Grapevine: Rankings: Bouffier soars up the order

Of the two fairytale performers on the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, one lay down in 884th position in the Castrol Rankings before the event kicked off, while the other wasn't classified at all.

Now 2011 Monte winner Bryan Bouffier has moved up a hefty 331 positions to 553rd, while 1994 victor Francois Delecour - making a comeback to international competition - has carved himself a little Castrol Rankings niche in 1074th after finishing last week's Monte in fifth place.

The two Peugeot drivers both made the most of snow on the second evening, making the correct call on tyres to vault up the leaderboard to first and second. While Bouffier, the reigning French rally champion, held on for victory, Delecour dropped to an eventual fifth.

The loser amid the Thursday night drama was reigning IRC champion Juho Hanninen. Skoda's superstar was leading the rally - an exceptional achievement for one until recently regarded as a gravel specialist - but he had the wrong tyres in the snow and slithered down to sixth. That was worse than his 2010 Monte result of second, meaning he drops to 53rd in the Castrol Rankings.

Even more disappointed was WRC star Petter Solberg. The Norwegian was right in the hunt for second place, and en route to claw his way into the top 20 in the Castrol Rankings, when a last­ditch alternator failure put him out. He has to make do with 22nd and a wait until next month's Swedish Rally to make further headway.

Bouffier's win also moved him into fourth position in the EDGE Race for 2011, based solely on Castrol Rankings points from this calendar year, while Freddy Loix, second on the Monte, progresses into seventh. Nasser Al­Attiyah continues to lead from Carlos Sainz and Giniel de Villiers.

To see the full Castrol Rankings and the latest positions in the Race for 2011, visit www.castroldriverrankings.com.