Gregor Grant Award: Ari Vatanen

The rally legend joined Stirling Moss as a recipient of the award this year, which is given for lifetime achievement in motorsport.

"You know I haven't been to these awards for years," said Vatanen. "In fact, it was when Lewis Hamilton was getting his karting awards. So it's nice to come back after so many years and have this award."

One of the most spectacular rally drivers in history, Vatanen's finest hour came in 1981, when he won the World Rally Championship in a Ford Escort co-driven by future Prodrive boss David Richards, who presented him with his award.

Already a double British champion and occasional privateer entrant on World Championship events, the Finn became a WRC regular with Rothmans Ford from 1979, taking his first win at the top level on the 1980 Acropolis Rally before claiming the title the following year.

Although 1981 was his only championship title, Vatanen added to his legend with a series of brilliant performances and victories during the Group B era for Opel and particularly Peugeot in the mid-1980s, with the famous 205 T16.

A serious accident in the 1985 Rally Argentina left Vatanen facing a long recovery and marked the end of his days as a WRC regular, although he continued to contest occasional events for various teams right up to 2003, and took a podium finish for Ford as recently as the 1998 Safari Rally.

Between WRC outings, Vatanen became a star of epic events like the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, the Paris-Dakar, and other rally raids. He won Pikes Peak in a record-breaking time in 1987, and would win the Dakar in the same year - a feat he repeated in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

After his serious competition career ended, the Finn took the unusual step of swapping motorsport for politics, and has been a Member of the European Parliament since his first election in 1999.