With a host of champions, race winners and budding stars to choose from, picking just ten top drivers from 2006 wasn’t easy.

Keith Collantine reveals the ten drivers that impressed the most in 2006.

10. Paul di Resta
Formula Three Euroseries champion, Ultimate Masters of F3 winner

Driving for reigning champions ASM, winning the pan-European Formula Three championship was almost a pre-requisite for Di Resta.

He did a solid job, winning five times as well as claiming the prestigious Ultimate Masters of F3 race in the Netherlands. But a crash ruined his race at the end-of-season Macau Grand Prix.

9. Oliver Jarvis
Second, British Formula Three

The Formula Three championship this year was supposed to be all about the arrival of Bruno ‘nephew-of’ Senna. Few expected F3 newcomer Jarvis to beat Senna to second in the championship behind runaway leader Mike Conway.

On top of that, Jarvis made an appearance for Team Britain at the Chinese A1 Grand Prix round and put in a mature, consistent run to second place.

8. Jason Plato
Second, British Touring Car Championship

Matt Neal may have won the championship but Plato would have run him very close but for a run of poor luck. He won eight times – as many races as Neal – and remained a firm crowd favourite with his belligerent style.

A second touring car title beckons for the Fifth Gear presenter 2007.

7. Mike Conway
British Formula Three champion; Macau Grand Prix winner

When we interviewed Mike in August, he told us the racing driver he most admired was Michael Schumacher.

Conway stormed the British F3 championship in true Schumacher style – when he wasn’t winning he was finishing second and third and stacking up the championship points.

He dominated team mate Bruno Senna and after winning the title added the blue riband Macau Formula Three Grand Prix as well.

He even made a one-off appearance in GP2, and is expected to race in the F1 feeder series next year. Big things beckon.

6. David Coulthard
Twelfth, Formula One World Championship

Even in his 13th season of Formula One, Coulthard is still among the best.

His Red Bull-Ferrari proved unreliable and often struggled for pace, but around the demanding confines of Monte-Carlo he reminded us of his class by giving Red Bull their first top-three finish.

5. Justin Wilson
Second, Champ Car World Series

That Wilson is being courted by the three top Champ Car teams for 2007 tells you how good a job he did this year.

He may only have won once, but his gritty drive to second at the demanding Mexico City circuit despite a wrist injury was one of the highlights of the season.

4. Dan Wheldon
Second, Indy Racing League

Step forward Britain’s unluckiest racing driver in 2006. Wheldon actually tied on points with the 2006 IRL champion Sam Hornish, but the American won the title by virtue of having won more races.

The championship would easily have been Wheldon’s (for a second consecutive year) had his Ganassi team not let him down with a host of car failures and pit blunders.

3. Andy Priaulx
World Touring Car champion

Priaulx has now won the same championship three years running (it was known as the European Touring Car Championship in 2004).

Even a ridiculously harsh success ballast penalty system couldn’t keep him from winning this year, when he was clearly the class of the field.

His rivals will need to make some serious progress over the winter to offer the Guernseyman any kind of serious resistance next year.

2. Jenson Button
Sixth, Formula One World Championship

Mark this – over the last six rounds of the F1 season, no one scored more points than Jenson Button. Not Michael Schumacher, not champion Fernando Alonso.

Most importantly he finally scored that crucial first win – and it was a gem of a drive, slicing through the field from 14th on the grid. And he put his hugely experienced team mate Rubens Barrichello firmly in the shade.

Now, can Honda give him a championship-contending car in 2007?

1. Lewis Hamilton
GP2 champion

Ron Dennis seldom lets rookies race his precious Formula One cars. But in 2007, F1 newcomer Hamilton will team up with double World Champion Fernando Alonso at the famous team.

How has he earned this honour? By winning the F1 feeder series GP2 in such fantastic style that racing fans would have been outraged to see him stuck in a testing role for twelve months.

He won both rounds of his home race and the Silverstone crowd never cheered louder all weekend than when he flashed past Nelson Piquet Jnr and Clivio Piccione at 150 mph around Becketts.

He faces an enormous challenge next year – but with the vast talent he has already displayed he will surely be equal to it.

Honourable mentions

At long last Anthony Davidson will get an F1 race seat next year after another solid season as Honda’s test driver.

Matt Neal defended his British Touring Car Championship and World Touring Car racers James Thompson and Rob Huff both impressed.

Katherine Legge and Dan Clarke both showed flashes of promise in their debut Champ Car World Series campaigns. They should continue there next year and are tipped to be joined by Adam Carroll who had a strong, if not hugely successful, second year in GP2.