G-Drive vs. SMP in LMP2
Normally we start with the premier class, LMP1 but with that title already decided, we will start with the lone class that is still undecided, LMP2.
It is a Russia vs. Russia battle in LMP2 as the Russian G-Drive Racing takes on the Russian SMP Racing.
It is a Russia vs. Russia battle in LMP2 as the Russian G-Drive Racing takes on the Russian SMP Racing.
SMP Racing's Sergey Zlobin lost the championship lead at Bahrain after a late mechanical forced his #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan to retire. This handed the LMP2 championship lead over to the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov, who had to overcome two wishbone failures in the Persian Gulf to make it to the finish. G-Drive Racing has won four of seven races with Zlobin's lone victory in 2014 coming at Le Mans. G-Drive has won eight of the last 15 races dating back to last season.
The G-Drive trio lead Zlobin by eight points heading to Brazil. They can win the title with a victory or second place finish. They can also win the title with a third or fourth place finish if the #27 SMP Racing Oreca does not win at Interlagos.
The G-Drive trio lead Zlobin by eight points heading to Brazil. They can win the title with a victory or second place finish. They can also win the title with a third or fourth place finish if the #27 SMP Racing Oreca does not win at Interlagos.
Zlobin will be joined by Nicolas Minassian and Maurizio Mediani in the #27 Oreca-Nissan. SMP Racing's #37 Oreca-Nissan will featured an all-Russian driver line-up of Anton Ladygin, Kirill Ladygin and Viktor Shaitar. The #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan has won two of the last four races including the most recent round in Bahrain. Matthew Howson and Richard Bradley will be joined by Alexandre Imperatori for the sixth time in 2014.
Kristensen's Final Ride in LMP1
Interlagos will mark the final start of Tom Kristensen illustrious career. The Dane announced his retirement last week and will be joined in the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro by Lucas di Grassi and Loïc Duval. Kristensen will exit as the all-time leader in victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine and 12 Hours of Sebring with six. He also won the 2002 American Le Mans Series championship scoring his lone Petit Le Mans victory that season. Kristensen also accumulated three victories in DTM, two in British Touring Cars Championship, a victory in Super Formula and Japanese Formula Three and German Formula Three titles.
Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi clinched the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship at Bahrain in the #8 Toyota TS040 as the #7 TS040 took victory with Alexander Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway. Toyota has won five of seven races this season but despite their dominance, Audi still has a shot at the manufactures' title as they sit 40 points back entering the final round. Forty-four points remain on the table at Interlagos.
André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer have won two races this year in the #2 Audi but have not finished on the podium since winning at Austin two months ago. This trio won at Interlagos last year, leading an Audi 1-2 finish.
Porsche has one final shot to get victory in their first season in the WEC. They put both cars on the podium at Bahrain with the #14 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani leading the #20 of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. The #14 Porsche has finished on the podium the last two races while the #20 has three podiums this season (Silverstone, Fuji, Bahrain).
Ferrari vs. Porsche in GT
The World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers and the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-Am Drivers were locked up at Bahrain but the GT manufactures' championship is still up for grabs as Ferrari leads Porsche by 25 points.
In GTE-Pro, Ferrari has won four of seven races with all with their victories coming at the hands of world champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR has two victories this year with Frédéric Makowiecki being joined by Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz for the win at Silverstone and Patrick Pilet being his co-driver for the victory at Shanghai. Aston Martin has one victory in GTE-Pro this season when the #97 Vantage V8 of Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke won at Austin.
James Calado and Davide Rigon will drive the #71 AF Corse Ferrari and has finished on the podium in the last three races. Jörg Bergmeister, Richard Lietz and Nick Tandy will be in the #91 Porsche with the #99 Aston Martin being shared by Alex MacDowell, Darryl O'Young and Fernando Rees.
A Champion Returns in GTE-Am
While David Heniemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen look for their fifth victory of the season to close out their championship season, the bigger story in GTE-Am is the return of world champion Emerson Fittipaldi to racing.
Fittipaldi will compete in the #61 AF Corse Ferrari along side Jeff Segal and Alessandro Pier Guidi. The two-time World Drivers' Championship and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner last competed in motorsports in 2008 when he and his brother Wilson ran a Brazilian GT race.
As mentioned above, Heinemeier Hansson and Poulsen are looking for their fifth victory of the season, however all their victories have come in the odd-numbered rounds of the championship this season. They have finished second in all the even-numbered rounds of the championship. Nicki Thiim will round out the all-Danish line-up in the #95 Aston Martin. Thiim has been apart of all four of the #95's victories and has skipped all the even-numbered rounds until this weekend.
The #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Christoffer Nygaard has won two rounds this season and are second in the championship. The #98 has finished on the podium in six of seven races this year. Third in the GTE-Am championship is the #88 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried, Klaus Bachler and Khaled Al Qubaisi. Their best finish this season was second at Le Mans.
Fresh off their second in class at Bahrain, the #81 AF Corse Ferrari returns with Michele Rugolo, Stephan Wyatt and Andrea Bertolini behind the wheel. The other Ferrari in class belongs to 8Star Motorsports which will feature an all-Itatlian driver line-up in Brazil with Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Matteo Cressoni in the #90. The final car in class is the #75 Prospeed Competition Porsche with their all-French driver line-up led by Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxivière.
Eight Battle For Stock Car Brasil
Rubens Barrichello enters the 2014 Stock Car Brasil season finale with a shot at winning the title in his second season in the series. The former Formula One and IndyCar driver holds a 14.5-point lead over Átila Abreu. Barrichello won two races in August while Abreu's lone win came at April at Brasilia. In the last four races, Barrichello has finished ninth, second, fourth and fourth while Abreu has finishes of nineteenth, seventh, third and fifth.
Thiago Camilo is third in the championship, 23.5 points back. Camilo has won three races this season, more than any other driver. Júlio Campos sits 30.5 points back with his teammate, former Formula One drivers Antônio Pizzonia rounding out the top five, 39.5 points behind Barrichello.
A half points behind Pizzonia and an even forty back of Rubinho is Sérgio Jimenez who won at the most recent round at Salvador. Five-time Stock Car Brasil champion Cacá Bueno is seventh, 41 points back and Allam Khodair, Barrichello's teammate is the final driver mathmatically eligible for the title as he trails by 45 points. Khodair split the Salvador weekend with Jimenez to keep his title hopes alive.
Forty-eight points remain on the table at Curitiba. Barrichello can clinch the title with a fourth place finish. Of the remaining drivers eligible for the title, five drive Chevrolets (Barrichello, Abreu, Camilo, Bueno, Khodair) and three drive Peugeots (Campos, Pizzonia, Jimenez). Chevrolet and Peugeot has split the last six championships evenly with Chevrolet taking the last two.
Rubens Barrichello enters the 2014 Stock Car Brasil season finale with a shot at winning the title in his second season in the series. The former Formula One and IndyCar driver holds a 14.5-point lead over Átila Abreu. Barrichello won two races in August while Abreu's lone win came at April at Brasilia. In the last four races, Barrichello has finished ninth, second, fourth and fourth while Abreu has finishes of nineteenth, seventh, third and fifth.
Thiago Camilo is third in the championship, 23.5 points back. Camilo has won three races this season, more than any other driver. Júlio Campos sits 30.5 points back with his teammate, former Formula One drivers Antônio Pizzonia rounding out the top five, 39.5 points behind Barrichello.
A half points behind Pizzonia and an even forty back of Rubinho is Sérgio Jimenez who won at the most recent round at Salvador. Five-time Stock Car Brasil champion Cacá Bueno is seventh, 41 points back and Allam Khodair, Barrichello's teammate is the final driver mathmatically eligible for the title as he trails by 45 points. Khodair split the Salvador weekend with Jimenez to keep his title hopes alive.
Forty-eight points remain on the table at Curitiba. Barrichello can clinch the title with a fourth place finish. Of the remaining drivers eligible for the title, five drive Chevrolets (Barrichello, Abreu, Camilo, Bueno, Khodair) and three drive Peugeots (Campos, Pizzonia, Jimenez). Chevrolet and Peugeot has split the last six championships evenly with Chevrolet taking the last two.
Despite there being only two races this weekend, I will do over/unders and predictions for all four classes.
Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 1.5 Russian drivers on the top step of the LMP2 podium?
2. Over or Under: 2.5 cars on the lead lap?
3. Over or Under: 216.5 laps run by the winning GTE-Pro car?
4. Over or Under: 1.5 Aston Martins in the top two of GTE-Am?
5. Over or Under: 4.5 Chevrolets in the top ten at Curitiba?
5. Over or Under: 4.5 Chevrolets in the top ten at Curitiba?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Under: Only 12 cars finished on the lead lap in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
2. Under: Conor Daly failed to score in GP2.
3. Over: Dean Stoneman, Nick Yelloy, Alex Lynn and Emil Bernstorff all got podiums in the final round of the GP3 season.
4. Under: The average speed for the Formula E race from Putrajaya was 57.8 MPH.
Predictions
1. The G-Drive trio of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov hold off Sergey Zlobin for the LMP2 crown.
2. Tom Kristensen ends his career on the top step of the podium.
3. Aston Martin wins pole position in GTE-Pro.
4. Emerson Fittipaldi does not finish on the GTE-Am podium.
5. Rubens Barrichello wins the Stock Car Brasil title.
5. Rubens Barrichello wins the Stock Car Brasil title.
Last Week's Predictions
1. Lewis Hamilton wins his second world championship (Correct).
2. Jolyon Palmer and/or Stefano Coletti score a fastest lap at Abu Dhabi (Correct. Palmer scored fastest lap in race one).
3. Someone gets their first victory of the GP3 season in the season finale (Correct after Nick Yelloly was awarded victory when Patric Niederhauser was disqualified).
4. We see some rain in the Formula E race (Incorrect. There were some sprinkle but not even enough to call the race a wet race).
Overall: 3/4. Running Tally: 31.5/57
