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Jackson tops final 2021 Autosport National Driver Rankings as Birley grabs third

Historic Formula Ford ace Cam Jackson has topped the final 2021 Autosport National Driver Rankings following the last circuit racing event of the year.

cam jackson

Jackson, who secured the Historic FF1600 crown again this season, has headed the winners' table throughout the year, despite only contesting a partial campaign.

But, unlike last year when Gary Prebble pipped him to top spot following the final weekend of racing, there was to be no late change this time around as Jackson sealed first place.

The rankings are based upon the number of wins a driver has taken during the season with each victory treated equally, regardless of the category.

Class successes also count, although there must be a minimum of six starters within the division and it must be defined on car characteristics rather than driver ability for it to count.

A vital Janet Cesar class win for the older Formula Fords in the second heat of the Walter Hayes Trophy meeting in November enabled Jackson to clinch top spot with a final total of 17 overall victories, along with that one class triumph.

He finished just one win ahead of Legends champion Miles Rudman, who continually narrowed Jackson's once-considerable advantage over the final months of the season.

However, third place was only settled following the final circuit racing event of 2021: the traditional Boxing Day Plum Pudding fixture at Mallory Park.

Club racing veteran Rod Birley took the spoils in both of the Saloons contests in his trusty Ford Escort WRC to jump up from sixth to third on the final leaderboard, having won 16 times this year.

Rod Birley jumped from sixth to third on the final leaderboard thanks to wins at the Boxing Day Plum Pudding fixture at Mallory Park

Rod Birley jumped from sixth to third on the final leaderboard thanks to wins at the Boxing Day Plum Pudding fixture at Mallory Park

Birley displaced Scott Parkin, who had climbed to third on the final weekend of the regular season towards the end of November.

Back then, Parkin was victorious in both the Trackday Championship and Trackday Trophy encounters at Brands Hatch in his VW Golf, which took his final win tally for the year to 15, but this was not enough to stop Birley usurping him in the table.

There were no other changes to the top 50 of the rankings following that Brands Hatch event or the Boxing Day Mallory meeting.

A full top 100 leaderboard of the final rankings is due to be appear in the 20 January issue of Autosport magazine

Autosport's most successful national racers in 2021

Pos Driver (Car) Overall wins Class wins Total
1 Cam Jackson (Winkelmann WDF2/Brabham BT2/Van Diemen RF90) 17 1 18
2 Miles Rudman (Legends 34 Ford Coupe) 17 0 17
3 Rod Birley (Ford Escort Cosworth WRC) 15 1 16
4 Scott Parkin (Volkswagen Golf TDI/Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI Zetec S/Ford Ka) 12 3 15
5 Michael Cullen (Stryker/Ford Fiesta ST/Lotus Cortina) 12 3 15
6 Charlie Hand (Citroen Saxo VTR) 14 0 14
7 Stefano Leaney (Dallara F317) 14 0 14
8 John Mickel (Legends 34 Ford Coupe) 13 0 13
9 James Little (Ferrari F355 Challenge/Ferrari 458 Challenge/Citroen C1) 13 0 13
10 David Drinkwater (BMW Compact/Citroen C1) 0 13 13
11 Ben Short (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 12 0 12
12 Alistair Camp (Honda Civic EP3) 12 0 12
13 Nic Grindrod (Citroen C1) 12 0 12
14 Ollie Neaves (MGB GTV8) 12 0 12
15 Lewis Thompson (Caterham 310R) 12 0 12
16 Dan Gore (Jedi Mk6) 11 1 12
17 Andy Smith (March 783/March 742) 10 2 12
18 Barry McMahon (Alfa Romeo 156/Alfa Romeo Giulietta) 10 2 12
19 Harry Senior (Caterham 7 SigMax) 9 3 12
20 Jon Woolfitt (Spire GTR) 9 3 12
21 Michael Winkworth (Mini Se7en S) 0 12 12
22 Sam Neary (Mercedes-AMG GT3) 11 0 11
23 Steven Dailly (BMW E36 Compact 318Ti/Ginetta G40 GT5) 11 0 11
24 Shane Murphy (SEAT Leon/Ford Fiesta) 11 0 11
25 Gary Prebble (Honda Civic EG/SEAT Leon Cupra 20v T) 8 3 11
26 Andrew Jordan (Mini Miglia/Mini Se7en/Morris Mini Cooper S/Studebaker Lark Daytona 500/Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe/Austin GT40) 7 4 11
27 Dave Griffin (BMW M3 E36) 6 5 11
28 John Davison (Lotus Elan S1/Lotus Elan 26R/Lotus Elite) 4 7 11
29 Richard Neary (Mercedes-AMG GT3) 10 0 10
30 Sam Smith (Mazda MX-5 Mk3/Mazda MX-5 Mk1) 10 0 10
31 Adam Shepherd (Honda Civic Type R) 10 0 10
32 Brad Sheehan (BMW E46 M3) 10 0 10
33 Oliver White (Medina Sport JL17K) 10 0 10
34 Jim Larkham (Radical PR06) 10 0 10
35 James Harridge (Maverick Vee) 5 5 10
36 Joshua Jackson (McLaren 570S GT4) 0 10 10
37 Marc Warren (Ginetta G40 Cup) 0 10 10
38 Niall Bradley (BMW E46 M3) 9 0 9
39 Sam Kirkpatrick (MG ZR 190/MGB) 9 0 9
40 Max Esterson (Ray GR18) 9 0 9
41 Steve McDermid (MG ZR 170) 9 0 9
42 Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) 9 0 9
43 Paul Brydon (BMW M3 Solution F) 9 0 9
44 Alex Walker (Spectrum 011) 9 0 9
45 Jamie Blake (Mini Cooper R53) 9 0 9
46 James Cottingham (Jaguar E-type/Shelby Cobra/Lister-Jaguar Costin/Tojeiro-Jaguar/Ford GT40) 8 1 9
47 Aaron Cooke (Toyota MR2 Roadster) 8 1 9
48 Endaf Owens (Mini Miglia/Austin Mini Cooper S) 8 1 9
49 Ben Pearson (BMW E46 330Ci) 0 9 9
50 Nic Carlton-Smith (Kieft FJ) 0 9 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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