Top 10 BTCC drivers of 2016 - Autocar's picks

Average qualifying position: 6.50 Poles: 3

Laps led: 74 Wins: 5 Podiums: 10 Fastest laps: 3

The Subaru programme was ambitious and it went through a difficult birth, including missing a round at Thruxton with a fuel rail problem. Once a new inlet manifold came on stream in June, Turkington flew. He took the car’s first pole and win at Oulton, and then went on to four more wins to thrust himself up to fourth in the points. He's a superb, classy racer who worked hard to unlock the secrets of the car.

3 Sam Tordoff

Team: WSR

Car: BMW 125i M Sport

Championship position: 2nd

Average qualifying position: 11.10 Poles: 0

Laps led: 54 Wins: 2 Podiums: 9 Fastest laps: 2

In only his fourth season at this level, Tordoff stepped up to the plate in 2016. The team developed the engine over the winter and added direct injection and variable valve timing to the powerplant. Tordoff was the model of consistency over the opening part of the year. Others started to close over the run-in and Tordoff narrowly lost out on a maiden crown. He handled himself with dignity in the face of defeat.

4 Rob Collard

Team: WSR

Car: BMW 125i M Sport

Championship position: 5th

Average qualifying position: 16.50 Poles: 0

Laps led: 23 Wins: 2 Podiums: 6 Fastest laps: 4

The most stunning statistic for Collard is that his average qualifying position is worse than 16th. That meant he had to put in some stellar drivers with plenty of overtaking – indeed, he won the Dunlop Forever Forward award for the man who passed the most cars during the season. He put that struggle down to difficulties with set-up, but it didn’t take away from his stunning Sunday showings.

5 Mat Jackson

Team: Motorbase Performance

Car: Ford Focus ST

Championship position: 3rd

Average qualifying position: 12.20 Poles: 0

Laps led: 103 Wins: 5 Podiums: 9 Fastest laps: 1

Jackson was the dominant force over the latter part of 2015, but rule makers pegged the car back and it was more of a struggle this season. There were occasions where the points when begging – such as a puncture at Thruxton and an ECU failure at Snetterton – which could have made all the difference. The car got faster over the latter half of the season, but it was too late for a title charge.

6 Andrew Jordan

Team: Motorbase Performance

Car: Ford Focus ST

Championship position: 8th

Average qualifying position: 11.56 Poles: 0

Laps led: 20 Wins: 2 Podiums: 5 Fastest laps: 2

Jordan switched to his third different car in three years and took his tight engineering team with him. They conducted a lot of pre-season testing to refine the car, but suffered some real misfortune over parts of the season. When things did click together, like at Silverstone at the end of the year, Jordan was the highest scoring driver over the three rounds. He managed to claim the Independents Trophy.

7 Jason Plato

Team: Team BMR

Car: Subaru Levorg GT

Championship position: 7th

Average qualifying position: 10.70 Poles: 1

Laps led: 55 Wins: 1 Podiums: 10 Fastest laps: 1

Plato was one of the major players behind getting Subaru into the championship in the first place, and was delighted with the boxer-engined Levorg GT. After the initial teething troubles had been ironed out, he was fast and scored as many podiums as anyone else during the year. The highlight came at Knockhill, when the old master won his 500th race in the series. With a year’s learning in the car, he will only be faster in 2017.

8 Matt Neal

Team: Team Dynamics

Car: Honda Civic Type-R

Championship position: 6th

Average qualifying position: 8.20 Poles: 0

Laps led: 25 Wins: 3 Podiums: 7 Fastest laps: 1

Neal used his guile over the opening half of the season when, because he was fully laden with success ballast, he mapped his weekends out to work towards success in the final race of the meetings. That worked perfectly up until the halfway point of the year, when others hit their stride. He ended the season in the medical centre after a race two shunt at Brands Hatch, which was a cruel blow.

9 Ash Sutton

Team: Triple Eight Racing

Car: MG 6

Championship position: 13th

Average qualifying position: 6.40 Poles: 2

Laps led: 17 Wins: 1 Podiums: 2 Fastest laps: 2

In his first season in the category, Sutton was stunning. His superb car control and aggressive racecraft are perfectly suited to the BTCC. He took a pole position in his second meeting and won his first race by the fifth meeting in the MG6, which is hardly the newest of designs on the grid. He went on to dominate the Jack Sears Trophy for rookie drivers and has marked himself out as a star of the future.