Rank your top Ten Sportscar Drivers - past 10 years

[Number7]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Not in the past decade it isn't...... Win #1 was in 1997 - 12 years ago.....

Despite being a Brit, I go for TK over Alan.....

Touché ...

Over the past decade TK is the #1. Nowadays McNish i superior to TK.

[GT2-R]

My list:

1)Tom Kristensen
2)Allen McNish
3)David Brabham
4)Jörg Bergmeister

5) - 10) Not in particular order

Lucas Luhr
Gianmaria Bruni
Romain Dumas
Mark Lieb
Christophe Bouillon
Ron Fellows

[porsche91722]

Originally Posted by davyboy

When it comes to ranking sportscar drivers, I think we need to heavily weight the marathons because not to do so would lean us to over rank the faster guys who dipped into sportscar racing and who would possibly have McNish and Kristensen for dinner in a sprint.

I understand your point, however, I don't think there would be to many "sprint" specialists who would be happy to see McNish in their mirrors at about 2.00PM, Sunday afternoon at a place in France, mid june. His driving in traffic has been almost sublime throughout his career.
The lists already quoted, cover all my picks, but the combination of McNish, Kristensen and Capello will go down in sports car racing history as one of the greatest ever.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by porsche91722

The lists already quoted, cover all my picks, but the combination of McNish, Kristensen and Capello will go down in sports car racing history as one of the greatest ever.

Absolutely agree... that's the dream team for sure.

[The Badger]

Weaver-Wallace-Leitzinger take some beating !!!

[Rodger Davies]

i wrote an epically long post for this but it's gotten lost somewhere, so my ten in no particular order are:

- Allan McNish - because. Just because, OK
- Tom Kristensen - can't argue with that LM record, especially with a simultaneous touring car career
- Gianmaria Bruni - Ferrari's answer to Porsche
- Christophe Bouchut - dominated GT racing in the first part of the decade
- Rinaldo Capello - the consistency to even out McNish's raw speed
- Marc Lieb - if a Porsche has won a GT race in Europe, there's a good chance Lieb has been behind the wheel
- Nicolas Minassian - the most consistent part of Peugeot's programme
- David Brabham - in ten years has won everywhere and in everything
- Jorg Bergmeister - proved Porsche's bosses wrong
- Romain Dumas - emerged as the star of the RS Spyder programme

[isynge]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Weaver-Wallace-Leitzinger take some beating !!!

OT - but this does flag up one of the real regrets of the last decade, i.e. the absence of Dyson coming to Le Mans and showing us what they could do. I'm not saying they would have won given the opposition, but they would surely have livened up the race, and a driver line up like that would really have got me interested.

[SALEEN S7R]

Bartels
Bertolini
Kristensen
McNish
Enge
Melo
Bruni
Gavin
Bourdais
Bouchut

[chernaudi]

I think to be fair, as there are so many good drivers out there and that some are LMP and GT specialist, I think there should be an LMP, GT, and perhaps an overall listing blending the two-after all, there are drivers who specialize in either prototypes(McNish), GT(Melo), or did both with equal success(Brabham and Luhr).

[skeeskirrt]

How about adding JJ Lehto to the list?

[dxk1]

I certainly agree with those that put TK, Allan McNish and Brabs in the top group. I agree with Garcia, Montagny and Pagenaud as up and comers. But I haven't seen anyone mention Karl Wendlinger. Seems to me that he is as fast as anyone when he is in top equipment and even sometimes when he is in inferior equipment. As far as GT drivers go, he and Bouchut must be two of the very best of the last decade.

DK

[JHamilton]

My list has an obvious lean towards the ALMS and is also probably completely wrong. As I read through the thread I also said, "where is Weaver? Lehto?" So they're on my list:

1. McNish
2. Kristensen
3. David Brabham
4. Beretta
5. Weaver
6. Fellows
7. Dumas
8. Lehto
9. Luhr
10. O'Connell

Honorable mention that probably should be on the list: Magnussen, Leitzinger, Maassan, Bergmeister, Minassian, Sarrazin, Bernhard, Capello, Pirro, Biela, Johansson, Herbert ...and many more I'm forgetting. We are blessed with too many great drivers to list!

[Splendid Cat]

To JHamilton

Ahem, ahem...

Originally Posted by Splendid Cat

McNish
Collard
Werner
TK
James Weaver
Capello
Sarazzin
Nic M
Lieb
Christophe B

[Jonerz]

1. Allan McNish
2. David Brabham
3. Tom Kristensen
4. Nicolas Minassian
5. Jan Magnussen
6. Olivier Beretta
7. Christophe Bouchut
8. Dindo Cappello
9. Pedro Lamy
10. Timo Bernhard & Romain Dumas (because they achieved their greatness this decade in tandem.)

Honorable mentions to Scott Pruett (Trans-Am and Grand-Am titles), Stephane Sarazzin, Simon Pagenaud emerging as the future Brabs/Nishi, Frank Montagny for being similar (even though his career aims still seem to lie in single-seaters) Pat Long for being an American Porsche factory driver and a bleeding quick one at that, Jon Field for being worth the price of admission for his qualifying efforts - especially recently, Frank Biela, Emmanuelle Pirro and Marco Werner for always being there, Joerg Bergmeister for always sticking cars up front in American GT racing and James Weaver for being extremely exciting in a period when the ALMS was going through its toddler years as a major international racing series.

Chris

[Juntos]

My list:
1. Tom Kristensen
2. David Brahbam
3. Pedro Lamy
4. Christophe Bouchut
5. Alan Mcnish
6. Manu Collard
7. Jaime Melo
8. Marc Lieb
9. Jan Magnussen
10. João Barbosa

[R4z3rw33n]

Check out the second last paragraph:
http://translate.google.com.au/trans...an-McNish.html

Looks like somebody at Speedweek has been paying attention to this thread.

[dj choc ice]

I forgot someone from my list, someone who sadly is not with us any longer,

Michaele Alboretto

a cracking driver, a shame he was taken from us too soon.

Tommy Erdos deserves a mention as well and Warren Hughes, both phenomenal P2 drivers in their own right.

Any mention for Jean Marc Gounon in here as well?
some good drives put in for Courage over the past many many years.

[NightStalk3r]

Richard Westbrook has to be on there, i see Collard getting lots of metions and over the last 2 years Westbrook has made Collard look like an Amatuer on many occasions.

[Rodger Davies]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Richard Westbrook has to be on there, i see Collard getting lots of metions and over the last 2 years Westbrook has made Collard look like an Amatuer on many occasions.

agreed, but the questions was 'of the decade' and Collard's been a fairly consistently good performer throughout it, even if he has slipped a bit in the last couple of years.

[The Badger]

Impressed most but not in order or accomplishment .

McNish .... that needs no explaining .
Capello ..... also needs no explaining .
Kristensen ..... speaks for himself .
Cottaz ..... always shone at Le Mans in a Courage with almost no time in class .
Lieb ..... the man is nothing short of genius .
Wurz ..... absolutly bloody brilliant .
Bouchet ..... a modern version of Bob Wollek .
Weaver ..... CV does all the talking !!!
Fellows ..... super hero and a top class gentleman , and bloody quick driver too .
O'Connell ..... is already a legend and fast becoming a superhero too .

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by isynge

OT - but this does flag up one of the real regrets of the last decade, i.e. the absence of Dyson coming to Le Mans and showing us what they could do. I'm not saying they would have won given the opposition, but they would surely have livened up the race, and a driver line up like that would really have got me interested.

I agree completely .

[CTD]

1. Tom K - No doubt!
2. McNish.
..
But i don't understand why McNish is ranked over Tom K?, i really don't!
Also Jan Magnussen should be mentioned in the top 10!, him and Brabham did some amazing driving in the inferior Panoz back in 1999-02, and his wins with Corvette must not be forgotten!

[The Badger]

Hey man , ive only got ten choices !!!

[davehenrie]

Originally Posted by CTD

1. Tom K - No doubt!
2. McNish.
..
But i don't understand why McNish is ranked over Tom K?, i really don't!

If you need a driver to turn consistent, really fast laps during the bulk of the race, then TK is your man. If you needed a pass in the last hour for the win, then McNish is your guy. As the Peugeot 908 has risen to the top, it has been McNish who has been the Audi pilot most capable of taking the fight to the Pugs.

We are really splitting hairs with those two drivers, kinda like a teenage boy seeing his first topless woman, which is better? The left Boob or the right Boob? (lol now I'm comparing Racing Drivers to Boobies!!!!)

dh

[CTD]

Originally Posted by davehenrie

If you need a driver to turn consistent, really fast laps during the bulk of the race, then TK is your man. If you needed a pass in the last hour for the win, then McNish is your guy. As the Peugeot 908 has risen to the top, it has been McNish who has been the Audi pilot most capable of taking the fight to the Pugs.

We are really splitting hairs with those two drivers, kinda like a teenage boy seeing his first topless woman, which is better? The left Boob or the right Boob? (lol now I'm comparing Racing Drivers to Boobies!!!!)
dh

I understands your point, but still not why McNish should be ranked first!.
In Endurance sportscar racing, Tom K is more successful.
In DTM racing, Tom K was more successful in the season they shared.
In my mind Tom K is the better SPORTSCAR driver (seeing he has more general success than Allan), but not undermining the fact that Allan is a great driver, but a Derek Bell compared to a Jacky Ickx!