Mazda MX-5 king Ali Bray has moved onto a wins record in the current era for the Ryan Motorsport Insurance Autosport National Rankings.
The preparation maestro and dab-hand racer completed his season in the MX-5 championship for the Mk1 model at Silverstone last weekend, and his hat-trick of victories took him onto 23 out of 23 for the campaign.
Bray’s tally is the highest ever achieved since we reintroduced the table for the 2020 season, and puts him eight clear of the closest opposition.
But it does fall some way short of the historical records way back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Autosport contributor-turned-commentary doyen Ian Titchmarsh compiled the tables. Back then, it was common for drivers from Formula Ford, Special Saloons or Modsports to lead the way with wins figures in the thirties.
The major interest now appears to be in the race for second place in the Rankings, which are arranged simply as an illustration of who has won the most car races in the UK and Ireland over a calendar year.
Last week, Monoposto star George Line was on his own on 15 wins, but he has now been joined on that tally by Aidan Hills and Mark Smith.
Hills has been racing across two championships for the Mk3 version of the Mazda MX-5, and his win treble at Silverstone in the MX-5 SuperCup has lifted him four positions to third.
Meanwhile, American Smith has really kicked into gear in the GT Cup, and four more successes in his McLaren 720S GT3 at Snetterton promote him seven places to fourth.
Both Hills and Smith lose out to Line on the average grid size ruling, which is a tie-breaker when wins are equal.
Next up is Simon Allaway, whose single Sports/Saloons victory at Oulton Park keeps him in fifth spot – while he has been leapfrogged by Hills and Smith, the Lotus Esprit V8 pilot has in turn jumped Jason Smyth and Jonathan Moore.
Allaway did take a class win in the other race, but his division did not have the required minimum six starters for it to be added to his tally.
With such a cluster of Rankings heavy-hitters tasting success last weekend, Matthew Highcock’s double win in the BMW 120 Coupe Cup at Donington Park is only enough to lift him two spots to eighth.
Shane Stoney
Photo by: Steve Jones
Also at Donington, Shane Stoney scored a brace in the Radical Club Challenge but that is enough to polevault him 20 positions to 12th.
There were weather problems at Knockhill, with only Saturday’s races being run off before heavy fog curtailed activities on Sunday, but that did not prevent three from the Scottish scene making moves in the top half of the table.
A win for Ross Wilkinson in the Mini Cooper series hikes him three places to 14th, while Legends combatants Ben Mason and Ryan McLeish, who seem to have been moving up and down the table in tandem all year, each took the chequered flag once to respectively move up 10 positions to 18th and 11 to 19th.
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Ryan Motorsport Insurance Autosport National Rankings
| Pos | Driver (Car) | Overall | Class | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ali Bray (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) | 23 | 0 | 23 |
| 2 | George Line (Dallara F308) | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| 3 | Aidan Hills (Mazda MX-5 Mk3) | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| 4 | Mark Smith (McLaren 720S GT3) | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| 5 | Simon Allaway (Lotus Esprit V8) | 14 | 0 | 14 |
| 6 | Jason Smyth (Van Diemen RF00/JL12) | 14 | 0 | 14 |
| 7 | Jonathan Moore (Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport) | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| 8 | Matthew Highcock (BMW 120i/BMW 116i) | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| 9 | Marcus Littlewood (Radical SR3 XXR) | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| 10 | Tyler Read (Legends Ford Coupe) | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 11 | Paul Sibley (MG Midget) | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 12 | Shane Stoney (Radical PR6/Radical SR3 XXR) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 13 | Steve Dickens (Mallock U2 Mk29) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 14 | Ross Wilkinson (Mini Cooper S) | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 15 | Jack Robinson (Jaguar XK8) | 10 | 1 | 11 |
| 16 | Dan Thackeray (Honda Civic EP3) | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| 17 | Hugh Simpson (MG Midget) | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| 18 | Ben Mason (Legends Sedan) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 19 | Ryan McLeish (Legends Coupe) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 20 | Matt Luff (Audi TT 2.0 TFSI) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 21 | Craig Ewing (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 22 | Jonathan Corker (Datsun 510) | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 23 | Oli Willmott (Mini Cooper S) | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 24 | Niall Bradley (BMW M3 E46) | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| 25 | Connor Kay (Lotus Elan 26R/MG Midget/TVR Tuscan) | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 26 | Ian Bower (BMW M3) | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 27 | Aidan Mulready (Ford Fiesta Zetec) | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| 28 | Fraser Fenwick (Lamborghini Super Trofeo) | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| 29 | James Ibbotson (Hillman Imp Super) | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| 30 | Ben Short (Mazda MX-5 Mk1) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 31 | Matty Cobb (Volkswagen Beetle) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 32 | Rocco Coronel (Ginetta G40 Junior Evo) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 33 | Fred Green (Ginetta G40 Junior Evo) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 34 | Matthew Armstrong (Caterham 7 420R) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 35 | James Nicholas (Ginetta G56 GTA) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 | Adam Shepherd (Cupra Leon Competicion TCR/Honda Integra DC5) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 37 | Simon Hill (Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk5) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 38 | Taylor O’Flanagan (Caterham 7 310R) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 39 | Gerry Hendry (Ford Fiesta ST) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 40 | Matthew Haughton (Jedi Mk7) | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| 41 | Michael Cullen (Raw Stryker/Lotus Cortina/Austin Mini) | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| 42 | John Spiers (Multiple Cars) | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 43 | Adrian Russell (Condor S2) | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 44 | Tyler England (Ford Fiesta Mk4) | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| 45 | Callum Grant (Merlyn Mk5/7/Merlyn Mk20A) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 46 | Mark White (Honda Civic Type R) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 47 | Jake McAleer (Porsche 997) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 48= | Tom Bradshaw (Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport/McLaren MP4/1) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 48= | Tom Ingram (Hyundai i30 N Fastback/Jaguar E-type FHC) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 50 | Jordan Harrison (Lola T540E) | 8 | 0 | 8 |
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, except: when the race is part of a multi-stage event where six or more have taken part in earlier heats that feed into a semi-final or final; when multiple championships are merged in the same race, the ‘overall’ winner from the slower championship can count a class win as long as that championship has at least 10 starters across all classes. Only classes divided by car characteristics are included, not those divided by driver characteristics such as ability, professional status, age, experience (for example rookie or pro-am classes).
Each race counts only once, so an overall winner’s class win is not added. 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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