Smyth up to third as National Rankings hots up

Jason Smyth and Steve Dickens are the drivers on the move in the top 10 of the Ryan Motorsport Insurance Autosport National Rankings after last weekend’s action.

Northern Irish Formula Ford 1600 talent Smyth added another two victories to his tally for 2025 at Brands Hatch in the United FF1600 Championship to move onto 14 for the season, and up three positions to third in the table.

That leaves him still six short of long-time Rankings leader Ali Bray, but Smyth does have a host of FF1600 action between now and the end of the year to potentially mount a challenge.

The Rankings is based on the simple premise of totting up each driver’s race wins in the UK and Ireland over the course of the year, with each counting equally: for example, victory in the European Le Mans Series race at Silverstone last Sunday is worth the same as claiming honours in one of the Irish Legends heats at Mondello Park over the weekend.

Behind Smyth, Dickens continues to figure strongly. The stalwart of Clubmans racing steered his Mallock U2 Mk29 to the chequered flag in two of the three races at Brands and, as a result, he is up 10 places to seventh in the Rankings.

The next mover nestles just outside the top 10. Ross Wilkinson has had little in the way of class opposition in the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup this year, and another double at Knockhill lifts him 20 places to 11th. South of the border, Oli Willmott has been the man to beat in the Mini Challenge Clubsport. One overall win and two further class successes at Snetterton bring him from outside the top 50 to the lofty heights of 13th.

Matty Cobb’s novel ‘Volkswagen Beetle’ brings back memories of the old Donington GT heyday of the early 1980s. He scored two wins at Donington Park (appropriately enough) in the Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship, and put himself into 18th spot – 22 places up from last week.

As well as Wilkinson, two more drivers from the Knockhill scene figure in the top half of the table. Ben Mason and Ryan McLeish were each double winners last weekend in Scottish Legends, with Mason up 24 positions to 19th and McLeish up 23 to 21st. Each is on nine wins, with average grid size in races they won splitting them.

Adam Shepherd keeps on racking up the victories, not just in his Honda Integra, but also in his TCR UK Cupra. He was victorious once in the Spanish machine at Snetterton, promoting him nine places to 23rd.

The other improver in the top half of the table is Production GTI man-to-beat Simon Hill, whose victories at Brands bring him from outside the top 50 into 24th.

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Ryan Motorsport Insurance Autosport National 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.