Weekend Preview: 12/13 May 2018

Some of the many things happening this weekend.

Times are approximate and in British Summer Time.

Now this is a massively busy week, including one of the most stupid date clashes of the year, between the Nurburgring 24 Hours and the European Le Mans Series.

Apologies for not writing a recap of last weekend. I actually went to the Blancpain GT Sprint at Brands Hatch to sit on the grass in the glorious sunshine watching GT racing, which I didn’t preview at all, and I haven’t yet seen any of the other events I did write about! With the upcoming weekend so full it looks like I may not catch up for some time.

---

ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours [24h-Rennen]

Nürburgring Nordschleife, Nürburg, Germany

Race at 2:30pm (3:30pm Germany). The Formation lap starts 20 minutes earlier!

Full international live stream at:

www.24h-rennen.de/en/
www.radiolemans.com

The full Nordschliefe, 600 drivers in 150 cars, of which at least 25 are full GT3 cars, along with GT4 cars, Porsche Cup cars, TCR cars and even Renault Clios all spread among countless car classes. There’s room for everyone!

This is a big event in every way imaginable, and even this is small compared to the 220 car entries of not long ago. It still requires three separate grids to get everyone going!

Unlike other 24 Hour races this race is quite old school, in that even with the best tracking technology it is very hard to understand what is happening! The lap is so long it takes the quick cars well over 8 minutes to complete it, which in turn means a fuel stint of an hour comprises only 7 laps. It is hard to see from the timing screen that someone has had a problem – and again it is such a long course you can’t hope to spot it on screen.

Watch this, at least in part, because GT3 cars around this place has to be seen to be believed, especially when they start lapping traffic!

Supported by World TCR (see below).

---

Formula 1:  Spanish GP

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló, Barcelona, Spain

Race starts at 1:10pm UK (2:10pm Spain) live on Sky Sports F1.
Delayed until 6pm on Channel 4.

F1 starts the European season in Barcelona. This track doesn’t promote passing, we’ll probably have to wait until Montreal for that, since of all tracks this has potential to be like Albert Park’s less interesting race. So let’s hope for some good strategic battles. It is good though to have the full F1 paddock back for the first time this year, motorhomes and all.

All of this year’s pre-season testing was done here which means the teams know a hell of a lot about it – however it was much colder than usual so there should still be things left to learn.

After Baku all eyes will be on the Red Bull drivers!

Supported by F2 and GP3 also live on Sky Sports F1.

Points after 4 races:
Drivers:
70  Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes);
66  Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari);
48  Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari);
40  Valterri Bottas (Mercedes);
37  Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull);

Constructors:
114  Scuderia Ferrari;
110  Mercedes AMG;
55  Red Bull Racing;
36  McLaren Renault;
35  Renault F1;

---

IndyCar:  INDYCAR Grand Prix

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Road Course), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Race starts Saturday 8:50pm UK, BT Sport ESPN (3:50pm US Eastern).

The new tradition to start the ‘Month of May’ on the road course. Again, like this week’s F1 event, this layout isn’t known for great racing.

You’ll see a lot more fans at the infield viewing mounds than in the huge grandstands, since this race gives fans in Indianapolis the chance to see road course racing and some good outbraking moves in a couple of places. On the other hand, the chicane inside oval turn 1 is a field-spread generator.

I see the value in having a ‘cheap’ self-promoted race for the home fans. For a TV viewer like me though, it seems more like a calendar filler and I wouldn’t miss it if it went away.

One positive is it lets the full Mazda Road to Indy race at IMS, including Pro Mazda and USF2000 which don’t get to race on the oval.

Points after 4 races:
158  Josef Newgarden (Team Penske / Chevrolet);
145  Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport / Honda);
119  Sebastian Bourdais (Dale Coyne / Honda);
119  Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman / Honda);
118  James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson / Honda);

---

European Le Mans Series: 4 Hours of Monza

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Milan, Italy

Sunday, 11:30am UK (12:30pm Italy)

Full international live stream at:

www.europeanlemansseries.com
(you may need to click through to YouTube or Dailymotion)

The second round of the ELMS is at the classic Monza with a 43 car field across three classes. Supported by the Michelin Le Mans Cup which races on Saturday.

LMP2:
25pts  Pla, Nato, Petit (Racing Engineering / Oreca);
18  Duval, Perrodo, Vaxiviere (TDS Racing / Oreca);
15  Jamin, Panciatici, Ragues (Duqueine Engineering / Oreca);

LMP3:
25  Garofall, Farano, van Uitert (RLR Msport / Ligier);
19  Ferrer, Legeret, Droux (M.Racing YMR / Norma);
15  Mondini, Berlo (EuroInternational / Ligier);

GTE:
25  MacDowall, Griffin, Molina (JMW / Ferrari);
19  Roda, Roda Jr, Cairoli (Proton / Porsche);
15  Babini, Narac, Pera (EbiMotors / Porsche);

---

WTCR: Nürburgring Nordschleife

Nürburgring Nordschleife, Nürburg, Germany

Race 1 Thursday 6:45pm UK (7:45pm Germany) online only;
Race 2 Saturday 10:00am UK Eurosport / Eurosport Player;
Race 3 Saturday 11:20am UK Eurosport / Eurosport Player;

The full Nordschliefe is in use just as it was for the WTCC. The length of the track means they only get 3 laps, even though it is still a half hour race! This year they get three races, the first of which we already missed.

TCR seems to be a formula for old dogs as Tarquini and Muller are STILL going at it!

Points after 2 weekends:
118  Gabriele Tarquini;
82  Yann Ehrlacher;
77  Yvan Muller;

---

Elsewhere

Other things happening this weekend, should you choose instead.

Monaco Grand Prix Historique – live on Quest on Saturday & Sunday;
NASCAR Cup and Trucks at Kansas;
World RX in Belgium;
Blancpain GT Asia at Buriram;
Formula 3 Europe on the streets of Pau;
Super Formula at Autopolis;
World Superbike at Imola;