Coupe) 12 0 12
9 Miles Rudman (34 Ford Coupe) 11 0 11
10 Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) 11 0 11
11 James Kellett (Ginetta G56 GT4) 11 0 11
12 Stewart Black (Ford Coupe) 11 0 11
13 George Turiccki (SHP Pickup) 11 0 11
14 Alex Dunne (Tatuus T-421) 11 0 11
15 Richard Webb (Spire RGBR) 11 0 11
16 Steven Larkham (Radical PR6) 11 0 11
17 Lee Piercey (BMW E36) 0 11 11
18 Fraser Fenwick (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 10 0 10
19 Harry Senior (Caterham 7 Sigma 150) 10 0 10
20 Jordan Dempsey (Spectrum 011) 10 0 10
21 James Wheeler (MGB GTV8) 10 0 10
22 Michael Cullen (Stryker/Lotus Cortina/Ford Fiesta ST) 10 0 10
23 David McCullough (Van Diemen RF01) 10 0 10
24 Benn Simms (Reynard SF77/Caravelle Mk2) 8 2 10
25 Mike Williamson (Mitsubishi Evo 4) 4 6 10
26 Jamie Boot (TVR Griffith) 9 0 9
27 Michael O’Brien (Brabham BT6/McLaren 720S GT3) 9 0 9
28 Mikey Doble (BMW E36 Compact 318Ti/Ginetta G40 GT5) 9 0 9
29 Graham Crowhurst (BMW E46 M3) 9 0 9
30 Steve McDermid (MG ZR 170) 9 0 9
31 Geoff Richardson (Legends Ford Coupe) 9 0 9
32 Nikolas Taylor (Tatuus F4-TO14) 9 0 9
33 Craig Land (Locost 7) 6 3 9
34 Peter Baxter (SEAT Leon) 6 3 9
35 Dave Griffin (BMW E36 M3) 5 4 9
36 Alastair Topley (Toyota MR2 Mk2/Elva Courier) 1 8 9
37 Michelle Hayward (Mallock U2 Mk23) 0 9 9
38 Jasver Sapra (BMW E46 M3) 8 0 8
39 Nelson King (Mini Cooper) 8 0 8
40 Craig Pollard (WEV Vee) 8 0 8
41 Joshua Law (MCR S2) 8 0 8
42 Harry Hickton (Citroen Saxo VTR) 8 0 8
43 Mike Jordan (Mini Se7en) 8 0 8
44 Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer Nash Super Sports/Frazer Nash Monoposto/Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza) 8 0 8
45 Wayne Marrs (Ferrari F355 Challenge/Mercedes-AMG GT3) 8 0 8
46 Tristan Simpson (Ferrari F355 Challenge) 8 0 8
47 Richard Kearney (Sheane FS01) 8 0 8
48 Bryan Bransom (BMW E46 M3) 7 1 8
49 Jordan Harrison (Lola T540E/Titan Mk4) 5 3 8
50 Mark Holme (Austin-Healey 3000 MkII/MGB Roadster) 4 4 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.

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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