Rookie award nominees revealed

The award, which started in 2000, is voted for exclusively by autosport.com readers, and can boast four Formula One drivers and an Indianapolis 500 champion among its former winners.

Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Webber, and Tiago Monteiro have all won the award in their rookie F1 season, while Dan Wheldon and AJ Allmendinger have also scooped the prestigious title.

There were several rookies all over the world to make an impact in their respective championships, sometimes proving that experience isn't essential to get good results.

In Formula One, Robert Kubica consistently impressed the paddock with his Friday performances for BMW and was eventually promoted to a race drive to replace Jacques Villeneuve. The Pole then took a podium at Monza, in only his third start.

Scott Speed became the first American to race in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993, as he raced the Toro Rosso powered by a restricted V10 engine alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Nico Rosberg stunned the paddock by setting fastest lap in the season opener at Bahrain, and then spent the rest of the year learning as much as possible as Williams struggled to keep up with the pace of development of the manufacturer-backed teams.

McLaren protege Lewis Hamilton succeeded Rosberg as GP2 champion, with some particularly memorable drives at Silverstone and Istanbul while he scrapped for the title with second year driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

Teenager Marco Andretti had an impressive first year in the IndyCar Series, narrowly missing out on victory in the Indianapolis 500, before taking his maiden victory on the road course at Sonoma.

2005 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Oliver Jarvis finished runner-up in the British F3 series this year and was a constant threat to eventual champion Mike Conway by the middle of the year, once he had settled in the category.

The battle for rookie honours in the Champ Car World Series has been close all year. Will Power has been consistent all season to lead the standings, but Dan Clarke has made the podium this year, and twice retired while running in the top three.

Last year's JWRC champion Daniel Sordo has handled the step up to the World Rally Championship with great composure. His string of podium finishes earlier in the year were enough to convince his Kronos team to promote him to second driver alongside world champion Sebastien Loeb.

Denny Hamlin has had a remarkable year in the NASCAR Nextel Cup, becoming the first rookie to make the Chase for the Cup since the top ten shootout was introduced in 2004.

The winner of the award will be announced at the Autosport Awards gala evening in London on December 3rd.

Click here to vote now for the 2006 Rookie of the Year