Ali Bray
Photo by: Jonathan Mills
Just when you think Ali Bray might be coming under threat at the top of the Ryan Motorsport Insurance Autosport National Rankings, he moves further ahead again.
The talisman of Mazda MX-5 racing took three more victories at Croft last weekend to take his tally in the British Racing & Sports Car Club’s championship for the Mk1 model to 20 out of 20.
That moves him a clear five wins clear of Monoposto ace George Line at the top of the table, which is an illustration of the drivers who have won most races on UK and Irish circuits during the season.
Intriguingly, Bray is now just one victory short of the record of 21 since we reintroduced the concept in time for the COVID-delayed 2020 season; that benchmark was set by historic single-seater standout Samuel Harrison in 2021. The MX-5 series has one more race weekend to go at Silverstone, so eclipsing that mark is definitely on the cards.
For a while it looked as though Bray’s 100% record had fallen, after Steve Foden beat him to the chequered flag in the opening race at Croft. But a penalty applied to Foden for skipping the chicane on the opening lap while battling Bray dropped him to second in the results.
The next driver in the table making progress is another MX-5 exponent. In this case it’s Aidan Hills from the realms of the Mk3 model, who claimed two successes in the Miata Trophy at Cadwell Park to move himself up four positions to fourth in the Rankings.
Jordan Harrison
Photo by: Mick Walker
After Hills, it’s relatively static until we arrive at Caterham 310R man-to-beat Taylor O’Flanagan – the Stevenage racer won one of the races at Oulton Park and is up eight spots to 18th.
Two positions behind O’Flanagan is Monoposto racer Matthew Haughton, who claimed a double at the wheel of his Jedi in the end-of-season Tiedeman Trophy series at Cadwell and has rocketed up 29 places to 20th.
The other improver in the top half of the table is Racing Hondas ace Dan Thackeray, whose class win at Brands Hatch promotes him nine places to 23rd.
Just outside the top half, there are four drivers taking positions in the top 30 as they enter the table. Classic FF1600 top dog Jordan Harrison is 26th ahead of three men from a very disparate one-make series: Jack Harding (MX-5 SuperCup), Gilbert Yates (Ferrari Challenge) and Matthew Armstrong (Caterham 7 UK).
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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.
Source: Autosport