So this is it. All the racing’s been done, all the preparations made, and this weekend the world’s best Gran Turismo Sport drivers will meet in Monaco. They’re all chasing one trophy, and a money-can’t-buy prize of lining up alongside Lewis Hamilton, Ott Tanak, Fernando Alonso, and other world champion drivers to receive their adulation in Paris in December.
With the Grand Final in Monaco just around the corner, we’re taking another look at our Nations Cup driver rankings.
We rolled out the system in August, to show how the Nations Cup drivers perform in the live events. The bright lights, live audiences, international travel, and just being in the same room as their peers changes the pressure on the drivers. We’ve been tracking every participant, through every race, to see how they cope with this different environment and clue us into what to expect from the next time they meet.
The November rankings include every World Tour event up to the first stab of the throttle in Monaco on Friday. A wild Tokyo event saw quite a few drivers moving both up and down the order, but the top few remain eerily predictable. We certainly didn’t predict Ryota Kokubun’s victory — his second successive Tokyo win — and he’s jumped up the rankings as a result.
Now, let’s get to the rankings!
#1: Igor Fraga 🇧🇷 (IOF_RACING17)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 2nd
- Race Wins: 5
- Best Result: 1st (Nurburgring Final, New York Final)
- Worst Result: 7th (Paris Final)
- Previous Rank: #1 (▲0)
- Highest Rank: #1
Fraga retains his top ranking going into the Monaco final. After that lift in New York, he’s not actually participated in the Nations Cup at a World Tour, but last year’s champ has been keeping his eye in with some runs in the Manufacturer Series — coming out on the podium in Tokyo.
There’s one stat that says just how potent Fraga is, and why he’s top of the list: he’s had the joint-fewest races of anyone in the top 16, but still has more race wins than anyone. He sees the checkered flag first in 71.4% of his races, and that’s why the Brazilian driver is still number one.
#2: Mikail Hizal 🍪 (TRL_LIGHTNING)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 3rd
- Race Wins: 4
- Best Result: 1st (Salzburg Final)
- Worst Result: 10th (Nurburgring Repechage, Tokyo Semi-Final A)
- Previous Rank: #2 (▲0)
- Highest Rank: #2
Mikail Hizal remains the closest thing to a true threat to Fraga. He didn’t have the best Tokyo event — not even making the final, like his poor Nurburgring event — but the fact is he has the second highest number of race wins and, along with Fraga and Ryota Kokubun, is one of few drivers to score the perfect weekend.
We’ll never know what might have been in New York, but if Hizal is in the same devastating form as he was in Salzburg, we might see the Turkish-German driver on the same patch of race track as the Brazilian in the closing stages again. Any bets on how it’ll turn out this time?
#3: Cody N. Latkovski 🇦🇺 (Nik_Makozi)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 3rd
- Race Wins: 1
- Best Result: 1st (Nurburgring Semi-Final)
- Worst Result: 9th (Paris Final)
- Previous Rank: #3 (▲0)
- Highest Rank: #2
It’s incredible to think that Latkovski has only had one Nations Cup World Tour race win to date. Given that the Australian is usually standing on one of the three steps at the end of an event, PD might have to rename it from ‘podium’ to ‘Codyum’.
Undeniably fast — he recently won the FIA Motorsport Games Digital Cup — Latkovski seems to have ironed out some of the mistakes that attracted attention earlier in the season too. Will he step up at the last gasp to take the official GT Sport title too?
#4: Takuma Miyazono 🇯🇵 (Kerokkuma_ej20)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 3rd
- Race Wins: 2
- Best Result: 1st (Salzburg Semi-Final, Tokyo Repechage)
- Worst Result: 5th (Tokyo Semi-Final)
- Previous Ranking: #4 (▲0)
- Best Ranking: #4
Takuma Miyazono has been like a whirlwind since his first event in New York, and we had a sneaky feeling he’d win on home soil in Tokyo. In fact he turned in his worst performance to date, but when that’s a 5th place in the semi-final, a repechage win, and a fourth in the final, you know we’re talking about a driver with immense talent.
While Tokyo might have been a missed opportunity, Miyazono should come roaring back in Monaco. It might need some unusual circumstances, or another tactical masterstroke, to see him win, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see him close to the lead battle in the grand final.
#5: Coque Lopez 🇪🇸 (Williams_Coque14)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 4th
- Race Wins: 0
- Best Result: 2nd (Nurburgring Semi-Final, Tokyo Semi-Final)
- Worst Result: 6th (Nurburgring Final)
- Previous Ranking: #5 (▲0)
- Best Ranking: #4
Coque Lopez has driven in every World Tour event and has, in each, qualified directly to the final without needing the repechage. He’s never finished any race at any event lower than sixth. No other driver can match these figures — Lopez is the very model of consistency and came so close to the win in Germany that it’s amazing he’s yet to taste champagne.
Ultimately though, he’s the only driver in our top five yet to win a race at a World Tour – though admittedly not entirely of his own doing. Can he make that push in Monaco? Well, he’s not likely to finish lower than sixth at least!
#6: Ryota Kokubun 🇯🇵 (Akagi_1942mi)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 6th
- Race Wins: 1
- Best Result: 1st (Tokyo Semi-Final, Tokyo Final)
- Worst Result: 9th (Nurburgring Semi-Final, Nurburgring Repechage)
- Previous Ranking: #13 (▲7)
- Best Ranking: #6
It seems harsh to call the defending 2018 Asia-Oceania champion an outsider, but his win – and perfect weekend – in Tokyo caught us all out. We’d tipped his countryman, Miyazono, but Kokubun just dominated the event.
That gives Kokubun two important qualities going into the Final: confidence and momentum. The Japanese driver hadn’t had the best of World Tours to that point, attending all events but only making one final and finishing anywhere from 4th to 11th. Tokyo changed that, and Kokubun is riding high heading to the Riviera.
#7: Nicolas Rubilar 🇨🇱 (FT_NicoR)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 5th
- Race Wins: 1
- Best Result: 1st (Paris Final)
- Worst Result: 10th (New York Final)
- Previous Ranking: #7 ▲0
- Best Ranking: #5
Since Paris, Rubilar has been in the mix but not close enough to repeat that result. In the other four events he’s placed 10th in the final twice, and not qualified for it another two times. This has to be taken in context: as the first driver to qualify for the World Final, he’s had no pressure to succeed, and nothing to drive him to the finish line.
Anyone who’s caught GTPlanet League‘s races will know how strong a driver the Chilean is though. He’s only here in seventh because his average results across the season dictate it, but with the pressure back on and the trophy in sight in Monaco, we might see him back up where he belongs.
#8: Baptiste Beauvois 🇫🇷 (Veloce_TsuTsu)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 6th
- Race Wins: 1
- Best Result: 1st (Salzburg Repechage)
- Worst Result: 12th (Nurburgring Final)
- Previous Ranking: #11 (▲3)
- Best Ranking: #7
Beauvois is the quiet man of the World Tour. We hardly seem to talk about him, but he has been gradually improving as the events proceed. After missing Paris, he had a missable Germany event, but the finishes have got better the closer we get to the end of the season.
Tokyo was a good event for the Frenchman, with a trio of top-six finishes. He has one race win to his name so far, from the Repechage in Salzburg, on a generally solid weekend. He’s a good tip for a podium in Monaco, and certainly his results are moving in the right direction!
#9: Jonathan Wong 🇭🇰 (CAR_Saika)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 5th
- Race Wins: 1
- Best Result: 1st (Paris Semi-Final)
- Worst Result: 8th (Nurburgring Final)
- Previous Ranking: #6 (▼3)
- Best Ranking: #4
Wong has dropped in the rankings simply through not attending the Tokyo event. He remains one of Asia’s top drivers, and with a race win and a World Tour podium to his name, he’s not someone to dismiss lightly.
His nine races have all resulted in top-eight finishes, and he’s qualified for the final of every World Tour event he’s been in. That first event, in Paris, still represents a high point, but he’s a regular in the superpole shootout and a name you should firmly pencil in to make it through Friday’s semi-finals.
#10: Rayan Derrouiche 🇫🇷 (Veloce_Miura)
- Avg. Finishing Position: 5th
- Race Wins: 0
- Best Result: 2nd (Salzburg Repechage)
- Worst Result: 12th (Salzburg Final)
- Previous Ranking: #8 (▼2)
- Best Ranking: #8
Derrouiche is one of the strongest drivers online, and a decent showing in Tokyo makes him our second top-ten Frenchman. Like Wong, he’s missed one event — Paris, in Derrouiche’s case — but has reached the final at every other. With a penchant for finishing third, which he’s done four times in nine races, he’s used to running at the front of the pack.
A mixed bag of results in Austria — the only event he’s needed to qualify from a Repechage race to the final — impacts his ranking somewhat, so we’d expect to see him further up than his position indicates. A podium? Maybe…
The Top 25
The list above accounts for just 10 of the 44 drivers who’ve made it to a World Tour. We’ve been keeping track of all of them in our complicated scoring matrix, but there’s quite a few drivers who’ve been to just a couple of events and progressed no further than the semi-finals. For that reason, we’re only looking at the top 25 here.
That said, the quality of the field here is immense. 11th to 13th reads like a European dream-team of Giorgio Mangano, Adam Suswillo, and Manuel Rodriguez, with Mangano’s countryman Salvatore Maraglino in 14th. Andrew Brooks keeps his top North American ranking of 15th, but that doesn’t reflect his pace, more his ability to attract terrible misfortune. Adriano Carrazza had an incredible event in Tokyo, which has moved him up — watch out for the Brazilian this weekend.
To all of the drivers who did make it into our rankings, congratulations and good luck in Monaco!
- #11 (▼3): Giorgio Mangano – IT – (Williams_Gio)
- #12 (▼3): Adam Suswillo – UK – (Williams_Adam41)
- #13 (▲2): Manuel Rodriguez – ES – (TRL_MANURODRY)
- #14 (▲2): Salvatore Maraglino – IT – (JIM_Pirata666_)
- #15 (▼2): Andrew Brooks – CA – (PX7-Deafsun)
- #16 (▲0): Patrik Blazsan – HU – (Williams_Fuvaros)
- #17 (▲3): Adriano Carrazza – BR – (UDI_Didico15)
- #18 (▼1): Adam Wilk – AU – (Adam_2167)
- #19 (▼1): Tatsuya Sugawara – JP – (blackbeauty-79)
- #20 (▼1): Daniel Solis – US – (CAR_Lamb)
- #21 (▼1): Kin Long Li – HK – (KarS_0627)
- #22 (–): Tomoaki Yamanaka – JP – (yamado_racing38)
- #23 (▼2): Fabian Portilla – CL – (CAR_McQueen)
- #24 (▲1): Benjamin Bader – HU – (ROH_Benito)
- #25 (–): Rick Kevelham – ND – (HRG_RK23)
See more articles on FIA GTC Driver Rankings and World Tour.
