Oval tracks sit silent on this, the first weekend of summer in the Northern Hemisphere (winter in the Southern Hemisphere) as the top series from all around the globe take to some of the most historical circuits.
Felipe Massa and Williams Occupy Österreich Front Row
For the first time since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa starts on pole position, the sixteenth of the Brazilian's career. A 1:08.759 vaulted Massa ahead of his teammate Valterri Bottas. Bottas will start a career-best second. The last time Massa started on pole, he won. The last time a Williams started on pole, it won.
Almost a fortnight since having their undefeated season ended, Mercedes consecutive pole streak ends with the team having to settle with third for Nico Rosberg. Fernando Alonso joins the German on row two. Fresh off his win in Canada, Daniel Ricciardo starts fifth with Kevin Magnussen in sixth. Daniil Kvyat will start seventh. Kimi Räikkönen rounds out row four with Lewis Hamilton in ninth after his fastest lap was disallowed for exceeding track limits. Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the top ten.
Sergio Pérez just missed out on the top ten in qualifying in eleventh. It only gets worse for the Mexican driver as he will serve a five-spot grid penalty after his accident with Felipe Massa on the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix a fortnight ago. Jenson Button will start eleventh after the penalty to his former McLaren teammate. Sebastian Vettel will make it two former world champions on row six after the Red Bull driver failed to make it to the final round of qualifying at Red Bull's home track. Pastor Maldonado will start thirteenth with Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne in fourteenth. Romain Grosjean will start directly behind his Lotus-Renault teammate in fifteenth with Pérez dropping to sixteenth after his penalty.
Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez will make up row nine. Jules Bianchi and Kamui Kobayashi round out row ten with Max Chilton and Marcus Ericsson rounding out the field.
Coverage of tomorrow's Austrian Grand Prix begins at 7:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN.
Whincup Sweeps Saturday at Darwin
Jaime Whincup had been winless since March 29th but the defending V8 Supercars champion swept the 100-kilometer races at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Australia. He started both races from pole position with his Red Bull Racing Australia teammate Craig Lowndes finishing second each time. In the first race, Shane van Gisbergen made it a Holden sweep of the podium with the Volvo of Scott McLaughlin in fourth. Garth Tander rounded out the top five. Championship leader Mark Winterbottom finished sixth, the lone Ford in the top ten. Holden's Jason Bright, James Courtney and Fabian Coulthard took the next three positions with Mercedes-Benz driver Lee Holdsworht rounding out the top ten. The Nissans of James Moffat and Michael Caruso finished eleventh and twelfth.
Joining Whincup and Lowndes on the podium in the second race from Darwin was Coulthard. Tander made it a Holden 1-2-3-4 with McLaughlin dropping to fifth. Winterbottom was the top Ford again with a sixth place finish. Van Gisbergen dropped to seventh with Tim Slade finishing eighth. David Reynolds made it two Fords in the top ten with a ninth place finish and Caruso put Nissan in the top ten with a tenth place finish. The top Mercedes-Benz was Will Davison in thirteenth.
Winterbottom maintains his points lead, 65 markers ahead of Lowndes. Coulthard is 136 back in third with Whincup cutting his gap back to Winterbottom to 165 points. Courtney rounds out the top five, 292 points back.
Race three of the weekend will take place at 1:45 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
24 Hours Nürburgring
If Le Mans wasn't enough for you last week, another twice around the clock endurance race is on the docket, this one from the Green Hell. The famed Nordschleife hosts over 160 cars this weekend. The #66 Dörr Motorsport McLaren MP4-12C GT3 of Peter Kox, Kévin Estre, Tim Mullen and Sascha Bert start on pole with time of 8:10.921. The all-star #25 BMW Z4 GT3 was second featuring DTM drivers Maxime Martin and Marco Wittmann along with sport car aces Jörg Müller and Uwe Alzen. The #4 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra of René Rast, Markus Winkelhock, Christian Mamerow and Christopher Haase was third. Black Falcon Mercedes returns trying to defend the team's victory from last year. Adam Christodoulou, Yelmer Buurman, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal will start fourth in the #14 Mercedes SLS AMG. The #19 BMW rounds out the top five with another all-star quartet of Dirk Werner, Dirk Müller, Lucas Luhr and Alexander Sims.
The #3 Phoenix Racing Audi starts sixth. Marcel Fässler looks to make it two 24-hour race wins in consecutive weekends. He is joined by Marc Basseng, Frank Stippler and Laurens Vanthoor in the #3 Audi. The #1 Black Falcon Mercedes with defending 24 Hours Nürburgring winner Jeroen Bleekemolen as one of the drivers starts seventh. He will be joined by Andreas Simonsen, Christian Menzel and Lance David Arnold. Legendary Audi drivers Frank Biela and Marco Werner are joined by Pierre Kaffer and Felix Baumgartner in the #502 Audi. They will start eighth. The #7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Stefan Mücke, Darren Turner and Pedro Lamy starts ninth. Lamy is looking for his record-setting sixth 24 Hours Nürburgring victory. The #80 Nissan GT-R GT3 rounds out the top ten with Nick Heidfeld, Alex Buncombe, Lucas Ordóñez and Florian Strauss as it's drivers.
The German classic starts at 10:00 a.m. ET.
NASCAR at Sonoma and Elkhart Lake
Two of the United States picturesque road course host NASCAR this weekend. For the 25th consecutive year, the Cup series heads to Wine Country. The last nine visits have produced nine different winners. One of those winners, Clint Bowyer was fastest in final practice yesterday. Bowyer won at Sonoma in 2012. Paul Menard was second with Carl Edwards in third. Ford has not won at Sonoma since 2002 when Ricky Rudd won driving for Robert Yates Racing. Jaime McMurray was fourth with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounding out the top five. Kyle Larson was sixth quickest with this being his first visit to Sonoma. Defending Sonoma winner Martin Truex, Jr. was seventh. Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle rounded out the top ten.
Other notable drivers: Kyle Busch was 11th, AJ Allmendinger was 15th, Brad Keselowski was 16th, Jimmie Johnson was 23rd, Marcos Ambrose was 24th, Tony Stewart was 28th and Boris Said was 36th.
Cup qualifying will take place at 1:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
The Nationwide Series gads to Road America for the fifth consecutive year. Friday was shortened due to rain. Sam Hornish, Jr. was fastest in the wet session. Brian Scott was second with winner of the 2004 ChampCar race at Road America Alex Tagliani in third. Championship points leader Regan Smith was fourth with Brendan Gaughan rounding out the top five. Ty Dillon was sixth. Justin Marks was seventh ahead of rookies Chris Buescher and Dylan Kwasniewski. Elliott Sadler rounded out the top ten.
Other notables from Road America practice: Trevor Bayne was 13th, Andy Lally was 16th and Chase Elliott failed to complete a lap in the session. There will be a new winner at Road America as none of the four previous winners are entered in this year's race.
Qualifying from Road America will take place at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2.
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