Motorsport: Two Kiwis in Autosport's top 50 best drivers of 2017

Red Bull Torro Rosso's Brendon Hartley. Photo / Photosport.

Two New Zealanders feature in Autosport's annual list of the top 50 best drivers of the year.

Each year Autosport – the leading motorsport publication in the world – ranks the top 50 drivers based on their expert opinions.

Kiwi Formula 1 star Brendon Hartley was ranked the 20th best driver having won the Le Mans 24 Hour race and the World Endurance Championship with the factory Porsche team before making his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso in October.

He comes in six spots higher than teammate Pierre Gasly.

Four-time Indycar champion Scott Dixon was ranked two places higher than Hartley at 18 having finished third in the title fight – although he was right in the battle to win the title at the season-ending race at Sonoma.

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton came in at number one for the third time in his career while impressive Red Bull youngster Max Verstappen was ranked third.

Five-time World Rally Championship winner Sebastien Ogier was fifth on the list with Indycars winner Josef Newgarden sixth. Supercars champ Jamie Whincup was 35th but surprisingly Kiwi Scott McLaughlin didn't make the top 50 despite losing the title to Whincup on the final lap of the last race of the season. Shane van Gisbergen and Earl Bamber also failed to make the top 50.