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'I cannot believe it': RAF's Ryan Martin reacts to winning AFVRC championship title

Watch: RAF Driver Corporal Ryan Martin reacts to his AFVRC championship win.

2023 AFVRC champion Corporal Ryan Martin said he "did not expect to win the championship" after clinching the championship title in the final round at Donington Park.

Cpl Martin finished his final two races in third and fourth, which was enough to hold off his championship rivals for the championship win.

Speaking after winning the title, Cpl Martin of the Royal Air Force praised the organisers and the RAF eMotorsport team for making his win possible.

"I really actually can't believe it's got to this point," he said. "I did not actually expect to win the championship at the very start, but I am buzzing, I cannot believe it.

"I'm really excited for the prizes and I just want to take time to thank everybody that has been involved, the organisation of it.

"This obviously started a while ago for me, and it was only really made possible by the RAF eMotorsports team, they were able to provide me a PC that I was able to move across to iRacing from grass roots motorsport, and it just went from then until now, so a big shout-out to them," he added.

Cpl Martin's win came after his championship rival Stu McFadden, who won the first race of the final round, crashed out after enduring a double shunt on the chicane, forcing an early retirement and pathing the way for Cpl Martin to clinch the title.

Cpl Martin said he "couldn't believe it" once he realised McFadden had disconnected.

He said: "As soon as I had seen that Stu has disconnected, I actually thought at the time 'I wonder who that was?', and then as soon I seen it come up on the screen that Stu had disconnected, I couldn't believe it.

"He just got mixed up at the chicane, been in the wrong spot at the wrong time and, unfortunately, it all went wrong for him.

"But he actually sent me a message before the race, even though we were fighting for the championship, he still took the time to send me a message and wish me well, so he is a top boy, Stu, and it's just unfortunate that that happened."

With the challenge of juggling this championship with his job in the military, Cpl Martin had to miss last week's round in Silverstone – where he could've sewn up the championship – due to commitments with the RAF.

Despite the challenge, Cpl Martin said it "has been a great job" that everyone has been able to turn up to race every week.

He said: "It's a great job that everybody has been able to turn up pretty much every week, obviously we had to drop weeks, which some people took advantage of, it wasn't through choice that I wasn't able to race last week so I would have been there if I could have been.

"Thankfully on this championship, people have been here every week and they have been putting time and effort in and the streams have shown that the racing we have had is great, it will just hopefully continue on to next season and get even better."