A top gear fan has won the race to buy registration plate ‘THE 571G’ at a three-day DVLA auction. The event took place at the Haycock Hotel in Wansford, Cambridgeshire, and Rick Fusari bagged the plate for £10,690.

The letter and number combination only had a £400 reserve but the final price was 26 times more. Mr Fusari, who runs the Greenford Motors car dealership in West London, now has the dilemma on which of his two Ferraris to place the plate.

He said: ‘Like all motoring enthusiasts I’m a fan of Top Gear, ironically, though, my mum always says she can’t stand ‘that man’ Jeremy Clarkson, but that won’t stop me going out and buying a white crash helmet.’

Damian Lawson, Marketing Manager for DVLA Personalised Registrations, said: ‘We had more than a dozen people chasing the THE 571G registration - and there we were thinking there was only one Stig but now we’re not so sure.’

haha thats brill.