Photo: WTCC Media

Readers vote Javier Villa as the best rookie of 2011

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Proteam Racing’s recent re-signing Javier Villa Garcia was voted by TouringCarTimes readers as the best rookie driver of the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Villa took 45.7% of the vote, finishing ahead of fellow Spaniard Pepe Oriola. Villa was the only rookie in contention for the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy at the season’s end, also winning a race in the independents’ class on his first appearance at Curitiba, Brazil.

Oriola, 16 years of age when he started the season with SUNRED Engineering, received 14.7% of the vote to finish in second.

Russian rookie and fellow SUNRED driver in 2011 Aleksei Dudukalo was voted in third place ahead of two drivers who competed in a partial season; Hong Kong driver Charles Ng and rally star Toshi Arai who raced for Chevrolet in Japan.