Grapevine: Rankings: Power climbs into top six

The Penske driver only finished eighth, but because he missed the race through injury last year, that was still enough to boost his Castrol Rankings score significantly and maintain his championship lead.

He climbed up from ninth place, overhauling F1 world champions Jenson Button (7) and Fernando Alonso (9) and his own title rival Dario Franchitti (8), to become the highest-ranked IndyCar driver.

His result also helped Australia to move above Britain in the Castrol Nations' Rankings; Power's combined score with Mark Webber (3) eclipsing that of Britain's two best drivers, Lewis Hamilton (4) and Button (7).

Power's Penske team-mate Helio Castroneves won a race of fuel mileage at Kentucky, and climbed four places, while Ryan Briscoe (22) crashed, dropping seven places. He is now 20 spots lower than he was a year ago.

NASCAR Sprint Cup leader Kevin Harvick (13) lost ground as he blew a tyre on his Richard Childress Chevrolet at Atlanta and finished 33rd, dropping him two places.

Both polesitter Denny Hamlin and F1 driver Robert Kubica passed him while Atlanta winner Tony Stewart climbed to 21st as he ended a victory drought of just under a year.

Paul di Resta won the Brands Hatch DTM race as he did in 2009. The Brit did not, therefore, move from his 50th place, but his AMG Mercedes team-mate Bruno Spengler did much better than he managed a year ago, jumping up from 52nd to 46th as a result of his runner-up spot.

World Touring Car champion Gabriele Tarquini's first-corner elimination at Oschersleben dropped him nine spots while race winners Alain Menu (117) gained 17. Andy Priaulx (80) won race two, but lost a place as he had done better in the corresponding race last year.

BTCC wins for Gordon Shedden (225) and Matt Neal (260) at Knockhill resulted gains of more than 20 places for each while Jason Plato (174) lost nine spots after winning one, rather than two races this year.

Back in the world of single-seaters, Dean Stoneman (109) increased his F2 lead with a double win at Oschersleben, and moved up 39 places. Formula Renault 3.5 winners Daniel Ricciardo (143) and Esteban Guerrieri (115) also climbed up as a result of their Hockenheim successes.

Britian's Pippa Mann (464) became the 100th driver to win an Indy Lights race at Kentucky, moving up 56 places while Rafael Suzuki (376) claimed his maiden Japanese F3 win at Okayama and gained 125 spots.

In the F3 Euro Series, there was a fifth straight feature race win for Signature driver Edoardo Mortara (87) and a third straight sprint victory for Antonio Felix da Costa (236), while Ricardo Mauricio (372) triumphed in V8 Stock Cars at Interlagos.

To see the full Castrol Rankings, log on to www.castroldriverrankings.com.