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The untold story of the BTCC's youngest champion

John Fitzpatrick holds the distinction of being the British Touring Car Championship's youngest title winner, trumping 2017 champion Ash Sutton by just a few months. Here is the story of his motorsport career

When Ash Sutton clinched the British Touring Car title last year, aged just 23, some thought he was the youngest champion in series' history. That's understandable given motorsport's trend towards ever more youthful stars, but John Fitzpatrick was actually four months younger when he secured the crown back in 1966.

Better known for his BMW and Porsche exploits that came later in his career, particularly in endurance racing, Fitzpatrick's early years were spent in touring cars.

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Author Kevin Turner

Kevin Turner is Autosport’s Chief Editor. While studying History at the University of York, Kevin began covering UK club events as a freelance reporter for Autosport and Motorsport News. He joined the Autosport staff as Editorial Assistant on the magazine in 2006, winning what is now known as the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award. He became National Editor in 2008 and over the next few seasons covered a range of international events, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as the British Touring Car Championship and British GT. Kevin became Features Editor before switching to edit Motorsport News in 2014.

He returned to Autosport in 2016 to become editor of the magazine, a dream job that is still part of his role.

He became Chief Editor in 2020, helping to plan content for autosport.com and Autosport’s podcast as well as seeing the magazine through the coronavirus pandemic. Kevin also led work on the special publication celebrating 70 years of Autosport and has been a judge on the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, formerly known as the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, since 2008. He lives in Warboys with his wife and two children.