The top 10 WTCC drivers of 2013

This year's World Touring Car Championship was deceptively competitive; deceptive because, despite a near-record 11 winners, one man headed up every statistic and seemingly every race. 2013 was all about Yvan Muller.

The Frenchman's combination of unrelenting pace and unerring consistency was overwhelming, his pursuit of a fourth world crown irresistible. Choose the superlative, and Muller fits the bill.

Of course, he didn't always have it his own way and there were flashes of a challenge from Honda - most notably its sweep of the Slovakia Ring podium, which suggested it might just have a say in the title race.

But such highs were fleeting rather than sustained. No one could live with Muller, who duly strengthened his claim to be considered one of the all-time touring car greats.

1 YVAN MULLER

RML Chevrolet Cruze
Championship position: 1st
Wins: 7
Poles: 7
Fastest laps: 7

Seven poles, seven victories and 15 podiums from 24 races tell the tale of a superlative season. A fourth WTCC title was the just reward.

Admittedly RML was the class of the field, and Muller was best positioned to capitalise on that given his previous three seasons (two of them championship-winning) with the squad. But that was no accident: Muller spent much of the off-season working on deals to keep his place following Chevrolet's withdrawal, and it was for that enterprise, rather than on-track competition, that he called this year's success his sweetest yet.

Starting as pre-season favourite was no hindrance, as he proved by topping every session, qualifying on pole and triumphing in both races in the Monza season opener. That set the tone for a near-flawless campaign, with Muller simply easing away from the field thereafter.

2 ROB HUFF

Munnich SEAT Leon
Championship position: 4th
Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 1

Defending his title was never on the cards given his switch to SEAT, which itself only came about at the last minute, but in many ways Huff's 2013 campaign was just as impressive as last year.

In uncompetitive machinery - the Leon has not been a regular race winner since 2010 -Huff triumphed twice, finished a remarkable fourth in the championship and had the fourth-best qualifying record of the field. No other SEAT driver, including team-mate and 2012 FIA GT1 world champion Marc Basseng, broke the championship top 10.

His win in the Macau season finale was the highlight, with Huff picking off James Thompson and Tom Coronel with aplomb late on to secure a victorious end to his year.

3 GABRIELE TARQUINI

Honda Civic
Championship position: 2nd
Wins: 2
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 1

Tarquini only got his hands on his 'new baby' this year, but it didn't take long to acclimatise as he led a Honda podium sweep in the third round in Slovakia to hint at a genuine title challenge.

A heavy shunt next time out in Hungary disrupted his momentum and dashed any championship pursuit - in the following six races he scored just 19 points - but he resuscitated his year with podiums in Argentina and China and a tactical reversed-grid win in the USA.

That was enough to earn him runner-up spot in the championship, a fine achievement for the team given inevitable first-year teething problems.

4 MICHEL NYKJAER

Nika Chevrolet Cruze
Championship position: 7th
Wins: 3
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 1

A premature parting of ways with Nika meant Nykjaer was the forgotten man of the 2013 championship fight, with the records showing only that he finished seventh.

In fact the Dane had been sitting in second heading into what was to prove his final round at Sonoma. A seat infringement scuppered that weekend and denied him a fitting farewell, but he still managed to finish second only to Muller on wins (three) even as he sat out the final three rounds.

One major strength was his ability to mix it in both formats: two of his victories came without the benefit of reversed grids, but his race-two points tally was also extremely good. It would have been fascinating to see where he would have finished up had he contested the full season.

5 JAMES NASH

Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze
Championship position: 3rd
Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

Consistency was key for Nash, who took an outstanding 22 points finishes from 24 races - a record better than everyone bar Muller, who boasted the same return.

But the 27-year-old also hit the heights during that remarkable run, winning twice - in Austria and Portugal - and taking five podiums.

Given that this was his first year in a Chevrolet, he didn't always make the strongest of starts to a weekend, but that just made his improvement and eventual return all the more impressive. The fact that only Muller scored more points in the reversed-grid races is proof of the progress he regularly made.

He ended the season with a deserved Independents double: not only was he crowned champion, he was the first Independent driver in series history to crack the championship top three.

6 TOM CHILTON

RML Chevrolet Cruze
Championship position: 5th
Wins: 2
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 2

Chilton had the misfortune of spending his first year in a Chevrolet partnered with a three-time world champion, and that was always going to make his efforts look pale by comparison.

Boil it down though and the Briton had a breakthrough year: the second-best qualifying record of the series, a first victory (from pole) at Sonoma, and a second win derived from his own opportunism and Muller's kindness at Shanghai.

He stacked up reasonably well against his more experienced team-mate, and in fact his race-one points tally was better by some distance than any driver bar Muller. It was in the reversed-grid races, where the need to scythe through traffic arises, where he lost most ground.

He was unlucky to drop from third to fifth in the championship over the Macau finale, but equally he at least contributed to that slide when he found the wall needlessly in practice. An unfortunate end to an otherwise promising season.

7 NORBERT MICHELISZ

Zengo Honda Civic
Championship position: 6th
Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 2

Michelisz's first season with Honda couldn't have started much worse, as brake issues at Monza and two retirements on the streets of Marrakech restricted him to just four points from the first four races.

From there, however, things improved significantly: podiums at the Slovakia Ring and on home soil at the Hungaroring produced a mid-season resurgence that culminated in a superb victory at Honda's home Suzuka track.

When it all came together he was a genuine threat, more than capable of troubling his works counterparts.

8 TIAGO MONTEIRO

Honda Civic
Championship position: 8th
Wins: 1
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 2

What to make of a season afflicted by early technical gremlins and mistakes, but that finished with the best run-in of everyone bar Muller?

The Portuguese seemed to suffer more problems than his Honda stablemates - including water-pump problems in Russia and turbo issues at his home Porto event - but his brush with the wall in Marrakech showed he could also be the architect of his own woes. By his own admission, he struggled early on to master the Civic's narrow set-up window.

Being on the back foot also led to some gambles he may never have otherwise taken (his doomed around-the-outside move at Suzuka, for example), but even with that, he was still in sensational form across the final four races, racking up 93 points.

In truth, there is little to separate Chilton, Michelisz or Monteiro in this list, but Monteiro just misses out because, until China, he was usually second fiddle when the Hondas were running well.

9 TOM CORONEL

ROAL BMW 320 TC
Championship position: 10th
Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 2

Given the scale of BMW's deficit to the Chevrolets and Hondas, it's hard to argue Coronel could have done anything more this season.

The highlight was Slovakia, where he charged from ninth to fifth in the opener, before handing BMW its first win of the year from pole in the second contest.

He won again in Japan, this time making use of every bit of his experience to pressurise and then outwit Mehdi Bennani following a race-long fight in the reversed-grid finale.

They were rare highs in a season where Coronel was often consigned to fighting for scraps, but the fact that no other BMW regular won proves the scale of the Dutchman's achievements.

10 PEPE ORIOLA

Tuenti SEAT Leon/Chevrolet Cruze
Championship position: 9th
Wins: 1
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 2

In many ways Oriola deserves to be higher than 10th in this list, but moments of brilliance were too often undone by recklessness.

The fact that he only turned 19 halfway through the year is an obvious mitigation. It also makes his victory in Morocco all the more exceptional, with Oriola holding off a charging Muller to become the youngest winner in the series' history.

He also handled a mid-season switch from SEAT to Chevrolet remarkably well, scoring a brace of fourths in Portugal and two rostrums in Argentina.

Rather than kicking on from there, however, his results tailed off and it was only in the Macau finale - he finished second after one or two over-optimistic lunges that could have been more severely punished - that he scored heavily again.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

There was often little to choose between Alex MacDowall and team-mate Nash over a single lap, but MacDowall couldn't replicate the latter's stunning consistency which meant falling away in the championship - even if he did manage to take the Independents fight to the final round. Three podiums were proof of his speed on his day.

James Thompson © XPB

James Thompson earned Lada its best finish in the WTCC with his fifth place at the car's home circuit Moscow Raceway, and came home sixth on three further occasions.

His performance gap to his team-mate was also the most pronounced in the field, even if Mikhail Kozlovskiy had the excuses of youth and inexperience.

Mehdi Bennani was much improved in 2013, and was arguably unlucky not to pick up a first series win having led at both the Hungaroring and Shanghai. Three second places, and 12th in the championship, still constitute his best season - nicely timed ahead of a switch to Honda power next year.

And finally, while his was only a one-off appearance, Jose Maria Lopez took the plaudits for a glorious home win in Argentina. His life was made easier by that rarest of things, a Muller mistake, but he was on the pace throughout and deserved his reversed-grid triumph. Citroen took note, with the Argentinian well in the frame for a works drive next season.