Voting process open for first 2018 Autosport Awards category

Autosport magazine readers and Autosport Plus subscribers decide who win motorsport's premier awards each year, with the 2018 prize ceremony taking place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Sunday December 2.

Over the next three weeks the nominees in each category will be revealed on Autosport.com and via Autosport's social media channels, and votes can be cast either online or by post using the form in the November 8 issue of Autosport magazine. Voting closes on November 23.

The first category to open for voting is Racing Car of the Year.

The Mercedes Formula 1 car has dominated this award for the past four years as it has dominated F1, and its W09 Hybrid is naturally a contender this time.

But the opposition includes the Ferrari SF71H that has given Mercedes such a fight in the F1 title race and spent much of the season as the quickest car.

The Mercedes and Ferrari are up against four standout designs from the world beyond F1.

Audi had a tough start to the 2017/18 Formula E season, before sweeping to the teams' championship and taking Lucas di Grassi to second in the drivers' points once its e-tron FE04's true pace was unleashed.

Toyota finally won the Le Mans 24 Hours this year with its TS050 HYBRID - and while it lacked manufacturer LMP1 opposition that didn't stop the Japanese giant taking an incredibly meticulous approach to ensuring its long Le Mans jinx ended.

In America, Dallara's revamped IR18 was the key ingredient in revitalising the wheel-to-wheel racing in the IndyCar Series - the standard aerokit proving that it's possible for a modern single-seater to look good and overtake.

Volkswagen made its factory return to motorsport this year and chose electric technology and the Pikes Peak hillclimb as its stage.

Driven by Romain Dumas, the extraordinary I.D. R Pikes Peak smashed the all-time record set by Sebastien Loeb and the monster Peugeot in 2013 - and VW reckons it could go much faster still.