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The 2026 British Touring Car Championship will be remembered for one name. Ashley Sutton broke the record books with a fifth drivers’ title and wrapped it up before the final meeting. Behind him, a brand new team came apart in the middle of the season, a team that lost everything in a fire swept the independent titles, and one of the paddock’s longest serving drivers said goodbye after 24 years. Here is how a remarkable season played out.

Having previously taken readers on adventures aboard some of Italy’s finest automotive machinery, including the magnificent Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, your correspondent decided that it was time for something rather different. Gone would be the glorious growl of a twin-turbocharged V6, the mechanical soundtrack and the occasional theatrical outburst. In their place came the Audi e-tron GT quattro, an all-electric German grand tourer promising extraordinary performance, cutting-edge technology and the sort of effortless refinement for which Audi has become famous.

Adaaran Prestige Vadoo Maldives Review: Premium All Inclusive Paradise

Adaaran Prestige Vadoo is just 15 minutes by speedboat from Malé, a genuine boon when you have been flying long haul from the UK. I took a direct flight, so it was merely 11 hours in the air followed by a brisk, salt-sprayed dash across the lagoon, a mere hop for me nowadays. One barely has time to remove one’s socks before the first coconut arrives.

Set just outside the ski resort of Obertauern in the tiny village of Untertauern, less than an hour’s drive from Salzburg airport, Lürzerhof makes an immediate impression. The lobby alone is vast, all polished wood, stone and light, with the sort of scale that tells you this is not a small, sleepy alpine guesthouse but a serious operation. It’s family-run, but with the confidence and infrastructure of somewhere that has grown steadily over time and knows exactly how to look after its guests.

Seaplane to Shaviyani Atoll: Barefoot Pilots and the Finest Commute on Earth

L'Arrivée: Whisked Through, Then Made to Wait

We were greeted before security had even finished pretending to be difficult, our concierge sweeping us through in proper VIP style, past every queue and straight to the waiting car. After eight hours in the air this counts as a mercy rather than a luxury.

A lovely Antiguan lady then drove us to our villa, chatting away as though we were old friends rather than jet-lagged strangers.

Deep Bay: The Best Beach You Have Not Yet Been Told About

There is a particular kind of silence that only exists 250 miles south of Malé, past the last cluster of resorts your travel agent has heard of, in an atoll so remote that even the fish look faintly surprised to see you.

There is a particular difficulty in ending a successful story. Do too little and the finale feels like a cynical exercise in badges and scarcity. Do too much and the qualities that made the original so compelling can disappear beneath the additions.

Arrival in Poreč: Bentleys, Marble and a Very Good First Impression

There is a particular moment on any holiday when you know, with total certainty, that you are going to be fine. Mine came approximately eleven seconds after arriving at the Pical Resort, Valamar Collection in Poreč, when I clocked a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini Urus parked outside the entrance like a pair of expensive bookends. This, I thought, is no ordinary family resort. Quelle surprise.

The Penedès isn't a place that tries to announce itself to the world. It is a rather unassuming pocket of Spain that takes immense pride in its vineyards, Cavas and people. Heritage is a very important word here. It lies just an hour outside of Barcelona, so an easy day trip, or you can make the most of it and stay where we did. The beautiful and rustic Font De La Canya https://www.hotelfontdelacanya.com/en is a stone’s throw from many wineries.