Sutton enters Autosport National Driver Rankings top 10

Ginetta Junior star Freddie Slater is the new name at the top – with the Yorkshire marque holding its G Fest event at Silverstone last weekend, there were six races for the 15-year-old to take part in. Slater won four of them and, although he was denied a further victory by a post-race penalty for contact, that didn’t prevent him from marching to the summit. 

Slater is now on 11 wins, and another driver hit double figures over the weekend: Clubmans Sports Prototype star James Clarke scored victories in all three races at Snetterton at the wheel of his Phantom PR22 to move onto 10, and his successes have dropped long-time leader, Mazda MX-5 Supercup racer Aidan Hills, down to third. 

Another Ginetta driver has joined Hills on nine wins but drops below him into fourth because his average grid size is lower. Ravi Ramyead scored four victories in the Ginetta GT Academy at G Fest, but missed out in the other two races to Nick White, who moves into the table in 20th position. 

Over in the Ginetta GT Championship, Luke Reade failed to make headway at G Fest and drops to 10th, but Blake Angliss scored four wins from scratch to move into 34th. 

Apart from Slater, another driver from the junior tin-top series is now also into the top five, with three wins for Daire Flock at Anglesey in the Citroen Saxo-based Junior Saloons series. 

Daire Flock scored an impressive hat-trick in Junior Saloons at Anglesey

Photo by: Steve Jones

Sutton’s domination of the BTCC is unprecedented in the modern era and could lead to him making what would have seemed an unlikely season-long challenge at the top. His two victories at Thruxton have carried him up to seventh place. 

In fact, there are now three BTCC champions lurking in the table, with Colin Turkington long-established in the top 50 thanks mainly to his wins in classic BMWs, and Andrew Jordan’s Thruxton Mini Miglia double giving him an entry into the top 50 in 28th place – he’s three places below dad Mike, who won both Mini Se7en races at the Hampshire circuit! 

The other driver to climb into the top 10 is Scottish Legends ace Stewart Black, thanks to three more wins at Knockhill.

Autosport's most successful national racers so far in 2023

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.