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Fernando Alonso's encouraging second place in front of a partisan home crowd in Valencia has propelled him into third in the Castrol EDGE Rankings, his highest ever position.
After McLaren had led the attack on Red Bull in the last Grand Prix, this time in Valencia it was Alonso's turn as he split Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to come home second and match his strongest result of the season.
As a result, he jumped seven-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb, who was not in action at the weekend, to move into third overall.
Since September 2010 Alonso has been an almost permanent fixture in the Castrol EDGE Rankings top five, but third overall represents his highest ever position and gives him yet more cause to be optimistic after a promising weekend in Valencia.
Behind Alonso, Lewis Hamilton's fourth place just about preserved his own top-five status in the Rankings.
Hamilton dropped his victory from Canada last year under the rollover system, and was therefore in danger of dropping to his lowest ever position in the Rankings. His nearest challenger, IndyCar's Will Power, was unable to capitalise however as he spun heavily into the wall and out of the race at Iowa.
There was a similar head-to-head one spot down as F1's Jenson Button and IndyCar's Dario Franchitti contested seventh spot.
Both drivers had similar results on track - Dario finishing fifth, Jenson sixth - but under the rollover system Button dropped more points, allowing Franchitti to jump him and move into seventh.
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It was good news too for Marco Andretti, who ended a victory drought that stretched back almost five years to claim his second IndyCar win at Iowa, jumping four places to 45th in the process.
Over in NASCAR, Kurt Busch dominated at Sears Point to claim his first victory of the Sprint Cup. He moved up two places and now sits in 26th in the Rankings, on the brink of a top 25 spot for the first time since March.
It was a good weekend too for brother Kyle Busch, who finished 11th at Sears Point to close in on Sebastien Ogier and a top 12 spot in the Rankings.
The Castrol EDGE Rankings is based on drivers' measurable performance over the last 12 months, including everything from their grid position to fastest laps. For further information on how the Castrol EDGE Rankings scores are calculated, Click Here.
