Written by Aaron Carroll, Benjamin Crundwell and Gabriel Tsui
Welcome to DIVEBOMB's Power Rankings, a popular segment from our team which ranks the best motorsport performances of the month, taking machinery out of the equation. Here is DIVEBOMB's ten choices for the month of February...
1st Cam Waters (Supercars)
Credit: Tickford Racing
Even the best sporting performances can rarely be called flawless, but Cam Waters’ Sydney 500 campaign in the Repco Supercars Championship cannot be faulted. Waters took a clean sweep, winning all three races and going home with maximum points, including the three fastest lap bonus’.
While the first race was won with ease by the Australian, the next two weren’t so simple. In the second race, struggling to overtake the leader Broc Feeney, he opted for an overcut, allowing him to go on a late charge, catching Feeney with five laps to go.
His first overtake attempt failed, knocking Feeney into a half spin. As Waters slowed down to redress the position, Will Brown caught the pair and attempted to take the lead. Waters masterfully blocked Brown, to let Feeney retake first place. 52 laps of racing ended in a drag race, which Waters won in the final metres, benefiting from a sidedraft.
After a sudden downpour of rain in the closing laps of race three, Waters won the final race by six seconds, rounding out the perfect start to the season. He has a 60 point lead over Brown, confirming his position as favourite for the 2025 season.
2nd Oliver Rowland (Formula E)
Credit: Nissan Motorsport (NISMO)
The Nissan driver kicked off the first race in Jeddah with a third in qualifying, and took the lead after eleven laps. He built up a huge lead with the use of attack mode and was comfortably leading after the pit boost, with a staggering 4.5 second lead.
That lead, however, was short lived as a charging Guenther on attack mode cleared out the lead and it came down to a final lap showdown, where Rowland ran out of charge and conceded the lead to polesitter Max Günther on the final chicane, came around and finished second.
In the second race, Rowland started to the left of polesitter Barnard, and temporarily fell back before moving up to second place. He activated a two minute attack mode on lap 14 and easily moved up to the lead, while preserving six minutes of attack mode for the end of the race. That strategy did wonders for Rowland, as he was able to set up a huge cushion for himself with three laps to go.
This time, there was no late lap drama for the 32-year-old as he coasted calmly to the checkered flag, taking his second win of the season, and securing his championship lead with 68 points.
3rd No.50 Ferrari AF Corse (WEC - Hypercar)
Credit: Fabrizio Boldini / DPPI
Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen were the class of the field during the opening WEC (World Endurance Championship) round at the Losail circuit in Qatar. They qualified in third, behind the sister No.51 car and the No.15 BMW.
In the race they had a relatively quiet and incident free start. But after the two Cadillacs hit each other, it was a three horse race between each of the Ferrari’s. The No.50 chased down the customer run No.83 AF Corse Ferrari for the lead and overtook them through pit stops with just a couple of hours left, and they never lost the lead again.
With a mistake free run from last year's Le Mans winners, and the win to seal the deal, the No.50 Ferrari AF Corse crew take the third spot on our power rankings for February.
4th Elfyn Evans (WRC)
Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing
In the Rally Sweden the top five were separated by under 10s at times, but Elfyn Evans excelled. Consistency let him lead most of the event, while others made fatal errors in the snowy conditions, and fell out of contention.
However Evans won the rally with his incredible penultimate stage. Heading into it 4.5s down to Takamoto Katsuta, Evans went a staggering 6.7s faster than second place, and 8.2s faster than Katsuta. Despite Katsuta’s great attempt to retake the lead in the last stage, Evans went faster, winning the rally and taking the extra point for winning the power stage.
Evans’ successful Rally Sweden campaign follows on from a second place finish at the prestigious Rally Monte-Carlo. He is now 28 points ahead of second place, putting him in a comfortable position to fight for his maiden WRC championship.
5th Christopher Bell (NASCAR)
Credit: Chris Graythen
Christopher Bell had a relatively decent Daytona 500, hovering within the top-ten and was leading the pack heading into the final laps. However, a mistimed push sent the 30-year-old spinning and to the back, and Bell finished in 31st place.
In Atlanta, he didn’t have the best of starts as he failed to get to the top-ten in the first two stages. However, he slowly moved up the pecking order, staying patient and made no mistake. He came close with five to go, but he lost his line and fell back.
Despite falling back temporarily, Bell kept his cool and in the overtime, he capitalised on a vulnerable Kyle Larson with no pushers, catapulting himself to the lead round the outside, and got just enough of a push from Carson Hocevar for the win.
6th No.83 AF Corse Ferrari (WEC - Hypercar)
Credit: Fabrizio Boldini / DPPI
One of only two fully customer run hypercars on the WEC grid this season, the No.83 AF Corse 499P driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson came home second on the road in the Qatar 1812 km.
Eight in qualifying, and nine tenths off of the pole sitting No.51 Ferrari, wasn’t ideal for the crew, but they persisted and the result paid off. They led the race for a period, fending off the two factory Ferrari’s, but eventually lost out to the No.50 in the strategy race and held second until the end.
After a very solid performance from Kubica, Ye and Hanson, we feel that the No.83 Ferrari deserves a spot on our list for February.
7th William Byron (NASCAR)
Credit: Jared C. Tilton
William Byron had quite the February, as he kicked it off with some decent driving in the clash, securing fifth in the starting grid. He was able to secure a point in stage one, and held down a spot on the outside lane, within the top-five, heading into the final stage.
Byron fell back after the charge with the third line on the outside failed, and it seemed like the day was done for Byron. Yet, a late caution brought out by a huge crash sent the No.24 car back closer to the front, and setting up his final lap miracle.
Coming down the back straight on the final lap, the leaders fanned out for three wide and Byron followed the outside, but almost immediately the leaders were spun around and Byron escapes an out-of-control Denny Hamlin, rounding the final turn and takes the checkered flag for his second consecutive win of the Daytona 500.
8th No.33 TF Sport Corvette (WEC - LMGT3)
Credit: Javier Jimenez / DPPI
From a starting position of 13th, the TF Sport squad of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Daniel Juncadella had a big task ahead of them to perform well in the highly competitive LMGT3 class in Qatar.
But with a mistake free race, the No.33 came across the line to take the win after ten hours of racing. It wasn’t without challenge from the No.59 Mclaren behind, with Gregoire Saucy trying to get by for the win, but some brilliant defending from Jonny Edgar put TF Sport on the top stop of the podium, beating out the seemingly unbeatable McLaren duo.
Coming from 13th to the win, the No.33 TF Sport Corvette deserves a spot on our power rankings list for February.
9th Taylor Barnard (Formula E)
Credit: Formula E
Taylor Barnard kicked off his first full season in Formula E with a podium finish in São Paulo, and had a great month of March to continue this dominating rookie season.
In round three, Barnard started the race fourth on the grid and temporarily fell back but he held his ground and good timing on the pit stop boosted the 20-year-old to second place. He eventually fell back to fourth place after Guenther and De Vries overtook him on attack mode, but Barnard drove steadily and patiently and pounced on De Vries, and crept up to the leaders to join in for the last lap fight. However, the Brit ran out of time and charge as the checkered flag waved, coming home to a third place finish.
In round four, he was able to secure pole position and lead the race initially, before conceding the lead to Rowland in the early stages of the race. Barnard hovered around the top spots for most of the race and landed in fourth with five laps to go, when he made a great move down the inside of Jake Dennis while going three wide into turn 14 with Jean-Éric Vergne, taking second place.
For the rest of the race, Barnard had Jake Hughes breathing down his neck while Dennis and Vergne chased them down, but the McLaren breakout star put on a defensive masterclass as he came across the finish line for a career best second place finish. He completes the month of March with 51 points and second in the championship standings.
10th No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing (WEC - Hypercar)
Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI
On one of the most competitive WEC prototype grids ever, it would’ve felt like the worst case scenario for Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa to be starting the race down in 17th place.
However with some consistent, faultless driving from all three drivers, the No.8 began to work its way up the order and eventually lock into a battle for fourth with both BMW’s and the sister No.7 Toyota. With none of the four able to challenge the trio of Ferraris out front, they traded places with each other on track and through pit stops.
Eventually however, the No.15 BMW would jump the No.8 crew for fourth, so Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa would have to settle for fifth. This was still a good result considering their starting position, and thats why they fill in the final spot on our list.
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