Legends hero Needham goes top of Autosport National Rankings

Legends form man Chris Needham has jumped to the top of the Autosport National Rankings table thanks to his recent burst of success.

The former Superkart champion claimed two wins out of three races at Oulton Park to move onto 13 victories for the season, which means he has displaced historics ace Connor Kay from the top of the pile.

Needham shot into contention in late July when he swept up no fewer than five victories from the Legends weekend at Snetterton, and that gave him the leg-up to propel himself to the Rankings leadership during the one-day meeting at Oulton.

His 13 wins have all been overall successes, which gives him the edge over Kay, who has relied on some class victories for his identical tally.

The Autosport National Rankings is a table to illustrate the drivers who have won the most races across the car racing season in the UK and Ireland, with each victory counting equally.

Needham, who was sixth in the table last week, is the only upwards mover this week in the top 10, and there is just one other climber in the leading 30 in the table – TVR Tuscan contender Michael Saunders. He was also in action at Oulton, and his double in the brace of Bernie’s V8s races has propelled Saunders up 18 positions to 12th in the Rankings.

But there is plenty of movement in the lower echelons of the top 50 this week. The Darlington & District Motor Club held its annual meeting at Croft, with two races for the organisation’s own Sports Saloons series. Mike Williamson’s double class win at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Evo 4 moves him back into the top 50, in 34th position.

Alex Ames has won races in a variety of cars this year, and his success in one of the two Super Classic Formula Ford 1600 races supporting the 2CV 24 Hours at Snetterton in his Van Diemen moves him up 13 places to 35th.

Four more have entered the top 50 this week. Ali Topley won one of the four Focus Cup races at Croft and is 37th; Neven Kirkpatrick shared the Classic Mini wins with brother David at the Brands Hatch Mini Festival weekend to go 42nd equal; Callum Voisin claimed a Carrera Cup GB double at Donington Park for 44th; and Greg Jenkins’s Mighty Mini pair at Brands places him 45th.

Autosport National Driver Rankings

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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– The Autosport.com Team