In what he will see as a portent of future developments Will Power surpasses IndyCar title rival Dario Franchitti in the Castrol EDGE Rankings following a superb victory at Baltimore.
Power had set the pace throughout the weekend, and duly converted pole position into his sixth win of the season, and his third in the past five races.
Having lain 62 points behind Franchitti just three events ago, Power’s recent resurgence now puts the Australian just five points behind the Scot heading into the final three rounds.
Power has also surpasses Franchitti in the Rankings, rising two places and into the top six as Franchitti moved the other way, dropping one place to seventh.
Sixth equals Power’s highest ever berth in the Rankings.
It also helped Australia to close on Germany in the battle for the lead of the Castrol EDGE Nations Rankings – meaning a bad result for either Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg at Monza could propel Australia into the top Nations spot.
Power’s compatriot and Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe was less fortunate, trading a third-place starting berth for 14th at the flag after being caught out by a mass pile-up part way through the race.
FIA GT1 star David Brabham was also in action in the first of back-to-back rounds in China, but dropped four places overall in the Rankings despite taking a podium in the opening race and finishing seventh in the feature race on Sunday.
Brabham’s fall was due to dropping a podium finish in the 2010 ALMS Road America race under the Rankings rollover system.
<b>Castrol EDGE Rankings Top 10 Australians*</b>
Core Series Rank Score
1 Mark Webber F1 2 21,572
2 Will Power IndyCar 6 17,514
3 Ryan Briscoe IndyCar 27 11,085
4 Marcos Ambrose Sprint Cup 68 8,057
5 Jamie Whincup V8 Supercars 73 7,624
6 Craig Lowndes V8 Supercars 88 6,766
7 Daniel Ricciardo F1, FR 3.5 120 5,609
8 Mark Winterbottom V8 Supercars 128 5,379
9 David Brabham World GT1 138 5,145
10 John Martin Superleague 155 4,789
*Data correct as of August 30, 2011
To see the full Castrol EDGE Rankings and Race for 2011, please visit www.castroldriverrankings.com
