Another weekend sees a championship come to an end, a series run it's penultimate round, a stop at Asia-Pacific's top hot spot, a trip for New England clam chowder and a championship just reaching their halfway point despite it being the final weekend of summer.
1000km Nürburgring
We will start with the championship deciding round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series, the 1000km Nürburgring.
In the PRO Cup, #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT driver, Belgian Laurens Vanthoor leads with 74 points, seven ahead of the #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi trio of Stéphane Ortelli, Edward Sandström and Grégory Guilvert. Third in PRO Cup, 15 points back of Vanthoor are #7 M-Sport Bentley drivers Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane. The final drivers mathematically eligible for the are #98 ART Grand Prix McLaren drivers Grégoire Demoustier and Álvaro Parente but they have to win to have any shot at the title as they trail by 25 points.
Vanthoor is coming off a victory at the Spa 24 Hours in the last round of the BES. He was joined by fellow Belgian Réne Rast and Markus Winkelhock at Spa and will be joined by César Ramos and Christopher Mies at the Nürburgring. Saintéloc Racing is the only remaining championship eligible without a victory. Their best finish was second at the Monza season opener. M-Sport Bentley won their home race at Silverstone in May and at Paul Ricard in June. ART Grand Prix were the winners of the Monza season opener but the #98 McLaren failed to score any points at Spa.
In the PRO Cup team standings, Belgian Audi Club Team WRT leads M-Sport Bentley and Saintéloc Racing by 11 points, ART McLaren by 20 and HTP Motorsport has a shot at the title, trailing by 23 points.
The big story in PRO-AM Cup is the break up of the points leading #90 Scuderia Villorba Corse. Andrea Rizzoli and Stefano Gai remain while their third driver for the previous four rounds, Francesco Castellacci will try to win the title on his own by switching to the #52 AF Corse with Johnny Laursen and Marco Seefried as his co-drviers. The only other drivers eligible for the PRO-AM Cup championship are #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW drivers Andrew Smith, Alasdair McCraig and Oliver Bryant. The Ecurie Ecosse trio trail by 12 points.
Neither of the six drivers eligible for the title have won in 2014. The #90 Ferrari finished second in class at Monza while the #79 BMW finished second in class at Spa.
In the PRO-AM Cup team standings, Scuderia Villorba Corse leads Ecurie Ecosse by 14 points, Paul Ricard winner TDS Racing by 18 points, AF Corse by 19 points and Silverstone winner Nissasn GT Academy Team RJN by 23 points.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari drivers Peter Mann and Francisco Guedes jumped into the Gentleman Trophy championship lead with their victory at Spa, putting them 23 points ahead of #458 GT Corse by Rinaldi Ferrari drivers Alexander Mattschull and Frank Schmickler. The Germans had won the first three races of the season but failed to score any points at Spa while Mann and Guedes have finished on the podium in every race entering Nürburbring.
AF Corse leads GT Corse by Rinaldi by 16 points in the Gentleman Trophy team standings.
Lone Star Le Mans
After a month off, IMSA returns to the track for the Lone Star Le Mans. With two races to go, the #5 Action Express Corvette DP pair of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi lead the Prototpye standings after winning the last two rounds at Indianapolis and Road America by 16 points over the Taylor brothers, Ricky and Jordan. The #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP of Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook were fastest in first practice from Austin and trail by 18 points in the P class standings. OAK Racing Ligier-Nissan driver Gustavo Yacamán is fourth, trailing by 32 points while Scott Pruett rounds out the top five, 35 points back.
Corvette driver Antonio García leads the Viper pairing of Kuno Wittmer and Jonathan Bomarito by six points in GTLM while three teams are tied for third, 20 points behind the Spaniard. The two Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMWs (Dirk Müller/John Edwards; Bill Auberlen/Andy Priaulx) and the #91 Viper of Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goosens are tied for third. Jan Magnussen is sixth after missing VIR due to a concussion. The #61 Risi Competizione Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer have won the last two races.
GTD has a three-way tie at the top of championship, all with 244 points. Dane Cameron has won four races for Turner Motorsport including the last two rounds and is tied with 24 Hours of Daytona winners Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler and Alex Job Racing drivers Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil. Keen and MacNeil have not won yet with their best finish being second at Road America. Paul Miller Racing Audi drivers Bryce Miller and Christoper Haase are 11 points behind the gaggle championship leaders.
Jon Bennett and Colin Braun could lock up the Prototype Challenge championship this weekend with a podium finish. The #54 CORE Autosport pairing has won four of eight races and are 40 points clear of Starworks driver Renger van der Zande. Fellow Starworks driver Martin Fuentes is third in the championship, five behind van der Zande.
6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas
After three months off following the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the FIA World Endurance returns for their fourth of eight rounds in the 2014 championship.
The #8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid fo Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi lead the championship by 20 points over Le Mans winners, the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler. The defending world champion Tom Kristensen and the only winner in the history of the Formula E Championship Lucas di Grassi are six points behind their teammates after back-to-back runner-up finishes at Spa and Le Mans.
In first practice, Tréluyer set the fastest lap in #2 Audi with a 1:51.136, just under two-tenths ahead of the #1 Audi driven by Kristensen. Timo Bernard was third fastest, just over three-quarters of a second back in the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The fastest Toyota was Mike Conway behind the wheel of the #7 in fourth, 1.269 seconds back of Tréluyer but over a quarter second ahead of Davidson in the #8 Toyota.
Sergey Zlobin leads the LMP2 championship with a 12 point lead over his SMP Racing teammate Anton Ladygin. Zlobin and Ladygin were pair for Le Mans but Ladygin will return to the #37 Oreca 03R-Nissan while Zlobin remains behind the #27 Oreca 03R-Nissan. The #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2-Nissan of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov won the first two rounds of the season but retired at Le Mans and trailed Zlobin by 25 points.
In first practice, the fastest in LMP2 car wasn't a full-time WEC team, rather the one-off #30 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX 03b-Honda of Scott Sharp led the way with a 1:58.111. Sharp was over a second ahead of Rusinov with the #47 KCMG Oreca 03R-Nissan Richard Bradley was third.
Defending GT world champion Gianmaria Bruni continues to have a grasp on his crown with teammate Toni Vilander helping the Italian in his title defense as he looks for his own title. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari has won the last two races and has a 27-point lead over #92 Porsche driver Frédéric Makowiecki. Marco Holzer had driven the #92 in all three races to date but has stepped out of the car to focus test and development driving for Porsche.
The #97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner was the fastest GTE-Pro entry in first practice with a lap of 206.399 seconds. Vilander followed in second, just a half second. Patrick Pilet was third fastest in the #92 Porsche with Nick Tandy in the #91 Porsche in fourth. Corvette Racing makes a WEC-cameo this weekend with the all-American #65 Corvette of Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner. Ricky Taylor was fifth in the first practice session.
The #95 Aston Martin drivers David Heinemeier-Hansson and Kristian Paulsen lead GTE-Am standings and were fastest in class in first practice with a 2:06.427. The two Danes won at Silverstone and Le Mans with fellow Dane Nicki Thiim. They will be joined by New Zealander Richie Stanaway at Austin. Thiim has 75 points and is second in class. Trailing the #95 Aston Martin by 29 points is the Spa-winning #61 AF Corse Ferrari of Luíz Pérez Companc, Marco Cioci and Mirko Venturi. Pedro Lamy made it an Aston Martin 1-2 in GTE-Am first practice with the 8Star Motorsports Ferrari of Jeff Segal in third. Michele Rugoo was fourth in the #81 AF Corse Ferrari with Pérez Companc rounding out the top five in class.
Rain hampered second practice for WEC with a delay pushing back the start of the session and a red flag during the session for a car stuck on track. Anthony Davidson was over a second and half quicker than Tom Kristensen with Mike Conway over three seconds back in third. Benoît Tréluyer and Mark Webber rounded out the five in LMP1.
Richard Bradley was quickest in LMP2 in the #47 KCMG Oreca with the #30 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX 03b of Ryan Dalziel less than a tenth back of his fellow Brit. Julien Canal and the #26 G-Drive Ligier rounded out the top three in LMP2. The top three LMP2 cars were covered by 0.098 in the wet session.
Frédéric Makowiecki was the top GTE-Pro team ahead of the championship leader Gianmaria Bruni. Nick Tandy made it two Porsches in the top three. Fastest from first practice Darren Turner was fourth in the second practice with James Calado in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari rounding out the top five. Tommy Milner was sixth in the #65 Corvette.
It was an Aston Martin 1-2 again in GTE-Am with the #95 of Richie Stanaway leading the #98 of Christoffer Nygaard. The #75 Prospeed Competition Porsche of Mattieu Vaxivière was third ahead of Marco Cioci in fourth and the #88 Proton Competition Porsche of Khaled Al Qubaisi rounded out the top five class.
Singapore Grand Prix
Coming off his victory at Monza, Lewis Hamilton trails Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by 22 points as Formula One heads to the street of Singapore for the original night race. Daniel Ricciardo is third in the championship, 72 back of Rosberg.
Red Bull has won the last three Singapore Grand Prix, all coming at the hands of Sebastian Vettel. Vettel has led the last 98 laps around the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Hamilton won at Singapore in 2009, the only time Rosberg has failed to score at Marina Bay. Singapore was the sight of Rosberg's second career podium in 2008 however Mercedes' best finish at the Asia-Pacific metropolis is fourth, coming last year with Rosberg.
Valtteri Bottas is fourth in the championship with four podiums in the last six races but is still looking for his first career victory. Fernando Alonso rounds out the top five in the championship and is a two-time Singapore Grand Prix winner. Alonso has not won since last year's Spanish Grand Prix.
The pole-sitter has won four of six Singapore Grand Prix. The exceptions are Vettel in 2012 when he started third and Alonso in 2008 who came from fifteenth to the top step of the podium, thanks in large part to a spin by his then-Renault teammate Nelson Piquet, Jr. jumping on a grenade and Felipe Massa dragging the whole fuel hose out with him after a pit stop. Half of all Singapore Grand Prix have been lead wire-to-wire by the pole-sitter.
Alonso led the first practice with the Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg with in two tenths of the Ferrari. The Spaniard top the charts with a lap of 1:49.056 seconds. Vettel and Ricciardo rounded out the top five with lame duck Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne in sixth. Kimi Räikkönen was seventh with Jenson Button in eighth. Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Pérez rounded out the top ten.
Kevin Magnussen was sandwiched between Force India drivers with Nico Hülkenberg in twelfth. Felipe Massa was thirteenth with Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top fifteen. Esteban Gutiérrez led his Sauber Adrian Sutil in sixteenth. Romain Grosjean was eighteenth. Jules Bianchi was nineteenth followed by the Caterhams of Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi. Max Chilton was at the bottom of the first session.
Hamilton was quickest in second practice with a 1:47.490 lap. Alonso was second with Ricciardo three-tenths back in third. Räikkönen was fourth while Vettel was fifth despite only getting a handful of laps in at the end of the session due to a power unit change after FP1. Magnussen led his McLaren teammate Button in sixth. Trailing the McLaren duo was Force India's pair of Peréz and Hülkenberg and Toro Rosso's of Kvyat and Vergne.
Grosjean was twelfth with Nico Rosberg in thirteenth. Maldonado was fourteenth but his session ended when he walled it just halfway into the session. Sutil rounded out the top fifteen followed by Gutiérrez. Williams struggled with Massa and Bottas down in seventeenth and eighteenth. Bianchi and Chilton followed the Williams with Kobayashi and Ericsson rounding out the second session.
The Chase Heads to Loudon
Brad Keselowski secured his spot in the second round of the Chase with a victory at the opening race at Chicagoland. Jeff Gordon is second in points, seven behind Keselowski. Keselowski's Penske teammate Joey Logano is ten points back with Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr rounding out the top five.
The series heads to Loudon where Joe Gibbs Racing has won the last two fall races with Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. Twelve of sixteen drivers in the Chase have a victory at Loudon, the four that do not are Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Carl Edwards, Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger. Since the introduction of green-white-checkered finishes in the middle of the 2004 season, the fall Loudon race has never had a green-white-checkered finish. A non-Chase driver has never won the Loudon Chase race.
Edwards is currently in twelfth, the final spot that will transfer to round two. He is one point ahead of Ryan Newman, five points ahead of Allmendinger, nine points ahead of his Roush teammate Greg Biffle and 23 points clear of Almirola.
Coverage
The IMSA race will be on Fox Sports 2 Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
The WEC race will also be on Fox Sports 2 Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET.
The Singapore Grand Prix can be seen Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
ESPN's coverage of the NASCAR race from Loudon will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday.
Over/Unders
New feature for Friday Five. I am going to set an over/under for something in each race covered. It will be something fun that will hopefully spice up your viewing experience.
1. Over or Under: 2.5 manufactures on the overall 1000km Nürburgring podium? Three of the first four BES races this season have had three different manufactures on the podium.
2. Over or Under: 5.5-point lead for whoever takes the GTD championship lead after Austin?
3. Over or Under: The GTE-Am winner completing 87.75% of the laps run?
4. Over or Under: 2.5 lead changes in the Singapore Grand Prix? The average amount of lead changes in the last six races is 4.166 while the average amount of lead changes in six Singapore Grand Prix is 1.333.
5. Over or Under: 150.5 laps for Corey Lajoie in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Loudon. Lajoie has two Nationwide starts and two Truck starts to his name but he is driving for Randy Humphrey, who has had a car start six races in 2014 and his car has finished 80% of the laps in five of those six races.
Predictions
1. Of the three class winners, two will feature first time winners in 2014 at the 1000km Nürburgring.
2. Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende win in PC.
3. An American will be a part of a winning team in the 6 Hours at Circuit of the Americas.
4. Felipe Massa gets back-to-back podium finishes for the first time since the 2010 Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix.
5. Three non-Chase drivers will finish in the top ten at Loudon.
Last Week's Predictions:
1. The premiere Formula E race will be won by Bruno Senna with the e.dams drivers in tow. (Wrong, although I got the nationality of the winner correct and Nicolas Prost led 23 of 25 laps).
2. Marco Wittmann locks up the championship while Audi gets their first win of 2014. (50%. Wittmann clinched the title while Mercedes won their third race of 2014).
3. Johnny O'Connell and Lawson Aschenbach win the GT and GTS championships in Pirelli World Challenge. (Right on both accounts).
4. There will be new championship leaders in LMP2 and GTC after Paul Ricard. (Wrong on both accounts).
5. Chris Atkinson scores points his home rally. (Correct as Atkinson finished tenth thanks to Mads Østberg having trouble on the final day).
Overall: 2.5/5
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