Rankings: Spengler moves into all-time high spot after win
The weather may not exactly have fitted the occasion, but Bruno Spengler made light of a rain-shortened DTM race at the Norisring to take the race victory, championship lead and his best Rankings spot to date in one fell swoop
Rain was the big challenge at the famous German circuit, but Spengler led the whole race aside from his pitstops, denying his Mercedes team-mate Jamie Green a fourth consecutive victory at the track.
Spengler moved up three places to 41st in the Castrol EDGE Rankings as a result - higher than he has been before.
A packed weekend of racing led to improvements across the board, and Sebastien Bourdais (105) was one of the biggest gainers as he and his co-driver Anthony Davidson (82) gave Peugeot a little consolation for their Le Mans defeat by leading a 1-2 at the Imola six hours and climbing 105 and 54 places respectively.
Alain Menu and Rob Huff (49) shared the WTCC victories in Porto, with Menu gaining nine spots to sit 87th and Huff remaining inside the top 50 as a result.
In Spain, the GT1 World Championship held its sixth round of 2011 and as Lamborghini dominated, its drivers leapt up the Rankings. Markus Winkelhock jumped 30 places to 147th, while Marc Basseng (261), Nicky Pastorelli (270) and Dominik Schwager (270) all made over 70 places to move inside the top 300.
Moving across the Atlantic, NASCAR was at its most destructive at Daytona but Roush Fenway Ford duo David Ragan (58) and Matt Kenseth (20) kept their noses clean to come first and second.
Ragan's maiden Sprint Cup victory promoted him nine places and on to the brink of the top 50, while Kenseth continued his superb recent form by progressing two places and into the top 20 for the first time.
2010 British F3 champion Jean-Eric Vergne (64) and Virgin F1 reserve driver Robert Wickens (86) continued their progress through the Rankings as Formula Renault 3.5 visited the Hungaroring - Vergne in particular impressing as he took a clean sweep of victories to move up seven places.
Mirko Bortolotti was similarly dominant as Formula 2 visited the Nurburgring, the Italian's victories in both races moved him up 60 places to 126th.
British F3 shared the bill at the legendary German circuit, with Felipe Nasr (187) winning the third race to move up seven spots in the Rankings.
F3 Euro Series was also on show in Germany at the Norisring, and Marco Wittmann (110) was the big winner as he took two race wins to move onto the brink of the top 100.
To see the full Castrol EDGE Rankings and the latest positions in the Race for 2011, please visit www.castroldriverrankings.com.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
BMW driver Spengler moves to SUPER GT with Studie team
Friday favourite: The BMW that ended a 20-year wait for DTM glory
How BMW's DTM line-up could look in 2022
Pourchaire eager for more IndyCar after “amazing” debut in Long Beach
Was Long Beach really Scott Dixon’s greatest IndyCar drive yet?
The eight minutes of madness that saw Ogier strike in Croatia
Sargeant baffled about not being told of illegal F1 safety car overtake
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
The longest-serving Red Bull driver revealing F1’s true brutality
How the DTM has come back stronger from its Norisring nadir
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments