Category: Touring Cars

Weekend Preview: 30-31 May 2009

Feature Events

IndyCar Series

– ABC Supply / AJ Foyt 225
– Milwaukee Mile, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
– (5/17)
– 225 laps
– www.indycar.com

Just one week after the Indy 500 the teams and drivers head to the traditional follow-up event at the Milwaukee Mile – this will be the 52nd time Milwaukee directly follows Indy in the schedule and the 3rd time under IRL sanction, it really is one of those long-time Indy-racing traditions. According to IndyCar.com the last driver to win both events back-to-back was Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.

I like Milwaukee, it can be a lot of fun and it is a different kettle of fish to the 1.5 milers the IRL usually uses.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 11pm BST
USA – LIVE on ABC at 3:30pm EDT

Support races: Firestone Indy Lights

Other Events

MotoGP

– Gran Premio d’Italia Alice
– Mugello, Italy
– (5/17)
– www.motogp.com

To Italy! I still haven’t caught up with MotoGP so I really have no idea what’s going on, but this track ought to sort them out.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12.30pm
USA – Delayed on SPEED at 4pm ET

Supports: 250s, 125s, etc.

 


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Dover 400
– Dover, Delaware, USA
– Charlotte, South Carolina, USA
– (13/36)
– www.nascar.com

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

Support races: Nationwide Series (Saturday), Camping World Trucks (Friday)

DTM

– EuroSpeedway Lausitz
– Lausitz, Germany
– (2/10)
– www.dtm.com (news/results)
– www.dtm.tv (video interviews, live streaming)

The German tourers head to the road course layout at the EuroSpeedway. Turn one is always fun but to be honest this isn’t my favourite DTM race of the year because the huge stands make the place look empty and the track itself isn’t very interesting. There is always a bit of fun at turn one at the start, otherwise there isn’t much to be said.

The good news is that we in the UK return to live coverage for this event, so if you have Setanta be sure to check it out.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Setanta Sports 1 at 12.30pm.
Worldwide – LIVE on www.dtm.tv from 2pm CET / 1pm BST / 8am EDT. When you follow that link it will ask you to choose one of two sites, pick the right-hand one. The live link is on the top right of the page.

Support races: F3 Euroseries

WTCC

– Valencia
– Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain
– (5/12)
– www.fiawtcc.com

I’ve never liked this circuit. It can produce the odd reasonable race but I just don’t like it! In many ways it shares several characteristics with Lausitz. Lots of tight turns, a long straight, lots of seats that aren’t filled..

TV Guide:
LIVE on Eurosport at 11.45am (race 1) and 1.45pm (race 2).

Support races: International Formula Master


Formula 2

– Valencia
– Circuit de Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain
– (1/8)
– www.formulatwo.com

The return of the F2 name to the contemporary motorsport scene, except this time rather than being an open formula it is a spec series run to a budget. It is pitched as a Formula 1 feeder but in all honesty it’ll find itself competing with FR3.5 to get people into GP2 with the odd guy getting a test & reserve deal in F1 – not to mention this is yet another fracture of the development ladder! Still, if it give opportunities to talented drivers who can’t afford the alternatives then it will have served its purpose well, and perhaps it is other series that need to be cut back. Time will decide that one.

TV Guide:
Eurosport at 5pm Saturday (delayed race 1) and 12.45pm Sunday (LIVE race 2).
Note race 2 slots directly between the two WTCC races in the Eurosport schedule!
There is also live coverage on the series website at 2.20pm CET Saturday and 1.50pm CET Sunday.


BTCC

– Oulton Park
– Cheshire, England, UK
– www.btcc.net

Oulton Park is an excellent and deceptively tricky circuit which is a lot of fun to watch!

Formula Nippon

 

– Fuji, Japan


V8 Supercars

– Symmons Plains, Australia


British F3 & GT

– Rockingham, England

* * *
That’s it, if ever if you think I’ve forgotten something please point it out in the comments. Enjoy your weekend!

Weekend Preview: 16-17 May 2009

Feature Events

MotoGP

– Grand Prix de France
– Le Mans Bugatti Circuit
– Le Mans, France
– (4/17)
– www.motogp.com

Much as last year the forecast for this weekend is for rain, it could be fun! I have to say I don’t usually enjoy events at this racetrack – the short Bugatti circuit, that is – but last year’s was very interesting due to the different tyre strategies involved. In fact the DTM race at same venue was under similar conditions. Is there a micro-climate we should be aware of?

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12:30pm

US – DELAYED on SPEED at 1pm ET

Support races: 250s, 125s, etc.

Other Events

NASCAR All-Star Race

– Lowe’s Motor Speedway
– Charlotte, South Carolina, USA
– (non-points)
– www.nascar.com

Not a part of the Sprint Cup but featuring all of the drivers and teams, this is basically a race for the sake of entertainment and a shedload of prize money. I don’t really understand how it works and quite honestly I don’t care.

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 12.30am Saturday night / Sunday morning, repeated on three times across Sky Sports during Sunday.

US – LIVE on SPEED at 7pm ET Saturday

Support races: Nationwide Series (Saturday), Truck Series (Friday)

American Le Mans Series

– Grand Prix of Utah
– Miller Motorsports Park
– Tooele, Utah, USA
– (4/10)
– www.americanlemans.com

Last week the European LMS held their last round before Le Mans and this week the Americans do the same. Simon Pagenaud and David Brabham raced last week for Peugeot at Spa (Pagenaud won) and this week both are on ALMS duty for Acura in the de Ferran and Highcroft entries respectively.

Of note here is the high altitude of the course which adds an extra dimension to the challenge of the race. The ALMS isn’t in as great a form as it used to be and they’ve had to bring in some GT3 cars as field-fillers, yet while the quantity is down the quality of entrants at the sharp end of each category is as high as it ever was.

Note – while many ALMS races are on Saturday, this race takes place on SUNDAY.

TV Guide:

UK – DELAYED BY ONE WHOLE WEEK to 5pm on May 24th, that’ll be shortly before the Indy 500 then… :stupid:

US – DELAYED at 10pm ET Sunday on SPEED (the race happens at 2.15pm ET)

Support races: Atlantics, Star Mazda, IMSA GT3 Cup, IMSA Lites

DTM

– Hockenheimring
– Hockenheim, Baden-Wurtemburg, Germany
– (1/10)
– www.dtm.tv

At long last the DTM gets started! After what seems like an eternity since the end of their 2008 season in October the German tintops heavily reliant on little aero tabs finally start their season. I’m not sure which genius decided they’d start in May but I suppose it separates them from all the other championships which start in March/April.

Mercedes vs Audi once again then and it looks like the 2-yr-old cars have been ditched, which is great news. It means Kat and Susie can finally demonstrate their known abilities against the rest of the 1-yr-old field, and a well-driven 1yr car can mix it with the current cars and certainly gets noticed. It could be a good year to watch DTM – unfortunately the FTA coverage on MotorsTV has vanished to be replaced with coverage on the pay-monthly Setanta.

TV Guide:
UK – DELAYED at 10pm on Setanta Sports 2

Support: Formula 3 Euroseries


FIA WTCC

– Race of France
– Pau, France
– (4/12)
– www.fiawtcc.com

Pau is a crazy place. Imagine Macau if it only had the narrow part, and fast. The racing isn’t always great but it’s worth a look to check out the precision driving, particularly over the chicanes with walls very close by. Of course it could all get horribly embarrassing very quickly indeed.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Eurosport at 11.45am (race 1) and 1.45pm (race 2).

Support: Formula Master (LIVE between the two touring car races)


Grand-Am Rolex Series

– Laguna Seca, California, USA
– (4/12)
– www.grand-am.com

TV Guide:
UK – highlights at silly o’clock midweek on Five
US – SPEED at 4pm ET


FIA GT

– Adria, Italy
– (2/8)
– www.fiagt.com


BTCC

– Donington Park
– Leicestershire, England, UK
– (3/10)
– www.btcc.net

It’s on!! Donington Park has finally corrected the problems which blighted the running of events between February and this month by realigning the run-off area at the new tunnel and the circuit now has a licence! The BTCC races at Donny are always a lot of fun so make sure you check it out. Those outside the UK can surely get a stream somewhere…

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on ITV4 from 11.30am, they will flash up the race schedule during the programme so that you can plan your day according to which support races you want to watch.

Supports: Clios, FRenault, Porsches, Ginettas


FNippon & JF3

– Suzuka, Japan

* * *
That’s it, if ever if you think I’ve forgotten something please point it out in the comments.

Don’t forget, in addition to these races there are also the final two qualifying sessions for the Indy 500. Third Day qualifying is on Saturday to fill positions 23-33 and on Sunday there is Bump Day as the last-chance qualifying. I’m not sure how many bumps there will actually be, it doesn’t seem like many so unlike last week I won’t be following it all that closely.

I tried an experiment on Twitter on Thursday night. I tweeted some race results, just the top few places, as an idea to promote discussion of series people may not usually follow. It turned out to be a bad idea! It doesn’t work at all on Twitter – but I think it may just work on the blog. I will be writing a test post at some point over the next few days using the format as these Previews and we’ll see how it goes.

Finally, an apology for the lack of updates recently. I am in the final stages of an accountancy course and I have been concentrating on that!

Enjoy your weekend!

Weekend Preview: 2-3 May 2009

Feature Events

MotoGP

– Gran Premio bwin.com de España
– Jerez de la Frontera
– Jerez, Spain
– (3/18)
– www.motogp.com

MotoGP’s globetrotting is on hold for a while as the series begins a two month, 5-round European leg with the first of three(!) visits to Spain this season, just as with most seasons. I’m completely out of the loop with MotoGP this year because I haven’t had time to watch the first two rounds, I’m sure I’ll catch up at some stage though.

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12:30pm with delayed coverage on Eurosport 2 at 2pm.

US – LIVE?? on SPEED at 6pm ET

Support races: 250cc, 125cc, Red Bull Rookies Cup

Other Events

A1GP World Cup of Motorsport

– Brands Hatch
– Kent, England, UK
– Configuration: Grand Prix
– Track map: Don’t be silly, you know what Brands Hatch looks like
– www.a1gp.com

This is the final round of the 2008/09 A1GP season, a very tumultuous season in which anything that could go wrong did go wrong. Cancelled events, reinstated events, reinstated events that were cancelled, trouble with the cars, trouble with the finances…
It has still be fun racing though and let’s hope they are able to hold a 5th season for next winter!

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on Sky1 at 1:30pm
NOTE THIS IS SKY 1 NOT SKY SPORTS 1!

US and elsewhere – www.a1gp.com

Support races: Formula Palmer Audi, GT Cup, Lotus Elise Trophy, Formula Junior, Sports 2000, Heritage GT

NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Russell Friedman 400
– Richmond International Speedway
– Richmond, USA
– (10/36)
– www.nascar.com

This is a Saturday night race. According to AUTOSPORT (now in ALL CAPS!) there was a competition and the winner had the race named after him, hence the Russell Friedman 400. Only in NASCAR..

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on Sky Sports Xtra at 12.30am Saturday night / Sunday morning, repeated on SSX at 5:30pm Sunday.

US – LIVE on FOX at 7pm Saturday

Support races: Nationwide Series (Saturday)

FIA World Touring Car Championship

– Race of Morocco
– Marrakech, Morocco
– (3/12)
– Track map
– www.fiawtcc.com

An all-new event on a street circuit which was only finished a few weeks ago, and which the 3-time touring car champion Andy Priaulx described on Twitter as being “like Monza without the runoff”!

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on Eurosport at 1:45pm (race 1) and 2:45pm (race 2)

US and elsewhere try here – www.fiawtcc.com

Support races: local series

FIA GT Championship

– RAC Tourist Trophy
– Silverstone, England, UK
– Configuration: Grand Prix
– (1/8)
– www.fiagt.com

This is due to be the final year of FIA GT before the all new FIA World GT series kicks off in 2010, and some of the all-new-spec GT1 cars are on the grid for this race albeit some 3 seconds off the pace of the highly tuned current breed. I’m sure a lot of time will be clawed back as the new cars get into their groove.
I had hoped to attend this race because I’ve never seen a proper sportscar race in person, unfortunately other things have got in the way and I’m unable to make it. As always this will be a 2-hour event.

TV Guide:

UK – Same-day delay in full at 10pm on Setanta Sports 2, with 1hr highlights on Sky Sports on Thursday at 6:30pm and 30 mins on Channel 4 at 7am on the 17th.

Listings for Europe/Middle East.

Support races: FIA GT3 European Championship, FIA GT4 European Cup, Cooper Tires British F3 International Series

Formula Renault 3.5

– World Series by Renault
– Spa-Francorchamps
– Francorchamps, Belgium
– (2/9)
– www.worldseriesbyrenault.com

The series which is a bit like GP2 but not as good heads for the hills of Belgium this week. You need to know about it though because it discovered Fernando Alonso, Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel.

TV Guide:

UK – Race 2 LIVE on Eurosport at 12:45pm, no apparent coverage of race 1 so I’d expect short highlights of it just prior to the green light for race 2.

Support races: Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, Megane Trophy

Grand-Am Rolex Series
– Thunderbolt Raceway
– New Jersey Motorsport Park, New Jersey, USA
– www.grand-am.com

UK – highlights on Five overnight in the week
US – 1pm ET on SPEED

Australian V8 Supercars (& F.Ford)
– Winton, Australia

Brazilian V8 Stockcars
– Brasilia, Brazil

Super GT
– Fuji, Japan

Spanish GT & F3
– Ricardo Tormo Circuit, Valencia, Spain

* * *
Do we like the sub-headers? Very Champ Car aren’t they?
These posts are becoming a great deal of work so you may find they are pared back to basics in future weeks.

On a personal note, my area finally gets the Digital Switchover on Wednesday! The wider area has it already but with my town in an aerial blackspot we rely on a repeater transmitter – that transmitter gets switched on the 6th. This should mean I get to play with the BBC’s red button service for F1 and MotoGP, as well as watch ITV4’s coverage of BTCC and Tour de France!

Weekend Preview: 4-5 April 2009

Here it is people, it all kicks off this weekend! Tons and tons of racing!

* * * *
Feature Event

FIA Formula 1 World Championship
– Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (2/17)
– Sepang International Circuit
– Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
– www.formula1.com
– Track Map

Please see my F1 Preview here.

Support events:
GP2 Asia Series (x2); Formula BMW Pacific (x2);

A much quieter support card to Australia. GP2 Asia is holding rounds 9 and 10 of the winter series with just one double-header remaining in Bahrain (again supporting F1).
FBMW Pacific kicks off their year here this weekend.

* * *
Other Events:

IRL IndyCar Series
– Honda Grand Prix of St.Petersburg (1/17)
– St Petersburg, Florida, United States
– www.indycar.com

Please see my IndyCar preview which follows imminently!

UK TV: Race LIVE on Sky Sports Xtra from 7.30pm BST Sunday.
US TV: Qualifying recap at 5pm ET Saturday.
Race LIVE on VERSUS from 2pm ET Sunday, race starts at 3.

Support races: Firestone Indy Lights (x2)

American Le Mans Series
– Acura Sports Car Challenge of St.Petersburg (2/10)
– St Petersburg, Florida, United States
– www.americanlemans.com

A very low entry of just 17 cars is a cause for concern with just 6 prototypes and no GT1 cars. GT2 is the battle to watch here.

UK TV: Race DELAYED by one day, from 3.00pm BST Sunday.
US TV: Race LIVE on ABC from 1.30pm ET Sunday.

Le Mans Series
– 1000km of Barcelona (1/5)
– Circuit de Catalunya
– Barcelona, Spain
– www.lemans-series.com/

The European endurance racing season gets going with an entry list of 43 cars this weekend! Aston Martin are currently topping the times in the absence of Peugeot and Audi, which means the LMP1 entry is fairly thin in number compared to last year – but it does boast Aston, Pescarolo and the two Kolles Audi R10s.

UK TV: The start can be seen LIVE on Eurosport at 10.15am BST for 45 minutes, with further coverage at 11.45am for 30 minutes. There will be highlights at 11pm. Eurosport are busy with GP2 Asia, World Rally, Superbikes, cycling and European basketball so they really had to fit in what was a late deal wherever they could.

NASCAR Sprint Cup
– Samsung 500 (7/36)
– Texas Motor Speedway
– Fort Worth, Texas, United States
– www.nascar.com

Yet another 500, they seem to have a lot of them in NASCAR. Didn’t 500 mile races used to mean something?

UK TV: TAPE DELAYED on Sky Sports Xtra from 10pm BST Sunday.
US TV: LIVE on FOX from 1:30pm ET Sunday.

The reason for the UK tape delay? SSX is showing IndyCars at St Pete live instead! Three cheers for the ICS bumping Cup! Hooray!

Support races: Nationwide Series (Saturday)

FIA World Rally Championship
– Rally de Portugal (4/12)
– Vilamoura, Portugal
– www.wrc.com

Intercontinental Rally Challenge
– Safari Rally (3/12)
– Nairobi, Kenya
– www.ircseries.com

Formula Nippon
– Fuji (1/8)
– Fuji, Japan
Support races: Japanese Formula 3;

HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship
– Brands Hatch Indy (1/10)
– Brands Hatch (Indy)
– Kent, England, UK
– www.btcc.net

Time for some proper tin-top wheel banging! The BTCC season opens on the one mile Indy configuration of Brands Hatch, with the three fast and frenetic 20 minute BTCC races and a packed support card.

UK TV: LIVE on ITV4 from 11.45am Sunday with uninterrupted coverage until 6pm including a whole bunch of support races.

The reason for the UK tape delay? SSX is showing IndyCars at St Pete live instead! Three cheers for the ICS bumping Cup! Hooray!

Support races: Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Formula Renault UK, Renault Clio Cup UK, Ginetta G50, Ginetta Juniors

* * * *
Hectic!!

I think that covers everything, please add your comments if you find anything more!