November 10, 2010
Published on tags: General
The 2010 GPVWC Awards proved as popular as usual, with plenty of submissions coming in from Managers and Drivers to vote the best - and worst - of a spectacular 2010 season. Some of the results proved quite predictable, but some surprises sprung up in some of the awards. Without further ado, let's go and discover the winners in all the categories.

Best Driver

Janne Tanskanen, decisive winner of the World Championship, managed the unprecedented feat of being voted top driver in EACH of the submissions. Championship runner-up Mark Wicks was a distant second, while third spot went to Lee Morris, who pulled out mid-season after a promising start of the year.

Janne Tanskanen - 30 pts Mark Wicks - 17 pts Lee Morris - 5 pts Joe Consiglio - 4 pts Kieran Ryan - 2 pts Christoph Lichtenstein - 1 pt Jason Muscat - 1 pt Best Rookie

Besides small inconveniences, such as properly defining WHO can be defined a Rookie, the voting was much closer than in the Best Driver contest. Sam Millar was voted top new face in the circus, barely edging above David Jundt - the Swiss driver only competing the last three races of the season. Liam Hatchell, considered a rookie after taking part in only one race last season, was third.

Sam Millar - 14 pts David Jundt - 10 pts Liam Hatchell - 9 pts Christoph Lichtenstein* - 8 pts Agustin Canapino - 6 pts David Stanton - 3 pts Tim-Oliver Wagner - 3 pts Chris Williamson - 2 pts Jason Muscat* - 2 pts Fernando Babij - 1 pt Emanuel Gaczella - 1 pt Most Improved Driver

Improvement can mean many things to many people: is it improvement over the course of the season? Or between seasons? The common concept, however, remain the same: the driver who changed the way people look at him the most is race-winner, keyboard master Jason Muscat, followed by Christoph Lichtenstein in second. While the two former backmarkers are now a top runner and a regular point scorer, third placed Kieran Ryan, a GPVWC veteran, owes his placement to the improvement that saw him return to the levels of excellence he had got us used to in the past.

Jason Muscat - 19 pts Christoph Lichtenstein - 14 pts Kieran Ryan - 10 pts William Ponissi - 4 pts Mark Stanton - 4 pts Mark Wicks - 3 pts Gavin Thomas - 2 pts Mark Fuller - 2 pts Phil Perkins - 1 pt Sam Millar - 1 pt Best of the Rest

While most eyes in the season were focused on the Championship battles between the Nordsjoens and the Woods boys, furious fights took place at the bottom of the podium. Scoring points with underpowered cars, making the most of the leaders' days off, all made sure that people like Jason Muscat, winner of this category, and Liam Hatchell, runner-up, were always there or thereabout come race end. Mark Stanton, impressive in his Constant Racing, was third placed.

Jason Muscat - 15 pts Liam Hatchell - 14 pts Mark Stanton - 6 pts Christoph Lichtenstein - 4 pts Sam Millar - 4 pts Mark Wicks - 3 pts Lee Morris - 3 pts Jyri Lylykorpi - 3 pts Wayne Mullins - 2 pts Kieran Ryan - 2 pts William Ponissi - 2 pts Phil Perkins - 1 pt Joe Consiglio - 1 pt Best Team Livery

Taste is a subjective matter, and this is shown by the fact that, out of 12 teams, 11 received votes in this category (sorry Draig Racing). Nordsjoen Racing closely edged out, by just one point, second placed Woods Racing. Third place went to Red Archer.

Nordsjoen Racing - 13 pts Woods Racing - 12 pts Red Archer VRT - 6 pts ST Racing - 6 pts Yellowbirds - 5 pts Constant Racing - 4 pts Synergetic - 4 pts Williamson Dynamics - 4 pts Oz Racing - 2 pts ART - 2 pts CSG Racing - 1 pt Best Team

No battle here - the Woods Boys ran away with this one. Rarely a pair of drivers has been so evenly matched, yet mantained the co-operation and friendship that Kieran Ryan and Mark Wicks produced during the 2010 season. Nordsjoen, who hardly put a foot wrong, were second while surprise outfit Red Archer was a deserved third.

Woods Racing - 25 pts Nordsjoen Racing - 14 pts Red Archer - 13 pts Constant Racing - 5 pts Synergetic - 2 pts CSG - 1 pt Best New Team

Red Archer, scoring a string of impressive results and an all-important win in Spa, clinched the honorific title of Best New Team of the season. They are followed by Yellowbirds, which scored high despite a poor car, and ST Racing in third.

Red Archer - 25 pts Yellowbirds - 19 pts ST Racing - 9 pts Draig Racing - 4 pts ART - 2 pts Oz Racing - 1 pt Most Improved Team

A very tight and contested vote here, which was decided on countback. Constant Racing, going from mid-low-pack also rans to podium and points scorers, finished tied to Red Archer, which had an impressive in-season development. The higher amount of three-points votes skewed this in favour of the English team. Woods Racing was third.

Constant Racing - 14 pts Red Archer - 14 pts Woods Racing - 7 pts ST Racing - 6 pts Yellowbirds - 6 pts Synergetic - 4 pts Oz Racing - 2 pts Draig Racing - 1 pt Best Starter

The award for the best man off the line went, paradoxically, to someone who hardly gained a position in the first lap over the course of the season. Janne Tanskanen's main merit, starting so many times from pole position, was to almost clinically pull off perfect getaways, the first step towards many of his victories this season. Synergetic Motorsport's Hatchell was second, while Sam Millar and Gavin Thomas tied for third.

Janne Tanskanen - 9 pts Liam Hatchell - 8 pts Sam Millar - 7 pts Gavin Thomas - 7 pts Lee Morris - 5 pts William Ponissi - 5 pts Chris Williamson - 3 pts Mark Stanton - 3 pts Tommi Koivunen - 3 pts Joe Consiglio - 3 pts Kieran Ryan - 2 pts Christoph Lichtenstein - 2 pts Wayne Mullins - 2 pts David Stanton - 1 pt Overachieving Driver

One name clearly topped the list of the drivers who got more than they were supposed to. Luck, sense of opportunity and others' misfortunes all contributed to their success, but Christoph Lichtenstein can be proud of his achievements. Jason Muscat was a very distant second, just ahead of Liam Hatchell.

Christoph Lichtenstein - 22 pts Jason Muscat - 9 pts Liam Hatchell - 8 pts William Ponissi - 6 pts Mark Wicks - 6 pts Chris Williamson - 5 pts Mike Phillis - 2 pts Phil Perkins - 1 pt David Jundt - 1 pt Underachieving Driver

Things sometimes do not work as planned - and for these drivers, they didn't. For all his talks of success, race wins and potential championship contention with arguably the best car in the pack, Wayne Mullins finished with a disappointing amount of points. Highly-rated Agustin Canapino was also far from the heights his quality promised, while Lee Morris was third.

Wayne Mullins - 18 pts Agustin Canapino - 7 pts Lee Morris - 6 pts Nick Rowland - 6 pts David Stanton - 6 pts Liam Hatchell - 4 pts Gavin Thomas - 3 pts Joe Consiglio - 3 pts Mark Fuller - 2 pts Adam Smith - 2 pts Phil Perkins - 1 pt Nikos Evangelidakis - 1 pt Fernando Babij - 1 pt Most Crash-prone Driver

Did anyone really had any doubt on who would finish on top of this one? One of the GPVWC's top blokes, Nikos Evangelidakis had a torrid season, but finished his campaign with a deserved point in Singapore. Gavin Thomas, who caused his mechanics plenty of extra work as well, was voted second while the third most crash-prone driver was Adam Smith.

Nikos Evangelidakis - 22 pts Gavin Thomas - 11 pts Adam Smith - 9 pts Wayne Mullins - 7 pts William Ponissi - 3 pts Phil Perkins - 2 pts Leontin Nemet - 1 pt Mark Bullivant - 1 pt David Stanton - 1 pt Agustin Canapino - 1 pt Liam Hatchell - 1 pt Sam Millar - 1 pt This brings us to the end of the 2010 GPVWC Awards. Please remember - they are all meant to be a fun way to celebrate the end of the season! With the GPVWC Masters well under way and details of 2011 coming soon, stay tuned with us for the racing experience of your life!