With the 2015 summer break coming to an end for most of the TOCA support package, The Checkered Flag have decided to pick out the top fifteen drivers who have impressed us most in the first half of the season from the Renault UK Clio Cup, Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Ginetta Junior Championship and MSA Formula.
Michael Meadows – Credit: Malcolm Griffiths
15. Michael Meadows
By his own high standards in the Carrera Cup, a 56 point deficit to the championship leader will not be what Meadows would have wanted at this stage of the season, but it’s still been a strong showing so far from the former two-time champion.
While troubles at Spa and Oulton have impacted his title bid, Meadows has shown his class by finishing every other race on the podium and his sole victory so far at Oulton saw him come out on top in a one-on-one duel with runaway leader Dan Cammish.
14. Senna Proctor
Leading JHR Developments’ Ginetta Junior title defence, Proctor has shown why BTCC outfit Team BMR are supporting him this season with six podium finishes in the first ten races of his second Ginetta campaign.
Proctor hit the ground running with two wins in the first two meetings to take the early points lead, and while some tough outings since have lost him that spot, he heads into the second half of the season as the only active driver within 70 points of the championship leader.
13. Tom Oliphant
Consistency has been the key to successful Ginetta Supercup title victories in recent seasons, and that’s been the base of Oliphant’s season so far, as bar an engine failure at Thruxton he has impressively finished every race so far this season inside the top four.
Oliphant’s HHC Motorsport rivals had the edge in the early meetings, but hard work from himself and the Century Motorsport team culminated in a dominant double win at Croft last time out that hints at a bright second half of the year.
Dan Ticktum – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
12. Dan Ticktum
Ticktum has proved himself as the standout car-racing rookie in the inaugural MSA Formula field, leading the challenge for single-seater powerhouses Fortec Motorsport with a stunning double victory at Donington Park and three other podium finishes so far.
Unfortunately for Ticktum, a controversial outing at Croft resulted in a treble exclusion that has put him right on the back foot now for the title, but that doesn’t take away from a hugely impressive start to Ticktum’s racing career.
11. Josh Webster
Webster was always expecting a tough Carrera Cup title defence, but what the Porsche Scholar probably didn’t anticipate was quite how dominant a performance championship leader Dan Cammish would put in over the first half of the season to leave him 41 points adrift.
Webster has certainly not given up on a second title though and has dug deep to pick up the podium finishes required to keep himself as Cammish’s closest challenger, and has shown he can beat him after going toe-to-toe and winning at Spa.
10. Jamie Orton
As a pole sitter and race winner in the category in previous seasons, it’s been clear that Orton has had the pace required to be a Supercup front-runner and this season, in partnership with reigning champions HHC Motorsport, he has been able to turn that potential into a title challenge.
A double win on the opening Brands Hatch weekend laid down a marker to his rivals, and while he’s lost the championship lead since then, further wins at Donington and Oulton have kept him hot on the heels of the leader.
Lando Norris – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
9. Lando Norris
Norris made a huge impression on the BTCC support package with his run to third in the Ginetta Juniors and he’s certainly carried that momentum into his maiden single-seater campaign, with the 15 year old sitting right in the championship mix.
Like Orton, Norris took two wins in the season opener to secure an early championship lead that has since slipped from his grasp, but he again remains right in title contention thanks to further victories at Thruxton and Oulton as part of seven podium visits.
8. Ant Whorton-Eales
If two races showed Whorton-Eales’ fight and determination to win the Clio Cup title, it was his superb climbs from seventeenth on the grid after a qualifying crash to seventh and third at Croft last time out.
Those results have maintained a slender championship lead for the fourth year contender, earned by a great start to the season with two wins in the first four races and a total of eight podium visits in the ten races so far.
7. Jamie Caroline
As a race-winning rookie from 2014 with backing from Pirtek and former BTCC champion Andrew Jordan, there were big expectations for Caroline this season and the HHC Motorsport ace has gone some way to meeting them with a stunning run of four consecutive wins in June.
It had been a relatively slow start to the season for Caroline with only two podiums in the first six races, but he has certainly shown his pedigree since then to take a championship lead that he is the clear favourite to hold onto for the remainder of the year.
Carl Breeze – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
6. Carl Breeze
While a Ginetta GT4 Supercup title challenge from Breeze is certainly no surprise given his history in the series, the measured, consistent manner in which he’s piecing together his championship bid this year is ominous for his rivals.
Brilliant consistency with eleven podium finishes in the opening fourteen races, including four wins, has given the 2012 champion his highest points tally ever at this stage of a Supercup season for a 22 point lead atop the standings.
5. Ricky Collard
With a season of Formula Ford GB under his belt heading into this season, Collard was instantly one of the most experienced car racers on the MSA Formula grid and the Arden man has used that to his advantage to secure the championship lead.
Collard has been the only driver in the field to finish on the podium at each meeting so far this campaign, with wins at Brands, Oulton and Croft, coupled with five second places, putting him 25 points clear at the head of the standings.
4. Ashley Sutton
Sutton burst onto the scene on his Clio Cup debut at Brands Hatch by leading the opening race until the final corner, and that breakthrough performance has set the tone for a hugely impressive campaign so far.
While there have been troubles for the ex-Formula Ford racer as he adapts to life in the rough and tumble Clio’s, wins at Donington and Croft, the latter by a dominant eight seconds, have put the Team Pyro man right in title contention.
Sophia Floersch – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
3. Sophia Floersch
Every season in the Juniors there seems to be a standout rookie driver in the pack, and this season that has been Floersch who has stormed into the spotlight with a double win at Thruxton and further podiums at Croft.
Those performances have brought the German plaudits from far and wide, as well as bringing a new fan base to the Junior series – making her withdrawal at the halfway point of the season due to budget constraints all the more disappointing.
2. Ash Hand
While Hand may sit five points shy at the summit of the Clio Cup standings, a stunning run of five wins in the last eight races, including a double at Thruxton, has made him the driver to beat in the second half of the season.
A return to Team Pyro appears to have been the key to turning Hand’s raw pace into consistent podium finishes and a title challenge, with a contact induced retirement at Donington the only blot on the results sheet that features eight top three finishes.
1. Dan Cammish
When someone enters their first full season in a championship, they can only dream of producing the results that Cammish has so far this year, the Redline Racing ace finishing every race so far in the top two with six wins to his name.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise after Cammish stormed to 24 consecutive wins en-route to his 2013 Formula Ford GB title, but the nature of his success against the most competitive Carrera Cup grid of recent times has been a joy to behold.
Dan Cammish – Credit: Malcolm Griffiths
Honourable Mentions
Tom Sharp and Dino Zamparelli have emerged as the top Rookies in the competitive Porsche field, the former impressively batting the established outfits as a single privateer entrant, while Reece Somerfield and Bradley Smith have turned heads with dominant Ginetta Supercup wins at Brands Hatch and Croft respectively.
Billy Monger has established himself as a podium regular in the Ginetta Juniors while Stuart Middleton has been excelling as the Ginetta Scholarship winner, while reigning Junior champion Jack Mitchell has enjoyed a strong start to his maiden Clio Cup campaign. In MSA Formula meanwhile, Matheus Leist and Sennan Fielding have both established themselves as series front-runners.
The 2015 season kicks back into life this weekend (8/9 August) at Snetterton for the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, MSA Formula, Ginetta Junior Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup GB, while the Renault UK Clio Cup returns to the paddock at Knockhill three weeks later (22/23 August).
