The results are in! You guys have been voting for the best performing race and rally drivers of the past year, and now, we can announce the winners of the 2022 Motorsport News Awards.
Words by Matt James
Let’s begin with the circuit racers. An eclectic bunch of competitors were in the mix for this year’s accolades, including rising star Alex Dunne, and GT master Ian Loggie. In the end though, it was British Touring Car Championship title winner Tom Ingram who has been selected by the Motorsport News readers as the stand-out driver of the 2022.
The 29-year-old finally achieved his lifetime’s dream of winning the UK’s most prestigious crown at Brands Hatch in October in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N and ended the season with six victories to eclipse out-going champion Ash Sutton (Motorbase Performance Ford Focus).
He says: “It is certainly a cool achievement to win the 2022 Motorsport News Driver of the Year. When the public can get involved and vote for their favourites, it is a nice thing to have your name put forward in the first place, but it is even nicer to win the award.
“It is a wonderful humbling experience to be voted for and thanks to everyone who did click online for me. It is a nice extra thing to round off this season’s success.”
The High Wycombe racer, who made history this year by becoming the first driver to win a BTCC race in the new hybrid era, has already pledged to return in 2023 as he aims to replicate his success from this season.
Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport squad also scooped the Motorsport News Team of the Year accolade.
As for the muddier side of the sport, multiple national rally event winner David Henderson has been crowned Rally Driver of the Year.
It caps a remarkable season for the Durham-based competitor who has cherry-picked his events in 2022 and claimed victories in the Motorsport News-backed Circuit Rally Championship, the BTRDA Gold Star series, and the Scottish Rally Championship.
The 47-year-old, who is the subject of an extensive feature in Motorsport News this week, says he is thrilled to have claimed the accolade to round off his trophy-filled season.
Henderson told MN: “I’m humbled. I’m absolutely humbled to be voted rally driver of the year by Motorsport News readers.
“It’s a really good way to finish the season. It’s very rare nowadays, because you only really get the British Rally Championship people who are running on both surfaces and are very fast on both. You tend to get people who are just disciplined to gravel or to tarmac and they don’t really cross over, and if they do they struggle a little bit on one or the other surface. But what I must say about 2022 is that I’ve met some really, really outstanding people and made some fantastic friends and I have absolutely loved it.”
We’d like to extend our thanks to everyone who took part in the online vote for the 2022 Motorsport News Awards. For the full results of the other seven accolades, check out this week’s issue of Motorsport News, out now.
