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Gibson grabs fifth in Autosport National Driver Rankings

Will Gibson has stormed up to fifth place in Autosport's National Driver Rankings after taking a hat-trick of victories in the Legends finale at Brands Hatch last weekend.

Will Gibson 01

Gibson was the highest-ranked mover following the two national racing events that were held over the weekend, as the season enters its final handful of meetings.

While he triumphed in the first, second and fourth of the six Kent races, it was not quite enough for Gibson to prevent Miles Rudman from retaining the Legends title. Instead, Gibson must be content with jumping from eighth to fifth in the winners' table having taken his 2022 total to 17 victories.

Rudman scored a vital win for his title bid in the fifth Brands contest, but he still remains ninth in the rankings.
He is one place ahead of Rich Webb, who was the sole mover in the entire top 50 table following the action from the last weekend of October.

Having already clinched the Sports 1000 title in his Spire RGBR, he switched to the manufacturer's Seven-style RB7 machine at Cadwell Park on 29 October and won the 40-minute Magnificent Sevens encounter alongside Dave Watson. That 14th victory of his season means Webb jumps two spots into 10th.

Further back, Nelson King completed his dominant Mini Challenge Trophy campaign in style, winning two of the races at the Brands season finale - the second in monsoon-like conditions. That allows the Graves Motorsport racer to leap up the leaderboard from 37th to 23rd.

Two wins for Nelson King in the Mini Challenge Trophy elevated him to 23rd in the leaderboard

Two wins for Nelson King in the Mini Challenge Trophy elevated him to 23rd in the leaderboard

Photo by: Gary Hawkins

The final change to the top-50 table this week is all the way down in 44th position, where Ryan McLeish becomes a new name in the rankings. The Scottish Legends racer won the final race of the National Legends season at Brands as a guest entry and that was his ninth success of the 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/Brabham BT6/Dallara F397) 21 0 21
2 Ben Short (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 20 0 20
3 Liam McGill (Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI Zetec S/Ford Fiesta ST) 19 0 19
4 Lucky Khera (Ferrari 488 Challenge/BMW E46/Lamborghini Huracan GT3/McLaren 720S GT3) 12 6 18
5 Will Gibson (34 Ford Coupe) 17 0 17
6 David Drinkwater (BMW Compact) 0 17 17
7 Jamie Winrow (Caterham 7 Sigma 135) 11 5 16
8 Jon Woolfitt (Spire GTR) 15 0 15
9 Miles Rudman (34 Ford Coupe) 14 0 14
10 Richard Webb (Spire RGBR/Spire RB7) 14 0 14
11 Steve McDermid (MG ZR 170) 13 0 13
12 James Kellett (Ginetta G56 GT4) 13 0 13
13 Craig Land (Locost 7) 10 3 13
14 Ali Topley (Toyota MR2 Mk2/Elva Courier) 1 12 13
15 Lee Piercey (BMW E36) 0 13 13
16 Harry Senior (Caterham 7 Sigma 150) 12 0 12
17 Craig Pollard (WEV Vee) 12 0 12
18 Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) 12 0 12
19 Stewart Black (Ford Coupe) 12 0 12
20 Michael Cullen (Stryker/Lotus Cortina/Ford Fiesta ST) 12 0 12
21 Steven Larkham (Radical PR6) 12 0 12
22 David McCullough (Van Diemen RF01) 12 0 12
23 Nelson King (Mini Cooper) 11 0 11
24 Mikey Doble (BMW E36 Compact 318Ti/Ginetta G40 GT5) 11 0 11
25 George Turiccki (SHP Pickup) 11 0 11
26 Alex Dunne (Tatuus T-421) 11 0 11
27 Benn Simms (Reynard SF77/Caravelle Mk2) 9 2 11
28 Stephen Primett (Ford Escort Mk1) 6 5 11
29 Fraser Fenwick (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 10 0 10
30 Michael O’Brien (Brabham BT6/McLaren 720S GT3) 10 0 10
31 Jordan Dempsey (Spectrum 011) 10 0 10
32 James Wheeler (MGB GTV8) 10 0 10
33 Morgan Tillbrook (McLaren 720S GT3) 9 1 10
34 Peter Baxter (SEAT Leon) 6 4 10
35 Mike Williamson (Mitsubishi Evo 4) 4 6 10
36 Michelle Hayward (Mallock U2 Mk23) 0 10 10
37 Philip Wright (Honda Civic Type R) 9 0 9
38 Jamie Boot (TVR Griffith) 9 0 9
39 Joshua Law (MCR S2) 9 0 9
40 Graham Crowhurst (BMW E46 M3) 9 0 9
41 James Lay (Radical SR3) 9 0 9
42 Josh Rowledge (Ginetta G40 Junior) 9 0 9
43 Wayne Marrs (Ferrari F355 Challenge/Mercedes-AMG GT3) 9 0 9
44 Ryan McLeish (Legends Ford Coupe) 9 0 9
45 Thomas Jack Lee (Ford Fiesta Mk6 ST150) 9 0 9
46 Geoff Richardson (Legends Ford Coupe) 9 0 9
47 Peter Barrable (Legends Ford Coupe) 9 0 9
48 Nikolas Taylor (Tatuus F4-TO14) 9 0 9
49 Jordan Harrison (Lola T540E/Titan Mk4) 6 3 9
50 Mark Holme (Austin-Healey 3000 MkII/MGB Roadster/VW Beetle Fun Cup) 5 4 9

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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