Category: IndyCar

Weekend Preview: 25-26 July 2009

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1 World Championship

– Formula 1 ING Magyar Nagydig
– (ING Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix)
– Hungaroring, nr.Budapest, Hungary
– (10/17)
– www.f1.com

F1 returns to the dustbowl of the Hungaroring, where as usual the forecast is for high temperatures. The dust of the surrounding area has a tendency to get all over the track and make grip very hard to come by, it is this in combination with the circuit layout itself that tends to prevent good racing at this notoriously boring race track – though the changes to turn one a few years ago have created a divebomb-braking opportunity for the brave/crazy (if not in the F1 race, definitely in the GP2 support races!).

I am not a fan of this event although it did bring F1 to Eastern Europe as long ago as the mid-1980s, and track improvements over the last two decades have improved racing.. a bit..

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm Sunday, race starts at 1pm
(qualifying on BBC Two at 12.10pm Sat)
USA – HEAVILY DELAYED on FOX at 3pm ET.


IRL IndyCar Series

– Rexall Edmonton Indy
– City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
– (11/17)
– www.indycar.com

This is the second visit to Edmonton for the IndyCars but the 5th (I think?) running of the event, with this being a former Champ Car venue – but any advantage the CC guys had has now been erased and there should be a nice level playing field, apart from the actual track surface of this bumpy airport circuit!

Of note this year is the first visit to the circuit of the supporting Indy Lights series.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 10.45pm Sunday (directly after NASCAR)
USA – LIVE on VERSUS at 5pm ET Sunday


FIM MotoGP

– British Grand Prix
– Donington Park, Castle Donington, England
– (11/17)
– www.motogp.com

The final visit to Donington for the premier motorbike series, for now at least, as it moves in the opposite direction to F1 and will pitch up at Silverstone in 2010, with apparent mixed feelings from the riders. Some love Donny, some can’t wait to leave. I think it makes a great motorbike track with the sweeping curves.

Living in the UK I know the forecast for the weekend. Saturday is due to be warm and sunny so qualifying should be representative – but rain is due to appear for the race on Sunday.

(I can never remember if DP is in Northants or Lincs)

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC ONE at 3pm Sunday (directly after F1), race start 3.30pm
USA – SPEED claims 6pm ET, which is not possible because the race starts at 8.30pm ET.


Other Events


GP2 Series

– Hungaroring
– Budapest, Hungary
– (6/10)
– www.gp2series.com
– (F1 support with F.Master, FBMW Europe and Porsche Supercup)

TV Guide:
UK – Eurosport 2
– Race 1 @ 4.45pm Saturday (this may be slightly delayed due to MotoGP coverage)
– Race 2 @ 7pm Sunday (very delayed – I can’t see any live coverage)


World Superbikes

– Brno
– Brno, Czech Republic
– www.worldsbk.com
– (with Supersport, etc.)

TV Guide:

UK – Eurosport
– Race 1 LIVE @ 11am Sunday
– Race 2 DELAYED @ either at 3.40pm or 6pm (Eurosport’s website sucks)

NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
– Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana, United States
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 7pm Sunday
US – LIVE on ESPN at 2pm Sunday


NASCAR Nationwide Series
& NASCAR Camping World Trucks

– O’Reilly Raceway Park
– Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
– www.nascar.com

Firestone Indy Lights

– Edmonton
– Alberta, Canada
– (IndyCar support)

IMSA Atlantics

– Autobahn Country Club
– Joliet, Illinois, United States
(with Star Mazda)


FIA GT

– Total 24 Hours of Spa
– Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
(with European GT4 and British F3)
– www.fiagt.com


Super GT

– Sugo
– Sugo, Japan


Silverstone Classic

– Silverstone Circuit
– Silverstone, Northants, England, UK

A multitude of historic racing series at what used to be known as the Coys Historic Festival.
Featuring: GP Masters, Pre-66 F1, the David Leslie Memorial Trophy for 90s Tourers, BRDC Historic Sportscars, Classic Group C and a lot more.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE all weekend on MotorsTV

* * * *

Sources:
Live Sport On TV
RaceFanTV
SkySports.com
Eurosport.co.uk
BBC.co.uk
SpeedTV.com

TMR on Planet IRL podcast!

Kohl from PlanetIRL has a new podcast and was gracious enough to ask me to appear on his first show. I was glad to agree even though I was mortified at actually talking out loud! What might I say?

Find out here!

Show Details

Host: Kohl Kirkland

F1 Segment
– Dex Brennan, from Midweek Motorsport and www.radiolemans.com
– Me!

IRL Segment
– Existing PlanetIRL co-writer Lisa Kenny.
– New PlanetIRL co-writer Paul Dalbey, also of http://greatestspectacleinracing.blogspot.com/

Special Guest
– Daniel Herrington, currently running inside the top ten in the Indy Lights points standings

Head over to the PlanetIRL to download the show!

* *

I let the side down a little by saying “umm”, leaving gaps and generally being a bit quiet, but that’s me generally anyway – for a quiet guy I didn’t do too badly, particularly when paired with experienced motormouth Dex! He was a legend stepping in at the last minute when the booked guest found himself stuck at work.

What have I learned? If I ever go on a podcast again I’ll be sure to prepare notes first and cut down on the nervous laughing! I very much enjoyed it though, and I hope the podcast is a success.

Weekend Preview: 11-12 July 2009

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1 World Championship

– Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland (Santander German GP)
– Nürburgring, Germany
– (9/17)
– www.f1.com

We have passed the halfway point of the season and it is time to pay a visit to the Eifel region of Germany and the Nürburgring, which hasn’t seen a Formula 1 race since that wet event of 2007 – after that race the circuit entered into a ‘sharing’ agreement with the Hockenheimring.

Previously both circuits held races in the same season, Hockenheim would take the German GP and Nürburg would take the European GP. This changes when Valencia took the latter title and simultaneously both German tracks realised they were losing a fortune paying Bernie’s fees. This explains why this is only the second German Grand Prix to be held on this iteration of a track called Nürburgring (of course, the old circuit held the German GP for years, as the Eifelrennen).

This track should suit the Brawns more than Silverstone, and should in theory work against Red Bull – but this was before RBR’s pre-Silverstone upgrade, how will that affect them?

Overtaking spots
The first corner is notable for being almost a dead stop (the start will be fun!) and is a good place to try a pass. The other major spot is the chicane at the end of the lap which follows a fast, long run up the hill.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm Sunday, race starts at 1pm
(qualifying at 12:10pm Saturday)
USA – Delayed? on FOX but I can’t find when

IRL IndyCar Series

– Honda Indy Toronto
– Exhibition Place, Toronto, Canada
– (10/17)
– www.indycar.com

The return of the streets of Toronto to North American after a one year absence due to the series ‘merger’, although the official website incorrectly and very frustratingly refers to this as the ‘inaugural event’, thus completely ignoring the last 23 years (it has been running since 1986). Wasn’t this supposed to be a MERGER??

Still, nice to have it back.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports Extra at 6pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on ABC at 1pm ET Sunday

Other Events


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Lifelock.com 400
– Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois, USA
– (19/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 1am Saturday night / Sunday morning
USA – LIVE on TNT at 7.30pm ET Saturday

For all other events I will list the UK time (BST not GMT) and channel only, if you are elsewhere you will have to look it up (check their website).

GP2 Series

– Nürburgring, Germany
– (5/10)
– LIVE on Eurosport: Race 1 Sat @ 3pm, Race 2 Sun @ 10:30am
– www.gp2series.com

Well done to British Eurosport for signing up GP2 after Setanta Sports collapsed! I think only the British arm is covering it so I’m afraid I don’t know the situation elsewhere in Europe.

Intercontinental Rally Challenge

– Rally Russia
– (6/11)
– www.ircseries.com

V8 Supercars

– Townsville, Australia
– (6/14)
– www.v8supercars.com.au

* * * *

Elsewhere in sport don’t forget to keep up with le Tour de France which in the UK can be found nightly at 7pm on ITV4 for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I believe there are copious amounts of coverage on Eurosport too. In the US you can see it on Versus, which curiously also takes Phil Liggett’s commentary (I’m guessing he records links for each network every day because he talks about ITV4 by name on our coverage).

I plan to complete the Goodwood posts during this weekend, then next week will catch up with some race notes because I haven’t done Turkey or Britain yet!
Hopefully soon I will be able to find time to start watching all the other stuff I like to keep up with, which I had to put on hold during my college studies. I am a very long way behind.

Weekend Preview: 27-28 June 2009

Feature Events

IndyCar Series

– SunTrust Indy Challenge
– Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Virginia, USA
– (8/17)
– 300 laps
– www.indycar.com

A Saturday evening race as darkness falls at the short oval where traffic will be an issue, it could cause problems or it could help the racing as the better drivers through lapped traffic will run well.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 1:30am Sunday morning
USA – LIVE on VERSUS at 8pm ET Saturday night for an 8.45pm green flag (why not a nice easy 9pm??)

Support races: USAC Silver Crown, USAC Sprint Car


MotoGP

– Alice TT Assen
– Assen, Holland
– (7/17)
– www.motogp.com

MotoGP is also on a Saturday as is the tradition at Assen.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12:40pm Saturday afternoon
Delayed on Eurosport

Support races: 250cc and 125cc available on the BBC Red Button

Other Events


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Lenox Industrial Tools 301
– New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire, USA
– (17/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 7pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on TNT at 1.30pm ET Sunday

(The Nationwide Series at Loudon on Saturday night, Trucks are at Memphis also on Saturday)

For all other events I will list the UK time (BST not GMT) and channel only, if you are elsewhere you will have to look it up (check their website).


World Rally Championship

– Rally Poland
– (5/10)
– Eurosport and Dave
– www.wrc.com
This is the first time Rally Poland has been a part of the WRC.

DTM

– Norisring
– Nuremburg, Germany
– (3/8)
– live web streaming: just before 1pm Sunday
– www.dtm.tv
The UK TV deal collapsed when Setanta Sports did, let’s hope someone else picks it up. Check the webstream if you can, Norisring is nuts!
(supported by F3 Euroseries)

Superleague Formula

– Magny-Cours, France
– (1/6)
– Eurosport 2: Race 1 at 10am, Race 2 at 1pm followed by the new ‘extra time final’
– there may be live streaming on the website? I refuse to look at it.
– www.superleagueformula.com
The whole idea is a bunch of hokum clearly, but it features interesting if unspectacular drivers such as Enrique Bernoldi, Giorgio Pantano, Antonio Pizzonia, Yelmer Buurman, Adrian Valles, Tristan Gommendy and Ho-Pin Tung, all in powerful V12 single-seaters.

(also on the bill: Euroseries 3000, this is the series which picked up the old Lola A1 cars, no telly coverage as far as I know)

FIA Formula 2

– Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
– (3/8)
– Eurosport: Race 1 live 12pm Saturday, Race 2 delayed 11:30pm Sunday night but there is live streaming online
– www.formulatwo.com
The first visit to Spa for this series should be a bit of fun!
(with the International GT Open and the Dutch Supercar Challenge)


Formula Nippon

– Fuji, Japan


Grand-Am Rolex Series

– Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, USA
– (6/12)
– www.grand-am.com


Super GT

– Sepang, Malaysia
– (4/9)
– www.supergt.net/en

* * * *

For those in the UK, don’t forget Top Gear on BBC2 at 8pm Sunday!

I will be quiet on the blog and on Twitter for a few days because I’ll be offline, if anything crazy happens I’ll text it in but won’t see responses until Sunday at the earliest. Enjoy the weekend!