bigbadbrother
12-18-2013, 11:01 PM
5. Mike Conway: Making his sports car racing debut, Mike Conway proved to be one of the storylines of 2013. The Englishman scored a season-high four LMP2 class victories in the final five rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship with G-Drive Racing by Delta-ADR and co-drivers John Martin and Roman Rusinov, while also shining in his one-and-only ALMS start with Level 5 Motorsports. An exclusion at Le Mans for an illegal fuel cell ultimately denied the 30-year-old the FIA WEC LMP2 title. Conway’s talent was quickly noticed by Toyota, which has brought him on board to be its test and reserve driver for next year in LMP1.
4. John Edwards: Having competed in three series, with different cars and co-drivers, John Edwards achieved success in each one of them. The 22-year-old Kentucky native won a season-high four Rolex Sports Car Series GT races with co-driver Robin Liddell in Stevenson Motorsports’ Camaro, while also breaking through for his maiden ALMS GT class victory in his first year with BMW Team RLL. Capped off by two wins in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, also with Stevenson, it made Edwards one of the most successful and diverse drivers of 2013.
3. Jordan Taylor: With five wins in 12 races, Jordan Taylor and his father’s Wayne Taylor Racing team were the benchmark in the Rolex Sports Car Series this year. The 22-year-old second generation driver made his full-season Daytona Prototype debut, teamed with veteran Max Angelelli. While the duo visited victory lane early in the year, Taylor came to life in the second half of the season, particularly after a driver rotation change that saw him close out the races. Taylor and Angelelli ended the year with three consecutive victories and the DP drivers’ championship.
2. Allan McNish: The rapid Scot re-wrote the history book by claiming his first World Championship title in what could only be described as a dream season for he and his Audi Sport co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval. McNish kicked off the FIA WEC season with a victory on home soil at Silverstone, winning the Tourist Trophy, prior to claiming his third overall crown at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. An additional win for the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at COTA helped seal the Drivers’ World Championship one race early for the trio, who all had impressive drives throughout the 2013 FIA WEC season. McNish recently announced his retirement from top-line prototype racing.
1. Bernd Schneider: The DTM legend came out of retirement for a series of endurance races this year and nearly walked away with a clean sweep, winning six races out of seven starts. Schneider kicked off the year by claiming victory in the 24 Hours of Dubai with Black Falcon, before piloting an Erebus Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 to victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour. The 49-year-old rejoined the German squad to win the Nurburging 24 in May, prior to victories in the 24 Hours of Spa and Blancpain 1000 at the Nurburgring, both with HTP Motorsport. He capped off the year with a win in the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit, also with Black Falcon. Remarkably, the only race the Mercedes factory driver didn’t win was the 12-hour Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (MMER) in Sepang, when his SLS suffered engine failure.
4. John Edwards: Having competed in three series, with different cars and co-drivers, John Edwards achieved success in each one of them. The 22-year-old Kentucky native won a season-high four Rolex Sports Car Series GT races with co-driver Robin Liddell in Stevenson Motorsports’ Camaro, while also breaking through for his maiden ALMS GT class victory in his first year with BMW Team RLL. Capped off by two wins in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, also with Stevenson, it made Edwards one of the most successful and diverse drivers of 2013.
3. Jordan Taylor: With five wins in 12 races, Jordan Taylor and his father’s Wayne Taylor Racing team were the benchmark in the Rolex Sports Car Series this year. The 22-year-old second generation driver made his full-season Daytona Prototype debut, teamed with veteran Max Angelelli. While the duo visited victory lane early in the year, Taylor came to life in the second half of the season, particularly after a driver rotation change that saw him close out the races. Taylor and Angelelli ended the year with three consecutive victories and the DP drivers’ championship.
2. Allan McNish: The rapid Scot re-wrote the history book by claiming his first World Championship title in what could only be described as a dream season for he and his Audi Sport co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval. McNish kicked off the FIA WEC season with a victory on home soil at Silverstone, winning the Tourist Trophy, prior to claiming his third overall crown at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. An additional win for the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at COTA helped seal the Drivers’ World Championship one race early for the trio, who all had impressive drives throughout the 2013 FIA WEC season. McNish recently announced his retirement from top-line prototype racing.
1. Bernd Schneider: The DTM legend came out of retirement for a series of endurance races this year and nearly walked away with a clean sweep, winning six races out of seven starts. Schneider kicked off the year by claiming victory in the 24 Hours of Dubai with Black Falcon, before piloting an Erebus Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 to victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour. The 49-year-old rejoined the German squad to win the Nurburging 24 in May, prior to victories in the 24 Hours of Spa and Blancpain 1000 at the Nurburgring, both with HTP Motorsport. He capped off the year with a win in the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit, also with Black Falcon. Remarkably, the only race the Mercedes factory driver didn’t win was the 12-hour Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (MMER) in Sepang, when his SLS suffered engine failure.