Line on course for move up table in Autosport National Rankings

Monoposto champion George Line is the headline mover in the latest update for the Autosport National Rankings.

The Leicestershire ace took his 2008 Formula 3 Dallara to wins in both of the Monoposto category’s Tiedeman Trophy races at Castle Combe last weekend to move onto 13 victories for the season. Line has therefore moved up five places to sixth in the Rankings and is three wins adrift of William Antrobus, who took over at the top of the table last week.

The Autosport National Rankings are designed to illustrate the drivers with most race wins in car races in the UK and Ireland across the season, with each victory counting equally.

With last weekend’s action amounting to just four race meetings – three of them held on a single day – it was a relatively quiet time at the top of the Rankings, where Antrobus remains one win ahead of Callum Grant and Luis Beilicke at the summit.

Behind Line, the next-highest upwards mover in the table is another driver to taste success at Castle Combe. Luke Cooper has been the king of the Wiltshire circuit’s Formula Ford 1600 championship this season with his Swift, while also racking up some wins with an older Swift in the national Pre 99 series. Another Combe series double at the season finale lifts him 13 positions to 16th.

Up at Oulton Park, the circuit-based CNC Heads Sports/Saloons Championship provided two drivers moving up in the table. Chris Roberts has had a great season in his BMW M4, and two more overall wins last Saturday moves him up 15 places to 19th. Anton Landon, who has been the man to beat in the 750MC Sport Specials series this year in his Cyana, took his Fisher Fury to a class win, so he is up five places at 27th.

Matthew Highcock

Photo by: Ollie Read

Back at Combe, the 750MC had its hugely popular MX-5 Cup series in action, and a single win for Matthew Highcock has moved the former BMW man up seven positions to 30th.

One driver from the upper echelons of the Rankings not to win last weekend was Junior Saloons ace Ollie Smith, who has spent most of the season in the top 10 and has also featured in the top spot.

His focus at Silverstone was understandably upon his successful bid to wrap up the title for the Citroen Saxo-based series, and the three races all fell to Max Scharfegger, who therefore has soared into the top 50 in 46th.

Autosport National Driver Rankings

All car races in UK and Ireland are included except qualification/repechage, consolation and handicap races. No races in other countries.

Class wins are only counted when there are at least six starters in the class, except: when the race is part of a multi-stage event where six or more have taken part in earlier heats that feed into a semi-final or final; when multiple championships are merged in the same race, the ‘overall’ winner from the slower championship can count a class win as long as that championship has at least 10 starters across all classes.

Only classes divided by car characteristics are included, not those divided by driver characteristics such as ability, professional status, age, experience (for example rookie or pro-am classes).

Each race counts only once, so an overall winner’s class win is not added. Where there is a tie, overall wins take precedence. Where there is still a tie, average grid size for a driver’s wins determines the order.