Red Bull continued their dominance as they were 1-2 in Friday second practice at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Sebastian Vettel led his Australian teammate Mark Webber who will be competing in his penultimate Grand Prix this weekend before moving to Porsche to drive their LMP1 entry next year in the World Endurance Championship.
Pairs were the theme of the day in Austin. After the Red Bull's 1-2, Mercedes were 3-4 with Nico Rosberg ahead of his world champion teammate and winner of the last two United States Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton. Just behind Hamilton was a former McLaren teammate and it wasn't Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button. It was Heikki Kovalainen as the Finn substitutes for fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen as he will miss the final two rounds of the season due to back surgery. Sixth and seventh were the pair of Saubers with Nico Huülkenberg leading Esteban Gutiérrez in what is the closest thing to a home race for the Mexican driver. Romain Grosjean was eighth with Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso rounding out the top ten.
In Friday first practice, American Alexander Rossi took part driving for Caterham. His fastest lap was a 1:41.399 second lap, 3.056 seconds off the faster time from that session, set by Fernando Alonso but was faster than his Caterham teammate Charles Pic by 0.655 seconds.
Qualifying for tomorrow's United States Grand Prix takes place today at 1:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on CNBC.
Matt Kenseth is doing all he can do to win the championship but he will need some help if he is to beat Jimmie Johnson for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Kenseth won pole position for Sunday's Ford EcoBoast 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson will start seventh. Kenseth needs Johnson to finish twenty-fourth or worse to have any shot at the title. The other driver still eligible for the title is the most recent winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Kevin Harvick. He starts sixth.
Sunday's race can be seen at 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Nationwide Series title will be decided today. Austin Dillon leads Sam Hornish, Jr. by eight points but has trailed the Ohioan in each practice session. In first practice Kyle Larson was fastest with Hornish fourth and Dillon fourteenth. In final practice Regan Smith was fastest with Hornish tenth and Dillon seventeenth. Qualifying for the Nationwide Series race will take place at 1:05 p.m. ET today followed by the race at 4:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Kyle Busch won the Truck Series season finale last night over Ryan Blaney, Jeb Burton, Brendan Gaughan and Ron Hornaday, Jr. By starting the race Matt Crafton won the 2013 Camping World Truck Series Championship. He finished twenty-first in the race.
The final margin in the 2013 championship was Crafton forty points ahead of Ty Dillon with 2012 champion James Buescher third, forty-three back. Johnny Sauter was fourth, seventy-two back of his teammate with Jeb Burton finishing as the top rookie in fifth, seventy-three back. Rounding out the top ten are Ryan Blaney, Brendan Gaughan, Darrell Wallace, Jr., Miguel Paludo and Timothy Peters.
In Wales, the 69th Wales Rally GB is taking place as the World Rally Championship closes out another season. Through fourteen stages, the 2013 World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier leads his Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by 17.1 seconds. Thierry Neuville is third 1:16.5 back.
In other news, the 60th Macau Grand Prix is this weekend. British driver Alex Lynn will start on pole ahead of Felix Rosenqvist, Raffaele Marciello, António Félix da Costa and Piop Derani.
For the World Touring Car Championship season finale, Guia Race of Macau, 2013 champion Yvan Muller has won pole position. Formula One podium finisher Tiago Montiero will start second with Gabriele Tarquini, Robert Huff and Norbert Michelisz rounding out the top five.
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