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Inside final Top Gear Stig’s racing career as he’s unmasked as Phil Keen, most successful British GT driver in history


JEREMY CLARKSON has revealed the identities of Top Gear’s Stigs – including one who was the most successful driver in British GT history.

Phil Keen was the final Stig and has enjoyed an illustrious 21-year career on the track alongside starring in the BBC’s hit show.

Phil Keen has been unmasked as The StigCredit: Rex
Keen, right, is one of the most successful drivers in British GT historyCredit: Rex
He was the Top Gear Stig between 2010 and 2022Credit: Alamy

Former Top Gear presenter Clarkson revealed Keen was the third and final Stig from 2010 to 2022, when the show was cancelled.

Clarkson hosted a viewing party for the final episode of The Grand Tour at his pub on his farm, where he told a crowd: “The original Stig was Perry McCarthy, followed by Ben Collins, followed by Phil Keen.

“There isn’t a current ‘Top Gear’ so there isn’t a current Stig, but the last one was Phil Keen.”

Keen, 40, joined Top Gear a year after he was crowned champion of the British GT Championship in the Supersport class.

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He won an incredible eight races out of 14 alongside his team-mate Marcus Clutton.

That was the only year he drove in the SuperSport class and he returned to GT3 the next year, featuring in that category on 16 occasions in the British GT Championship.

Keen still competes in the class and this year he is in fourth place.

He is considered the most successful driver in the championship’s history having finished as a runner-up three years in a row between 2016-18, when he drove for Barwell Motorsport.

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Best racing results

British GT Championship Supersport – 1st (2009)

Moss Trophy – 1st (2018)

Kinrara Trophy – 1st (2017)

Radical Challenge SR3 – 1st (2014)

Michelin Le Mans Cup – GT3 – 3rd (2017)

74th Members Meeting Bruce McLaren Trophy – 2nd (2016)

TVR Tuscan Challenge – 3rd (2003)

And he holds a record 19 British GT Championship wins, with 12 poles.

His total career wins stand at 45, with 92 podiums and 22 poles.

I was Top Gear’s original Stig – now I have a job nobody would ever expect

Keen is also driving in the European Le Mans Series this year and had picked up two points from four races, despite retiring from two.

He currently drives a Ferrari 296 GT3 but most of his success in his career came behind the wheel of Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

His other notable wins came in a Jaguar E-Type in the Goodwood Revival – Kinrara Trophy in 2017 and the Stirling Moss Trophy a year later.


Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk


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