It's not an equinox or solstice but seasons are ending. This season does not end with leaves changing colors and falling to Earth's surface rather the waving of flags, flow of champagne and in some cases tears of joy and tears of disappointment.
The racing season is starting to come to an end this weekend. IndyCar under the lights at Fontana, DTM at Hockenheim, World Superbike at Jerez and the American Le Mans Series not only ends a season at Petit Le Mans but an era.
As I type, LMP1 cars rumble around Road Atlanta one final time for the near future as the successor to ALMS and Grand-Am, Tudor United SportsCar Championship will not feature the top class of prototype racing. LMP1 will still come to the United States when the FIA World Endurance Championship makes it appearance at Austin but gone will be the days of LMP1 cars at Petit and Sebring and the dream of seeing LMP1 cars thunder around the high banks at Daytona and through the boot at Watkins Glen will have to wait a little longer.
Most of the championships in ALMS have been locked up. Pickett Racing along with drivers Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf have already clinched the final ALMS LMP1 title. Level 5 Motorsports has the LMP2 team championship in the bag and Corvette has taken the GT title. PC and GTC are still on the line as CORE Autosport and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports are tied in PC and only two points separate Flying Lizard and Alex Job Racing in GTC.
In the drivers' championships, Scott Tucker looks to hold off Scott Sharp in LMP2. Antonio García and Jan Magnussen have a sixteen point lead on Dirk Müller in GT. Mike Guasch leads Chris Cumming by eleven and Jonathan Bennett by twelve in PC. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil have a sixteen point lead over Nelson Canache, Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly.
Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller has already locked up the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship over BMW's Augusto Farfus. Both have clinched their position in the championship while another six driver are capable of finishing third in the standings. Christian Vietoris, Robert Wickens, Bruno Spengler, Gary Paffett, Mattias Ekström and Marco Wittmann could all finish third in the final standings when the season ends tomorrow at Hockenheim.
Bruno Spengler will start on pole ahead of fellow BMW drivers Dirk Werner, Andy Priaulx and Timo Glock. Miguel Molina was the top qualifying Audi in fifth with the top Mercedes-Benz driver being Robert Wickens in thirteenth. Rockenfeller and Farfus will start ninth and tenth respectively. American Joey Hand starts twenty-second. That race can be seen tomorrow at 7:45 a.m. ET.
World Superbike ends their 2013 campaign at Jerez. British rider Tom Sykes has a thirty-seven point lead over Irish rider Eugene Laverty. Sykes lost the 2012 title by only a half point to Max Biaggi after winning the final race and Biaggi coming home in fifth. Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli is third in the standings, only a point behind Laverty. The final round of the World Superbike Championship can be seen at 5:45 a.m. ET on beIN Sport.
There will still be Formula One, MotoGP and NASCAR and the FIA World Endurance Championship still have two rounds to go after Fuji this weekend. V8 Supercars even race into the beginning of December but for the most part the racing season is coming to a close.
But as slowly as the racing season ends, it slowly begins. The Dakar Rally starts January 5th and once that comes to a close the 24 Hours of Daytona will be a week away. After the 24 Hours of Daytona, NASCAR will head to Daytona for Speedweeks leading up to the Daytona 500. And then we will be a month from other series such as Formula One, IndyCar and MotoGP from starting their 2014 seasons and the cycle will continue.
Here is to the end of 2013 and here is to 2014. May your arrival be timely.
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