Who Was Your Touring Car 'Driver of the Year'?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Touring car racing had a spectacular year in 2018 - but who do you think had the best season across the top tin top categories?

For the sake of this poll we've narrowed the substantial field down somewhat, picking the drivers we feel performed the best over the course of the season from the WTCR, BTCC, DTM, Supercars and TCR Europe categories of tin top racing.

The crowned as champions usually get the plaudits in any category of racing, but with touring car fields often becoming intensely competitive affairs, many top drivers that didn't take home the silverware could easily be considered worthy candidates for a 'Driver of the Year' award.

Of course different series have different challenges, so a direct like for like is near impossible, but in a world of imperfection, we'll just have to make do with the list provided!


 

 

[aka2k]

Touring car competitions around the world are still fun. At least that.

 

[MarcG]

Scotty Mac for me but a close 2nd is Lowndes, to win Bathurst and still remain one of the best drivers on the Grid at his age in his final year was outstanding. Scotty though to comeback the way he did from heartbreak last season, that showed great courage and determination, a Championship thoroughly deserved.

 

[D_Moriarty]

So you included the fifth in WTCR, but not the fourth, Michelisz? Me sad

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

So you included the fifth in WTCR, but not the fourth, Michelisz? Me sad

Norbi will be part of the "Hungarian of the year" vote in the coming days

 

[Jonny Austin]

Scott Mclaughlin for me.The Aus V8 Supercar series for me is the best series because it is all about who can build & drive the fastest cars with no BOP,success ballast & other factors that influence the other series.

The level of driving in V8 Supercars is also very high.Just look how fast the drivers are when they jump into GT3/GTE cars.

 

[Caramidaru Andrei Bogdan]

Gabrielle ......... You the man

 

[TylerDurden4321]

Rene Rast's catch-up in DTM was amazing.

He had a crap season and one somewhat ugly crash until ...all of a sudden he achieved a perfect weekend score, becoming the first driver in DTM history(!) to win both weekend races from pole.
After that... He won both races on the next weekend again! And then a fifth race in a row, he even had a chance to be champion again at the end.

 

[Benutzername]

Personally...

Every season my interest sunk in DTM. It got worse and worse.

I liked real racing, older dtm races, supercars and wtcc were pretty cool.
Supercars and wtcc changed quite a bit in the last few years.



WTCR is a great reboot to the roots, not perfecg, but it is a good step forward. To see Tarquini, an old veteran of the sport, competr, is really cool.


I vote for him.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

My vote was for Rene Rast.....wins the DTM championships as a rookie the year before, than went on a crazy come back in the second half to nearly take the title again coming within 4 points of paffet.

 

[theravenousbeast]

I barely watched touring cars this year and I love them. Too much BOP and boost tweaking bullshit for me.

 

[oorjit07]

Tarquini for sure. Many other guys did well, but to take a world championship at the age of 56 is pretty damn amazing.

 

[samprince053]

I voted for Tom Ingram, what he did with that car was amazing, finishing second as a privateer team is mighty, bet they dont have 10% the budget of BMW

 

[farjam]

Gabrielle Tarquinii ! i was heartbroken for the young man at Nordschleife but he kept his cool and managed the rest of the season beautifully!
Also Scott boi was awesome in Supercars and i enjoy this season so much while i was frustrated as i couldn't watch some of his wins live(3 of them) and there was no replay for those either , so what i got were just race highlights

 

[the_racer]

In the positive side: René Rast for the fantastic end of season win streak!
In the negative side: Jean-Karl Vernay, because I expected more from him...

 

[apex11]

I voted for Tom Ingram, what he did with that car was amazing, finishing second as a privateer team is mighty, bet they dont have 10% the budget of BMW

They cock about with boost and weight so much in BTCC you don't know who or which car is good anyway...
I know i will get a bunch of disagrees but one thing i know on this forum people know the rose tinted aspect of motorsport only.
Driver gets pole, realise he has 25bhp boost more than the rest...equals load of crap...like F1.

 

[Jonny Austin]

They cock about with boost and weight so much in BTCC you don't know who or which car is good anyway...
I know i will get a bunch of disagrees but one thing i know on this forum people know the rose tinted aspect of motorsport only.
Driver gets pole, realise he has 25bhp boost more than the rest...equals load of crap...like F1.

I dont think you will get to many people disagreeing but the BTCC "is what it is".An entertaining tin top series that is very successful.If it was run along the lines of the Australian series it would be between Honda,BMW & Subaru with the privateers 0.5 off the pace with only the occasional chance of winning.The trouble is without the BOP etc.there probably wouldnt be Honda,BMW & Subaru.

It is the modern dilemma for purist race fans.We dont like B.O.P. but B.O.P. keeps all the manufacturers & great cars in so many series now.We all know what happened before.Manufacturers would spend the most money or have a great idea on a car & would dominate which would then kill the series.

 

[ATSSHD]

Rene Rast no doubt.

 

[theravenousbeast]

I dont think you will get to many people disagreeing but the BTCC "is what it is".An entertaining tin top series that is very successful.If it was run along the lines of the Australian series it would be between Honda,BMW & Subaru with the privateers 0.5 off the pace with only the occasional chance of winning.The trouble is without the BOP etc.there probably wouldnt be Honda,BMW & Subaru.

It is the modern dilemma for purist race fans.We dont like B.O.P. but B.O.P. keeps all the manufacturers & great cars in so many series now.We all know what happened before.Manufacturers would spend the most money or have a great idea on a car & would dominate which would then kill the series.

BOP in the BTCC keeps the privateers and random brands in, not the manufacturers. Half the cars have that generic Swindon engine IIRC anyway. The factory supported teams would've been in regardless, it just wouldn't have 20+ cars on the grid.

 

[destinationriver]

Nico Müller for sure