We have reached the first major endurance race of the year and it is once again the Dubai 24 Hour.
This will be the 15th time this race has taken place and it is again the season opener for the 24H Series season.
This year sees a slight change, as the A6 class will be known as the GT3 class, which is what has made up the class for years. Once again, the top class will be split between professional and amateur entries. This year's race features 11 GT3-PRO entries and nine GT3-AM entries with only four manufactures spread across the 20 entries.
GT3-PRO
#4 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 2019
Drivers: Khaled Al Qubaisi, Hubert Haupt, Ben Barker, Manuel Metzger, Jeroen Bleekemolen
Why this car could win: Al Qubaisi, Haupt and Bleekemolen are three of the eight drivers to have won the Dubai 24 Hour twice. Metzger has won the 24 Hours Nürburgring. Black Falcon has won this race four times, the only other team to win it multiple times is Duller Motorsport, which won the first two editions.
Why this car won't win: Oof... first entry and I am not sure I can come up with a good answer. This will be a race contender. If it doesn't win it is because this is a 24-hour race and there could be two or three cars are just better, this could be the contender that gets caught in an incident that wasn't of its making or this is the car where something breaks, the team loses ten laps fixing it and it just wasn't this entry's year.
#7 MS7 by WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo 2019
Drivers: Mohammed Saud Fahad Al Saud, Michael Vergers, Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Mies
Why this car could win: Mies is a GT3 maverick, with victories in the Bathurst 12 Hour, 24 Hours Nürburgring and championships in the Blancpain Endurance Series and ADAC GT Masters. Vanthoor has won the Bathurst 12 Hour and he has plenty of GT3 success. Vergers won the LMP2 championship in the European Le Mans Series in 2006. WRT is one of the leading GT3 teams in the world and won this race in 2016. This team were runner-up finishers in this race last year.
Why this car won't win: Amazingly, this is one of the races Mies has not won. Add to it WRT is going to run the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, spreading its operation to new races. Audi is coming off winning this race last year. Only twice has a manufacture won this race in consecutive years.
#10 SPS auotmotive performance Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Valentin Pierburg, Tom Onslow-Cole, Dominik Baumann, Lance David Arnold
Why this car could win: Mercedes-AMG has four Dubai 24 Hour victories. Onslow-Cole and Pierburg have won two consecutive International GT Open Pro-Am championships. Onslow-Cole won the 24H Series A6-Pro championship in 2015. Baumann has won multiple SRO GT3 championships.
Why this car won't win: All four of Mercedes-AMG's Dubai 24 Hour victories have come from Black Falcon. There are some strong entries in this field.
#24 GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 II)
Drivers: Dirk Werner, Julien Andlauer, Stuart Hall, Jordan Grogor, Frédéric Fatien
Why this car could win: Werner is a sports car veteran. Andlauer is one of the most promising and rising Porsche drivers. Hall won the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-Am drivers in 2013. Hall, Grogor and Fatien have been racing together and know each other. GPX Racing won the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps last year.
Why this car won't win: I am not sure Grogor and Fatien are at a high enough level to compete for an overall victory but I will say this is the best Porsche entered in GT3 and it would not be a surprise if this car takes the checkered flag first overall.
#31 WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo 2019
Drivers: Rolf Ineichen, Mark Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Kevlin van der Linde
Why this car could win: Both the Ineichens won this race in 2014, the Ineichens and Bortolotti have a lot of experience together back at GRT Grasser Racing Team. Rolf Ineichen and Bortolotti have won the GT Daytona class the previous two years at the 24 Hours of Daytona and won the 12 Hours of Sebring in GTD last year. Van der Linde is coming off an ADAC GT Masters championship and he has won the 24 Hours Nürburgring.
Why this car won't win: It is hard to see how this car will not be in contention. This is Bortolotti's first time in an Audi after switching over from Lamborghini. The Ineichens are making the move to Audi as well. This could be a team that is working out the cobwebs this year but next year will be the clear favorite. I don't necessarily think that will be the case. I think this team could do it this year.
#77 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2019
Drivers: Adrian Amstutz, Patrick Kujala, Jordan Witt, Dennis Lind
Why this car could win: Amstutz won this race in 2014. Amstutz, Kujala and Lind ran together last year and won the 24 Hours Barcelona. Lind was a part of the Orange1 FFF Racing Team that won the Blancpain Endurance Cup championship last year but missed the final race due to illness and will not be included in record book as a champion. Witt ran for Barwell Motorsport in the Blancpain Endurance Cup Silver Cup and won the class at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Why this car won't win: This car is a little too amateur to win this race. On top of that, it is the only non-German car between both GT3 classes and German manufactures have won all 14 times this race has been contested.
#84 HTP Winward Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Al Faisal Al Zubair, Maximilian Götz, Maximilian Buhk, Christopher Bruck, Indy Dontje
Why this car could win: Götz and Buhk have plenty of history together in GT3 competition. Götz is a Blancpain Sprint Series champion. Buhk is a Blancpain GT Series champion. Götz and Buhk won the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 2013. Dontje has had success in the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series.
Why this car won't win: Götz and Buhk cannot win this race alone. Dontje is a good addition. I think Al Zubair and Bruck are too relative unknowns. This is a good line up and it could get a
#88 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS Evo 2019
Drivers: Rik Breukers, Christopher Haase, Mike-David Ortmann, Dimitri Parhofer, Markus Winkelhock
Why this car could win: This car won the race last year. The only difference Frédéric Vervisch is out and Winkelhock and Ortmann are in. Haase has two victories in the 24 Hours Nürburgring. Haase and Winhelhock won the 2017 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Winkelhock has an FIA GT1 World Championship, Intercontinental GT Challenge championship and a Blancpain Sprint Series Pro-Am Cup championship.
Why this car won't win: Repeating is hard to do. It would not be a surprise if this car did. Only Black Falcon and Duller Motorsport have won the Dubai 24 Hour in consecutive years.
#91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 II)
Drivers: Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn, Robert Renauer, Alfred Renauer, Sven Müller
Why this car could win: Allemann, Bohn and the Renauers won this race in 2017. Allemann and the Renauers won three more races that year and Bohn returned for a victory in the finale at Austin. Herberth Motorsport won twice in the 2018 24H Series season and in 2019 the team won twice in A6-Am with Allemann, Bohn and Robert Renauer. Müller is a Porsche SuperCup champion and a budding Porsche driver.
Why this car won't win: This team has been successful in 24H Series and Müller is a respectable driver but there feels like four or five better teams and it is difficult to see this car winning on all out pace. This could be a top five finisher.
#99 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo 2019
Drivers: Duncan Huisman, Nicolas Schöll, Luc Braams, Max Braams
Why this car could win: Huisman and Luc Braams won the GT4 European Series Northern Cup Pro-Am championship in 2017. The Braams and Huisman have experience in this race in the V8 Racing Corvette. Attempto Racing is a regular team in the 24H Series.
Why this car won't win: There are a lot of strong cars and teams. It is hard to see how this car breaks through.
#777 Toksport WRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Philip Ellis, Patrick Assenheimer, Martin Konrad
Why this car could win: Engel and Stolz were vice-champions in the Blancpain Sprint Series championship last year. Engel won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 2016. Assenheimer has a lot of GT3 experience with Black Falcon. Konrad won the A6-Am class last year in the Dubai 24 Hour.
Why this car won't win: Engel and Stolz are not going to be enough.
GT3-AM
#19 MP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Daniël de Jong, Henk de Jong, Bert de Heus, Jaap van Lagen
Why this car could win: This team showed up for last year's race. Daniël de Jong has some single-seater success. Van Lagen is a full-time Porsche SuperCup competitor. The de Jongs and de Heus ran this race the year before that.
Why this car won't win: It is a good but not a great line up for the overall victory. I think it could compete for the class victory.
#26 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo 2019
Drivers: Pierre-Yves Paque, Christian Kelders, Daniel Desbrueres, Michael Blanchemain, Steven Palette
Why this car could win: Sainteloc has a history of winning races and being a competitive team.
Why this car won't win: Too many unknowns with this entry.
#28 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 II)
Drivers: Roberto Pampanini, Ivan Jacoma, Mauro Calamia, Stefano Monaco, Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen
Why this car could win: You got me... I have no clue how this car could win other than it makes zero mistakes and everyone else does.
Why this car won't win: That is the easy one, as it is the third best Dinamic Motorsport cars and I am not sure it can beat those two let alone the rest of the cars in the GT3 field.
#29 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 II)
Drivers: Philipp Sager, Helmut Rödig, Bashar Mardini, Christopher Zochling
Why this car could win: Zochling has been around the block before.
Why this car won't win: There are too many good cars in this field for this entry to come out on top either in class or overall.
#34 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 Evo 2019
Drivers: Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff, Gustav Edelhoff, Elmar Grimm, Ingo Vogler
Why this car could win: Because this team won the A6-Am class in last year's season finale at Austin and its sister car could be an overall winner for the second consecutive year.
Why this car won't win: The Dubai 24 Hour is the deepest race of the 24H Series season and just because you can win other races does not mean you can win this one.
#69 Team Hong Kong Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Jonathan Hui, Antares Au, Frank Yu, Kevin Tse
Why this car could win: Craft-Bamboo Racing is a known name in the racing world and it has been having success in the GT World Challenge Asia series. This team did finish tenth overall last year and fourth in the A6-Am class.
Why this car won't win: It was 15 laps down to the overall winner last year. It was only three laps down to the A6-Am class winner last year so many it could be a surprise class winner but I think even the GT3-AM class is too far out of reach.
#70 Toksport WRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Axcil Jefferies, Alexander Hrachowina, George Kurtz, Martin Konrad, Finlay Hutchison
Why this car could win: Jefferies has been developing as a GT3 driver and ran in the VLN Series last year. Hrachowina was a part of the A6-Am class winners in this race last year. Kurtz has run the World Challenge America Series in the past with some success. Hutchison is a young driver who has spent his time in Blancpain Endurance Series Silver Cup and GT4 European Series.
Why this car won't win: I think this team just will not have the legs for a 24-hour race. This is a line up that is pieced together and doesn't really have a lot of experience with each other.
#85 CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo2019
Drivers: Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub, Mike Hedlund, Shane Lewis, Joe Foster
Why this car could win: Putman, Espenlaub and Foster have plenty of experience in this series and this race. Hedlund is coming off an excellent season in the World Challenge America Series. Lewis has plenty of endurance race experience.
Why this car won't win: This car is one of the favorites for the class but an overall victory is a lot to ask for in this race.
#95 Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 II)
Drivers: Eric Lux, Gerard Lopez, Tim Müller, Jürgen Härin, Will Bamber
Why this car could win: Earl Bamber Motorsport won last year's Bathurst 12 Hour in the team's first attempt.
Why this car won't win: Lightning does not typically strike twice and there are better line ups in this class.
Last year's victory for Audi gave the manufacture its second Dubai 24 Hour victory. Audi is still fourth all-time with Porsche sitting on five victories, Mercedes-AMG on four and BMW with three victories.
Seven of the previous 14 editions of the Dubai 24 Hour have seen the overall winner complete 600 laps or more. The record for laps completed is 628 laps set in 2012 with the Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG that Jeroen Bleekemolen, Sean Edwards, Thomas Jäger and Khaled Al Qubaisi drove.
The 15th Dubai 24 Hour will begin at 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday January 10th.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
Showing posts with label 24H Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 24H Series. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
2018 Dubai 24 Hour Preview: Part II (Everybody Else)
Last week, we took a look at all A6 class entries for the 2018 Dubai 24 Hour. Today, we are going to highlight some of the other entries from the other eight classes. Four of these eight classes, the first four to be specific, belong to the 24H GT Series while the other four classes, the bottom, are apart of the Touring Car Endurance Series. Each class description will be included below and here are another 23 cars to keep an eye on.
SPX: Special cars which are not accepted in any other class (e.g. GT-, Silhouette), Weight/HP-ratio: approx. 2.5-2.9 Kg/HP
#10 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo
Drivers: Oliver Webb, Lim Keong Wee, Melvin Moh, Aleksander Schjerpen, Tadas Volbikas
Why you should watch this car: Webb has won the Dubai 24 Hour overall previously. Schjerpen won in the SP3 class in 2016.
#60 LAMERA-CUP Lamera Cup
Drivers: Wilfried Merafina, Pierre Couasnon, Christophe Bouchet, Philippe Marie
Why you should watch this car: I had no knowledge of what a Lamera Cup car was prior to looking at the entry list. Apparently, if my translation is accurate, this is an entry-level series for aspiring endurance racing drivers. I am still not sure what the car is or what it is capable of but this is one of three in the race and the other two are in the SP3 class. This car has the most notable name and that is Christophe Bouchet, who can be interesting at times.
#87 GDL Racing Middle East Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo
Drivers: Frank Pelle, Vic Rice, Massimo Vignali, Rory Penttinen
Why you should watch this car: This team won in this class last year with all the drivers above but Vignali.
#88 Speed Lover Porsche 991 Cup MR I
Drivers: Pierre-Yves Paque, Jean-Michael Gerome, Christian Kelders, Daniel Disburser
Why you should watch this car: The SPX class was only contested in three 24H Series rounds in 2017 and two of those were non-championship races. Speed Lover won both the non-championship races that were apart of the 2x5H Spa-Francorchamps. Paque is the only carry over driver from Spa-Francorchamps.
Class 991: Porsche 991 Cup Cars (Type 991-I and 991-II) (* - AM entry)
#62 FACH AUTO TECH Porsche 991-II Cup
Drivers: Matt Campbell, Julien Andlauer, Thomas Preining, Jens Richter
Why you should watch this car: Campbell is a name to keep an eye on. At 22 years old, he has won Australian Porsche Carrera Cup championship, he finished second overall at the Bathurst 12 Hour last year and he finished third in the 2017 Porsche Supercup championship but ended the season with three consecutive victories.
#63 race:pro motorsport 991-II Cup
Drivers: Stanislav Minsky, Murad Sultanov, Klaus Bachler, David Jahn, Nicholas Foster
Why you should watch this car: Bachler has been done a good job in a number of Porsches across FIA World Endurance Championship and Porsche Supercup.
#82 RScar Motorsport Porsche 991-I Cup
Drivers: Artem Soloviev, Vadim Meshcheriakov, Denis Gromov
Why you should watch this car: There are only three 991-PRO entries so if neither of the first two cars win than here is your winner.
#26 MRS GT-Racing Porsche 991-II Cup
Drivers: Stephen Grove, Bertram Hornung, Matthias Jeserich
Why you should watch this car: Speaking of Australian Porsche Carrera Cup, Grove won the 2017 Australian Porsche Carrera Cup Challenge class championship. He also won the B class at the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour.
#67 race:pro motorsport Porsche 991-II Cup
Drivers: James Thorpe, Sean McInerney, Phil Quaife, Claudio Cappelli
Why you should watch this car: Quaife has run for Duel Racing in recent years and even won the TCR class championship in 2016 but he has now moved on.
#95 Duel Racing Porsche 991-I Cup
Drivers: Ramzi Moutran, Nabil Moutran, Sami Moutran, Jules Westwood
Why you should watch this car: This team with the three Moutrans won three of six TCR races on the way to the class championship in 2016. It made only one start in 2017 and that was at Dubai in the 991 class.
SP2: Special cars which are not accepted in any other class (e.g. GT-, Silhouette), Weight/HP-ratio: approx. 3.0-3.4 Kg/HP
#58 VDS Racing Adventures MARC Focus V8
Drivers: Raphaël van der Straten, Karim Al Azhari, Grégory Paisse, Wolfgang Haugg, José Close
Why you should watch this car: Normally we see the MARC cars at the Bathurst 12 Hour but those cars are seeing the world. It had cars at the California 8 Hours and 24H COTA. It will be interesting to see how it does in Dubai.
#246 KTM MMotorsport Australia KTM X-BOW
Drivers: Justin McMillan, Glen Wood, Nico Pronk, Peter Kox
Why you should watch this car: You should always keep an eye on a KTM and the team has drafted in Kox, a driver with lots of sports car experience.
GT4: GT4 Homologated cars
#40 Brookspeed International Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
Drivers: James McGuire, Ian James, Matt Bell, John Schauerman
Why you should watch this car: The team ended 2017 with a victory at Circuit of the Americas. This is a completely different driver line-up but James had a tremendous 2017 season in Pirelli World Challenge's GTS class and Matt Bell isn't a shabby driver either.
#84 Team RACE SCOUT by Winward / HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT R SP-X
Drivers: Russell Ward, Bryce Ward, Christian Gebhardt, Bernd Schneider, Norberto Fontana
Why you should watch this car: This car had a good showing at Austin and while Russell Ward is the only hold over, it will have Schneider getting into the car I guess when he isn't better with the A6 entry for HTP Motorsport and a former Formula One driver in Fontana. It isn't the sexiest name but anytime there is a Formula One experienced driver in the field you are interested.
#241 ALFAB Racing McLaren 570S GT4
Drivers: Erik Behrens, Daniel Ros, Fredrik Ros, Anders Levin
Why you should watch this car: I know nothing about any of these drivers but I do know it is the only McLaren at Dubai and it is resembles the Swedish flag. You can't miss it.
#248 Phoenix Racing: Audi R8 LMS GT
Drivers: Adderly Fong, Marchy Lee, Shaun Thong, Darryl O'Young, Charles Kwan
Why you should watch this car: Phoenix Racing is a top Audi team and this all-Hong Kongese line-up has two respectable drivers in Fong and O'Young. Lee won the Audi R8 LMS Cup title in 2012. Thong won the GT Asia Pro-Am title in 2016. It wouldn't be surprising if this car won the class.
TCR: TCR-certified Cars (Touring cars, Supercharged)
#130 Liqui Moly Team Engstler Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR SEQ
Drivers: Luca Engstler, Florian Thoma, Benjamin Leuchter, Jean-Karl Vernay
Why you should watch this car: Vernay won the 2017 TCR International Series championship and Engstler finished 12th in the ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship at 17 years old, two positions behind Thoma while Leucter won the TCR class championship in the VLN.
#216 Modena Motorsports SEAT León TCR V3 SEQ
Drivers: Wayne Shen, John Shen, Francis Tjia, Benny Simonsen, Mathias Beche
Why you should watch this car: This team won at Circuit Paul Ricard last year and it has brought in prototype expert Beche back in for a second consecutive year.
#308 Team Altran Peugeot Peugeot 308 Racing Cup
Drivers: Guillaume Roman, Oliver Baron, Michael Carlsen, Kim Holmgaard
Why you should watch this car: This car closed out the 2017 season by winning the final two TCR races and Team Altran Peugeot won three of six races. Holmgaard and Roman each had two victories while Carlsen won once.
#908 Team Altran Peugeot Peugeot 308 Racing Cup
Drivers: Lionel Amrouche, Cyril Calmon, Henrik Sørensen, Aram Martoussian
Why you should watch this car: Like I said, Team Altran Peugeot won three of six races in 2017. Sørensen won twice in 2017 in the A2 class.
SP3: Special Cars which are not accepted in any other class (mainly Touring Cars), Weight/HP-ratio: approx. 3.5-4.0 Kg/HP
#229 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55
Drivers: Nathan Freke, Jon Barnes, Mark Farmer, Dominic Paul
Why you should watch this car: Century Motorsport won this class in 2016 with Freke as one of its drivers.
CUP1: BMW M235i Racing Cup: 3000cc Twin Turbo
#154 QSR Racingschool BMW M235i Racing Cup
Driver: Jimmy de Breucker, Mario Timmers, Rodrigue Gillion, Tom Boonen, Simon Kiemund
Why you should watch this car: QSR won the CUP1 class at Dubai in 2016 and de Breucker and Timmers were two of the drivers of that entry.
A2: Petrol Touring Cars up to 2000cc & Supercharged up to 1650cc, Diesel up to 2000cc
#171 Jönsson Consulting Peugeot RCZ
Drivers: Søren Jönsson, Lars Mogensen, Niels Nyboe, Christian Hansen, Kasper Bruun
Why you should watch this car: The team won three of four A2 races in 2017.
The Dubai 24 Hours will start at 5:00 a.m. ET on Friday January 12th.
SPX: Special cars which are not accepted in any other class (e.g. GT-, Silhouette), Weight/HP-ratio: approx. 2.5-2.9 Kg/HP
#10 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo
Drivers: Oliver Webb, Lim Keong Wee, Melvin Moh, Aleksander Schjerpen, Tadas Volbikas
Why you should watch this car: Webb has won the Dubai 24 Hour overall previously. Schjerpen won in the SP3 class in 2016.
#60 LAMERA-CUP Lamera Cup
Drivers: Wilfried Merafina, Pierre Couasnon, Christophe Bouchet, Philippe Marie
Why you should watch this car: I had no knowledge of what a Lamera Cup car was prior to looking at the entry list. Apparently, if my translation is accurate, this is an entry-level series for aspiring endurance racing drivers. I am still not sure what the car is or what it is capable of but this is one of three in the race and the other two are in the SP3 class. This car has the most notable name and that is Christophe Bouchet, who can be interesting at times.
#87 GDL Racing Middle East Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo
Drivers: Frank Pelle, Vic Rice, Massimo Vignali, Rory Penttinen
Why you should watch this car: This team won in this class last year with all the drivers above but Vignali.
#88 Speed Lover Porsche 991 Cup MR I
Drivers: Pierre-Yves Paque, Jean-Michael Gerome, Christian Kelders, Daniel Disburser
Why you should watch this car: The SPX class was only contested in three 24H Series rounds in 2017 and two of those were non-championship races. Speed Lover won both the non-championship races that were apart of the 2x5H Spa-Francorchamps. Paque is the only carry over driver from Spa-Francorchamps.
Class 991: Porsche 991 Cup Cars (Type 991-I and 991-II) (* - AM entry)
#62 FACH AUTO TECH Porsche 991-II Cup
Drivers: Matt Campbell, Julien Andlauer, Thomas Preining, Jens Richter
Why you should watch this car: Campbell is a name to keep an eye on. At 22 years old, he has won Australian Porsche Carrera Cup championship, he finished second overall at the Bathurst 12 Hour last year and he finished third in the 2017 Porsche Supercup championship but ended the season with three consecutive victories.
#63 race:pro motorsport 991-II Cup
Drivers: Stanislav Minsky, Murad Sultanov, Klaus Bachler, David Jahn, Nicholas Foster
Why you should watch this car: Bachler has been done a good job in a number of Porsches across FIA World Endurance Championship and Porsche Supercup.
#82 RScar Motorsport Porsche 991-I Cup
Drivers: Artem Soloviev, Vadim Meshcheriakov, Denis Gromov
Why you should watch this car: There are only three 991-PRO entries so if neither of the first two cars win than here is your winner.
#26 MRS GT-Racing Porsche 991-II Cup
Drivers: Stephen Grove, Bertram Hornung, Matthias Jeserich
Why you should watch this car: Speaking of Australian Porsche Carrera Cup, Grove won the 2017 Australian Porsche Carrera Cup Challenge class championship. He also won the B class at the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour.
#67 race:pro motorsport Porsche 991-II Cup
Drivers: James Thorpe, Sean McInerney, Phil Quaife, Claudio Cappelli
Why you should watch this car: Quaife has run for Duel Racing in recent years and even won the TCR class championship in 2016 but he has now moved on.
#95 Duel Racing Porsche 991-I Cup
Drivers: Ramzi Moutran, Nabil Moutran, Sami Moutran, Jules Westwood
Why you should watch this car: This team with the three Moutrans won three of six TCR races on the way to the class championship in 2016. It made only one start in 2017 and that was at Dubai in the 991 class.
SP2: Special cars which are not accepted in any other class (e.g. GT-, Silhouette), Weight/HP-ratio: approx. 3.0-3.4 Kg/HP
#58 VDS Racing Adventures MARC Focus V8
Drivers: Raphaël van der Straten, Karim Al Azhari, Grégory Paisse, Wolfgang Haugg, José Close
Why you should watch this car: Normally we see the MARC cars at the Bathurst 12 Hour but those cars are seeing the world. It had cars at the California 8 Hours and 24H COTA. It will be interesting to see how it does in Dubai.
#246 KTM MMotorsport Australia KTM X-BOW
Drivers: Justin McMillan, Glen Wood, Nico Pronk, Peter Kox
Why you should watch this car: You should always keep an eye on a KTM and the team has drafted in Kox, a driver with lots of sports car experience.
GT4: GT4 Homologated cars
#40 Brookspeed International Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
Drivers: James McGuire, Ian James, Matt Bell, John Schauerman
Why you should watch this car: The team ended 2017 with a victory at Circuit of the Americas. This is a completely different driver line-up but James had a tremendous 2017 season in Pirelli World Challenge's GTS class and Matt Bell isn't a shabby driver either.
#84 Team RACE SCOUT by Winward / HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT R SP-X
Drivers: Russell Ward, Bryce Ward, Christian Gebhardt, Bernd Schneider, Norberto Fontana
Why you should watch this car: This car had a good showing at Austin and while Russell Ward is the only hold over, it will have Schneider getting into the car I guess when he isn't better with the A6 entry for HTP Motorsport and a former Formula One driver in Fontana. It isn't the sexiest name but anytime there is a Formula One experienced driver in the field you are interested.
#241 ALFAB Racing McLaren 570S GT4
Drivers: Erik Behrens, Daniel Ros, Fredrik Ros, Anders Levin
Why you should watch this car: I know nothing about any of these drivers but I do know it is the only McLaren at Dubai and it is resembles the Swedish flag. You can't miss it.
#248 Phoenix Racing: Audi R8 LMS GT
Drivers: Adderly Fong, Marchy Lee, Shaun Thong, Darryl O'Young, Charles Kwan
Why you should watch this car: Phoenix Racing is a top Audi team and this all-Hong Kongese line-up has two respectable drivers in Fong and O'Young. Lee won the Audi R8 LMS Cup title in 2012. Thong won the GT Asia Pro-Am title in 2016. It wouldn't be surprising if this car won the class.
TCR: TCR-certified Cars (Touring cars, Supercharged)
#130 Liqui Moly Team Engstler Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR SEQ
Drivers: Luca Engstler, Florian Thoma, Benjamin Leuchter, Jean-Karl Vernay
Why you should watch this car: Vernay won the 2017 TCR International Series championship and Engstler finished 12th in the ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship at 17 years old, two positions behind Thoma while Leucter won the TCR class championship in the VLN.
#216 Modena Motorsports SEAT León TCR V3 SEQ
Drivers: Wayne Shen, John Shen, Francis Tjia, Benny Simonsen, Mathias Beche
Why you should watch this car: This team won at Circuit Paul Ricard last year and it has brought in prototype expert Beche back in for a second consecutive year.
#308 Team Altran Peugeot Peugeot 308 Racing Cup
Drivers: Guillaume Roman, Oliver Baron, Michael Carlsen, Kim Holmgaard
Why you should watch this car: This car closed out the 2017 season by winning the final two TCR races and Team Altran Peugeot won three of six races. Holmgaard and Roman each had two victories while Carlsen won once.
#908 Team Altran Peugeot Peugeot 308 Racing Cup
Drivers: Lionel Amrouche, Cyril Calmon, Henrik Sørensen, Aram Martoussian
Why you should watch this car: Like I said, Team Altran Peugeot won three of six races in 2017. Sørensen won twice in 2017 in the A2 class.
SP3: Special Cars which are not accepted in any other class (mainly Touring Cars), Weight/HP-ratio: approx. 3.5-4.0 Kg/HP
#229 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55
Drivers: Nathan Freke, Jon Barnes, Mark Farmer, Dominic Paul
Why you should watch this car: Century Motorsport won this class in 2016 with Freke as one of its drivers.
CUP1: BMW M235i Racing Cup: 3000cc Twin Turbo
#154 QSR Racingschool BMW M235i Racing Cup
Driver: Jimmy de Breucker, Mario Timmers, Rodrigue Gillion, Tom Boonen, Simon Kiemund
Why you should watch this car: QSR won the CUP1 class at Dubai in 2016 and de Breucker and Timmers were two of the drivers of that entry.
A2: Petrol Touring Cars up to 2000cc & Supercharged up to 1650cc, Diesel up to 2000cc
#171 Jönsson Consulting Peugeot RCZ
Drivers: Søren Jönsson, Lars Mogensen, Niels Nyboe, Christian Hansen, Kasper Bruun
Why you should watch this car: The team won three of four A2 races in 2017.
The Dubai 24 Hours will start at 5:00 a.m. ET on Friday January 12th.
Friday, January 5, 2018
2018 Dubai 24 Hour Preview: Part I (A6 Class)
The season of previews continues and we have the first endurance race of the season on the cards. The January jewel in the Persian Gulf, the Dubai 24 Hour returns for the 13th consecutive year. The race is still a week away but there is so much to cover that the race has to be previewed now. Once again, this event has an impressive entry list of drivers and for the second consecutive year this preview has to be broken into two parts.
This part features the A6 class, both PRO entries and AM entries. The A6 class is predominantly filled with GT3 entries and it is the class that will likely take the overall victory. Twenty-five cars are entered in the A6 class for the 2018 race with 11 PRO entries and 15 AM entries. This preview will look at each entry; give you the drivers entered for each car, a reason why that car could win the Dubai 24 Hour and a reason why that car won't win the Dubai 24 Hour. We will start with the Pro entries.
Note that this is using the entry list of Friday January 5th and could be changed in the coming week.
A6-PRO
#2 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haput, Yelmer Buurman, Gabriele Paiani
Why this car could win: Black Falcon has won this race three times and Al Faisal, Haupt and Buurman won in 2015 with Oliver Webb. This team also finished third last year, the top Mercedes.
Why this car won't win: Mercedes-AMG has not won the last two years at Dubai and the manufacture didn't win a 24H Series race overall in 2017. Plus, the #2 Mercedes has a very tough teammate.
#3 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Khaled Al Qubaisi, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Luca Stolz, Manuel Metzger
Why this car could win: Al Qubaisi and Bleekemolen won the 2012 and 2013 Dubai 24 Hour. Bleekemolen is one of the more underrated GT drivers in the world. Metzger won the 2016 24 Hours Nürburgring with Black Falcon
Why this car won't win: Stolz is the young driver in the group and I don't want to say he is the weakest link. This could be his breakout race.
#5 Ram Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Remon Leonard Vos, Tom Onslow-Cole, Euan Hankey
Why this car could win: Tom Onslow-Cole won the 2015 24H Series A6 class champion and Euan Hankey finished second in the 2017 European Le Mans Series GT championship. Leonard Vos and Onslow-Cole finished fourth last year in the 12H Mugello and third in the 12H Imola.
Why this car won't win: The Dubai 24 Hour has only been won by a team of three drivers once and that was 2010. A British team has never won the Dubai 24 Hour.
#8 Lambda Performance Ford GT Lambda
Drivers: Nico Verdonck, Frank Kechele, Csaba Walter, Daniel Keilwitz
Why this car could win: Keilwitz finished second in the 2017 ADAC GT Masters championship and this could be a breakout year for the soon-to-be Pirelli World Challenge driver. Nico Verdonck has sports car experience. Verdonck and Kechele drove this car to a seventh and second-place finish in the 2015 ADAC GT Masters season finale at Hockenheim.
Why this car won't win: I don't know about this car. Lambda ran this car sporadically in ADAC GT Masters from 2012 to 2015. It had some good races but I think it is asking at lot for this to win a 24-hour race.
#9 BWT Mücke Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Markus Winkelhock, Mike-David Ortmann, Andreas Weishaupt, Ricardo Feller, Christer Jöns
Why this car could win: Winkelhock is one of Audi's top drivers. Jöns has won at Bathurst and the Nürburgring. Weishaupt won the ADAC GT Masters Gentleman Class championship in 2015. Feller and Ortmann are two younger drivers with Feller driving for the Audi Sport racing academy and Ortmann having run Formula 4
Why this car won't win: This might be a line-up where, while being balanced between experienced drivers and young drivers, it could lack the depth needed compared to some of the other A6 entries.
#12 Manthey Racing Porsche 991 GT3 R
Drivers: Otto Klohs, Lars Kern, Matheiu Jaminet, Sven Müller
Why this car could win: This is as close to a factory team as you can get. Jaminet and Müller are two of the top young Porsche drivers and this race could be a breakout for both of them. Klohs and Müller finished second in last year's race driving for Manthey.
Why this car won't win: Porsche won last year and the last three Dubai 24 Hours have been won by three different manufactures.
#20 D'station Racing Porsche 991 GT3 R
Drivers: Satoshi Hoshino, Seiji Ara, Tomonobu Fujii, Tsubasa Kondo
Why this car could win: Ara has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Fujii has won multiple 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Ara, Hoshino and Kondo finished third in the 2017 Super Taikyu ST-X championship.
Why this car won't win: This is a big step up for this team and to win this race with the depth of the field is a major task.
#28 GP Extreme Renault RS01 GT3
Drivers: Jean-Pierre Valentini, Axcil Jefferies, Nicky Pastorelli, Alban Varutti
Why this car could win: This might be one of the best looking cars on the grid. The car has won races in the International GT Open. Pastorelli has Dubai 24 Hour experience and ran a handful of Champ Car races in 2006. Jefferies has run Formula Two races and Indy Lights and he has moved onto Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Valentini and Jeffries ran together for GP Extreme at Circuit Paul Ricard and Portimão with Pastorelli joining the team in Portugal.
Why this car won't win: It is an inexperienced line-up plus I don't think the car can beat the German manufactures.
#96 Optimum Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Christopher Haase, Bradley Ellis, Oliver Wilkinson
Why this car could win: Haase is a marvel in endurance races and there aren't many he hasn't won. However, this is one missing from his trophy case and I am sure he will be motivated. Haase and Optimum Motorsport finished fourth last year at Dubai. Ellis won the 2007 British GT Championship. Wilkinson ran in GT4 with Optimum Motorsport at Portimão last year.
Why this car won't win: We have already covered three-drive line-ups and I think Ellis and Wilkinson are at least a year away from being able to win this race.
#777 MS7 by WRT Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Mohammed Bin Saud Al Saud, Michael Vergers, Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Mies
Why this car could win: Like Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies has won his fair share of endurance races and he too has not won the Dubai 24 Hour. Dries Vanthoor had a good season in the Blancpain GT Series last year. Vergers and Al Saud finished sixth in this race last year with Marcel Fässler as one of their co-drivers.
Why this car won't win: This is a good line-up and WRT won the 2016 Dubai 24 Hour. It is hard to come up with a reason why this car won't win. If it doesn't win it is because it is outright beat or something breaks.
#964 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers: Mark Ineichen, Rolf Ineichen, Christian Engelhart, Mirko Bortolotti
Why this car could win: This team won last year's Blancpain GT Series champions and the Ineichen won the 2014 Dubai 24 Hour. GRT Grasser Racing Team's Blancpain GT Series title broke a stranglehold German manufactures on the championship.
Why this car won't win: Every Dubai 24 Hour has been won by a German manufacture. The top finishing Lamborghini last year was the SPX-class winning Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo, 18th overall, and the top A6 class Lamborghini was 21st overall.
A6-AM
#1 Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Michael Kroll, Chantal Kroll, Roland Eggimann, Kenneth Heyer, Christiaan Frankenhout
Why this car could win: Hofor-Racing is the dominant team in 24H Series. It won four of seven A6-AM races last year and the team has won the A6-AM class the last two years.
Why this car won't win: It hasn't be able to beat the Herberth Motorsport Porsche for overall victories and the A6 class grid is much deeper than most 24H Series races.
#7 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Kriton Lendoudis, Rui Águas, Saud Al Faisal, Saeed Al Mouri
Why this car could win: Black Falcon always fields contenders and Águas has been a successful GT driver.
Why this car won't win: It is an inexperienced line-up and will struggle to beat its teammates.
#16 SPS automotive performance Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Valentin Pierburg, Tim Müller, Lance David Arnold, Dominik Baumann
Why this car could win: Arnold, Müller and Pierburg have been regular Dubai 24 Hour competitors.
Why this car won't win: This car isn't even in the top five best Mercedes-AMGs.
#18 V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1
Drivers: Luc Braams, Duncan Huisman, Alex van t'Hoff, Rick Abresch, Finlay Hutchison
Why this car could win: V8 Racing always brings a Corvette and it always runs well for part of the Dubai 24 Hour.
Why this car won't win: It hasn't run well for the entire Dubai 24 Hour and it is outnumbered by German cars.
#19 MP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Daniel de Jong, Henk de Jong, Bert de Heus
Why this car could win: Daniel de Jong has had success in junior formula racing and MP Motorsport has fielded some good junior formula programs.
Why this car won't win: Three drivers and this is an all-Dutch line-up and no Dubai 24 Hour overall winner has had all its drivers hail from the same country.
#24 SPS automotive performance Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Alexandre Coigny, Iradj Alexander, Richard Feller, Antonin Borga
Why this car could win: It is another Dubai 24 Hour regular.
Why this car won't win: See its teammate plus it is an all-Swiss line-up and what did we say with the MP Motorsport entry?
#25 HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Alexander Hrachowina, Indy Dontje, Bernd Schneider, Martin Konrad, Brice Bosi
Why this car could win: Schneider has won this race prior and Dontje is an up-and-coming driver. HTP Motorsport has been a successful team in GT3 endurance racing.
Why this car won't win: I don't think the line-up is going to beat some of the big boys.
#27 GP Extreme Renault RS01 GT3
Drivers: Frédéric Fatien, Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall, Jordon Grogor
Why this car could win: Hall and Goethe have been Aston Martin factory drivers and won the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-AM championship. Fatien and Grogor have been regular 24H Series competitors.
Why this car won't win: I will say this team is a sleeper but, as with its sister car, it has a mighty task to top the German manufactures.
#33 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Dirg Parhofer, Dimitri Parhofer, Rémi Terrail, Ali Çapan, Frank Stippler
Why this car could win: The car also won in A6-AM at Imola and Dimitri Parhofer was one of the drivers to win at Imola. Car Collection Motorsport did win in A6-AM at Circuit of the Americas in November.
Why this car won't win: The field is really deep and this is a driver line-up that hasn't spent a lot of time together.
#34 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff, Gustav Edelhoff, Elmar Grimm, Ingo Vogler, Wiggo Dalmo
Why this car could win: This is the team that won at Circuit of the Americas with the exception being Dalmo in for Max Edelhoff. This is an experienced group of drivers.
Why this car won't win: The field is a lot deeper that it was in Texas.
#66 Attempto Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers:
Why this car could win: Without any drivers I am not sure I can find a reason why it could.
Why this car won't win: It is hard to win without any drivers.
#85 PROsport Performance Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub, Joe Foster, Adam Christodoulou
Why this car could win: Putman, Espenlaub and Foster are making the step up after winning the 2017 24H Series 991 class championship. Christodoulou finished on the Dubai 24 Hour A6-PRO podium twice and he has class victories in the 24 Hours Nürburgring.
Why this car won't win: It is a big step up from 991 class to A6 however I would not be surprised if this car does well because the drivers take care of it and doesn't put it in a position it shouldn't be in.
#911 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R
Drivers: Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn, Robert Renauer, Alfred Renauer, Dennis Olsen
Why this car could win: This is the defending Dubai 24 Hour winner and outside of Brendon Hartley exiting for Dennis Olsen, it is the same line-up. Olsen finished second in the 2017 Porsche Supercup and he won three races. This team won four 24H Series races last year.
Why this car won't win: Repeating is difficult and only twice has a team successfully defended a Dubai 24 Hour victory.
#963 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers: Mark Ineichen, Roberto Pampanini, Christoph Lenz, Mauro Calamia, Rik Breukers
Why this car could win: Ineichen has won the Dubai 24 Hour before. Breukers is making a step up and GRT Grasser Racing Team is a top team.
Why this car won't win: It is the second-best of the Grasser Lamborghinis.
#991 Gulf Racing Japan Porsche 911 GT3 R
Drivers: John Wartique, Nicolas Saelens, Philipp Sager, Hisashi Kunie, Kimihiro Yashiro
Why this car could win: Gulf Racing Japan finished eighth in the Super GT Series GT300 championship. Plus, the car is in the famous Gulf Racing livery. That has to given them an extra couple tenths of a second.
Why this car won't win: Not the most experienced line-up and a livery can only do so much.
Coming next week we will be a look at a handful of other interesting Dubai 24 Hour entries from the other eight classes.
This part features the A6 class, both PRO entries and AM entries. The A6 class is predominantly filled with GT3 entries and it is the class that will likely take the overall victory. Twenty-five cars are entered in the A6 class for the 2018 race with 11 PRO entries and 15 AM entries. This preview will look at each entry; give you the drivers entered for each car, a reason why that car could win the Dubai 24 Hour and a reason why that car won't win the Dubai 24 Hour. We will start with the Pro entries.
Note that this is using the entry list of Friday January 5th and could be changed in the coming week.
A6-PRO
#2 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haput, Yelmer Buurman, Gabriele Paiani
Why this car could win: Black Falcon has won this race three times and Al Faisal, Haupt and Buurman won in 2015 with Oliver Webb. This team also finished third last year, the top Mercedes.
Why this car won't win: Mercedes-AMG has not won the last two years at Dubai and the manufacture didn't win a 24H Series race overall in 2017. Plus, the #2 Mercedes has a very tough teammate.
#3 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Khaled Al Qubaisi, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Luca Stolz, Manuel Metzger
Why this car could win: Al Qubaisi and Bleekemolen won the 2012 and 2013 Dubai 24 Hour. Bleekemolen is one of the more underrated GT drivers in the world. Metzger won the 2016 24 Hours Nürburgring with Black Falcon
Why this car won't win: Stolz is the young driver in the group and I don't want to say he is the weakest link. This could be his breakout race.
#5 Ram Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Remon Leonard Vos, Tom Onslow-Cole, Euan Hankey
Why this car could win: Tom Onslow-Cole won the 2015 24H Series A6 class champion and Euan Hankey finished second in the 2017 European Le Mans Series GT championship. Leonard Vos and Onslow-Cole finished fourth last year in the 12H Mugello and third in the 12H Imola.
Why this car won't win: The Dubai 24 Hour has only been won by a team of three drivers once and that was 2010. A British team has never won the Dubai 24 Hour.
#8 Lambda Performance Ford GT Lambda
Drivers: Nico Verdonck, Frank Kechele, Csaba Walter, Daniel Keilwitz
Why this car could win: Keilwitz finished second in the 2017 ADAC GT Masters championship and this could be a breakout year for the soon-to-be Pirelli World Challenge driver. Nico Verdonck has sports car experience. Verdonck and Kechele drove this car to a seventh and second-place finish in the 2015 ADAC GT Masters season finale at Hockenheim.
Why this car won't win: I don't know about this car. Lambda ran this car sporadically in ADAC GT Masters from 2012 to 2015. It had some good races but I think it is asking at lot for this to win a 24-hour race.
#9 BWT Mücke Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Markus Winkelhock, Mike-David Ortmann, Andreas Weishaupt, Ricardo Feller, Christer Jöns
Why this car could win: Winkelhock is one of Audi's top drivers. Jöns has won at Bathurst and the Nürburgring. Weishaupt won the ADAC GT Masters Gentleman Class championship in 2015. Feller and Ortmann are two younger drivers with Feller driving for the Audi Sport racing academy and Ortmann having run Formula 4
Why this car won't win: This might be a line-up where, while being balanced between experienced drivers and young drivers, it could lack the depth needed compared to some of the other A6 entries.
#12 Manthey Racing Porsche 991 GT3 R
Drivers: Otto Klohs, Lars Kern, Matheiu Jaminet, Sven Müller
Why this car could win: This is as close to a factory team as you can get. Jaminet and Müller are two of the top young Porsche drivers and this race could be a breakout for both of them. Klohs and Müller finished second in last year's race driving for Manthey.
Why this car won't win: Porsche won last year and the last three Dubai 24 Hours have been won by three different manufactures.
#20 D'station Racing Porsche 991 GT3 R
Drivers: Satoshi Hoshino, Seiji Ara, Tomonobu Fujii, Tsubasa Kondo
Why this car could win: Ara has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Fujii has won multiple 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Ara, Hoshino and Kondo finished third in the 2017 Super Taikyu ST-X championship.
Why this car won't win: This is a big step up for this team and to win this race with the depth of the field is a major task.
#28 GP Extreme Renault RS01 GT3
Drivers: Jean-Pierre Valentini, Axcil Jefferies, Nicky Pastorelli, Alban Varutti
Why this car could win: This might be one of the best looking cars on the grid. The car has won races in the International GT Open. Pastorelli has Dubai 24 Hour experience and ran a handful of Champ Car races in 2006. Jefferies has run Formula Two races and Indy Lights and he has moved onto Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Valentini and Jeffries ran together for GP Extreme at Circuit Paul Ricard and Portimão with Pastorelli joining the team in Portugal.
Why this car won't win: It is an inexperienced line-up plus I don't think the car can beat the German manufactures.
#96 Optimum Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Christopher Haase, Bradley Ellis, Oliver Wilkinson
Why this car could win: Haase is a marvel in endurance races and there aren't many he hasn't won. However, this is one missing from his trophy case and I am sure he will be motivated. Haase and Optimum Motorsport finished fourth last year at Dubai. Ellis won the 2007 British GT Championship. Wilkinson ran in GT4 with Optimum Motorsport at Portimão last year.
Why this car won't win: We have already covered three-drive line-ups and I think Ellis and Wilkinson are at least a year away from being able to win this race.
#777 MS7 by WRT Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Mohammed Bin Saud Al Saud, Michael Vergers, Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Mies
Why this car could win: Like Christopher Haase, Christopher Mies has won his fair share of endurance races and he too has not won the Dubai 24 Hour. Dries Vanthoor had a good season in the Blancpain GT Series last year. Vergers and Al Saud finished sixth in this race last year with Marcel Fässler as one of their co-drivers.
Why this car won't win: This is a good line-up and WRT won the 2016 Dubai 24 Hour. It is hard to come up with a reason why this car won't win. If it doesn't win it is because it is outright beat or something breaks.
#964 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers: Mark Ineichen, Rolf Ineichen, Christian Engelhart, Mirko Bortolotti
Why this car could win: This team won last year's Blancpain GT Series champions and the Ineichen won the 2014 Dubai 24 Hour. GRT Grasser Racing Team's Blancpain GT Series title broke a stranglehold German manufactures on the championship.
Why this car won't win: Every Dubai 24 Hour has been won by a German manufacture. The top finishing Lamborghini last year was the SPX-class winning Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo, 18th overall, and the top A6 class Lamborghini was 21st overall.
A6-AM
#1 Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Michael Kroll, Chantal Kroll, Roland Eggimann, Kenneth Heyer, Christiaan Frankenhout
Why this car could win: Hofor-Racing is the dominant team in 24H Series. It won four of seven A6-AM races last year and the team has won the A6-AM class the last two years.
Why this car won't win: It hasn't be able to beat the Herberth Motorsport Porsche for overall victories and the A6 class grid is much deeper than most 24H Series races.
#7 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Kriton Lendoudis, Rui Águas, Saud Al Faisal, Saeed Al Mouri
Why this car could win: Black Falcon always fields contenders and Águas has been a successful GT driver.
Why this car won't win: It is an inexperienced line-up and will struggle to beat its teammates.
#16 SPS automotive performance Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Valentin Pierburg, Tim Müller, Lance David Arnold, Dominik Baumann
Why this car could win: Arnold, Müller and Pierburg have been regular Dubai 24 Hour competitors.
Why this car won't win: This car isn't even in the top five best Mercedes-AMGs.
#18 V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1
Drivers: Luc Braams, Duncan Huisman, Alex van t'Hoff, Rick Abresch, Finlay Hutchison
Why this car could win: V8 Racing always brings a Corvette and it always runs well for part of the Dubai 24 Hour.
Why this car won't win: It hasn't run well for the entire Dubai 24 Hour and it is outnumbered by German cars.
#19 MP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Daniel de Jong, Henk de Jong, Bert de Heus
Why this car could win: Daniel de Jong has had success in junior formula racing and MP Motorsport has fielded some good junior formula programs.
Why this car won't win: Three drivers and this is an all-Dutch line-up and no Dubai 24 Hour overall winner has had all its drivers hail from the same country.
#24 SPS automotive performance Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Alexandre Coigny, Iradj Alexander, Richard Feller, Antonin Borga
Why this car could win: It is another Dubai 24 Hour regular.
Why this car won't win: See its teammate plus it is an all-Swiss line-up and what did we say with the MP Motorsport entry?
#25 HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Alexander Hrachowina, Indy Dontje, Bernd Schneider, Martin Konrad, Brice Bosi
Why this car could win: Schneider has won this race prior and Dontje is an up-and-coming driver. HTP Motorsport has been a successful team in GT3 endurance racing.
Why this car won't win: I don't think the line-up is going to beat some of the big boys.
#27 GP Extreme Renault RS01 GT3
Drivers: Frédéric Fatien, Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall, Jordon Grogor
Why this car could win: Hall and Goethe have been Aston Martin factory drivers and won the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-AM championship. Fatien and Grogor have been regular 24H Series competitors.
Why this car won't win: I will say this team is a sleeper but, as with its sister car, it has a mighty task to top the German manufactures.
#33 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Dirg Parhofer, Dimitri Parhofer, Rémi Terrail, Ali Çapan, Frank Stippler
Why this car could win: The car also won in A6-AM at Imola and Dimitri Parhofer was one of the drivers to win at Imola. Car Collection Motorsport did win in A6-AM at Circuit of the Americas in November.
Why this car won't win: The field is really deep and this is a driver line-up that hasn't spent a lot of time together.
#34 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS
Drivers: Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff, Gustav Edelhoff, Elmar Grimm, Ingo Vogler, Wiggo Dalmo
Why this car could win: This is the team that won at Circuit of the Americas with the exception being Dalmo in for Max Edelhoff. This is an experienced group of drivers.
Why this car won't win: The field is a lot deeper that it was in Texas.
#66 Attempto Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers:
Why this car could win: Without any drivers I am not sure I can find a reason why it could.
Why this car won't win: It is hard to win without any drivers.
#85 PROsport Performance Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub, Joe Foster, Adam Christodoulou
Why this car could win: Putman, Espenlaub and Foster are making the step up after winning the 2017 24H Series 991 class championship. Christodoulou finished on the Dubai 24 Hour A6-PRO podium twice and he has class victories in the 24 Hours Nürburgring.
Why this car won't win: It is a big step up from 991 class to A6 however I would not be surprised if this car does well because the drivers take care of it and doesn't put it in a position it shouldn't be in.
#911 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R
Drivers: Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn, Robert Renauer, Alfred Renauer, Dennis Olsen
Why this car could win: This is the defending Dubai 24 Hour winner and outside of Brendon Hartley exiting for Dennis Olsen, it is the same line-up. Olsen finished second in the 2017 Porsche Supercup and he won three races. This team won four 24H Series races last year.
Why this car won't win: Repeating is difficult and only twice has a team successfully defended a Dubai 24 Hour victory.
#963 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers: Mark Ineichen, Roberto Pampanini, Christoph Lenz, Mauro Calamia, Rik Breukers
Why this car could win: Ineichen has won the Dubai 24 Hour before. Breukers is making a step up and GRT Grasser Racing Team is a top team.
Why this car won't win: It is the second-best of the Grasser Lamborghinis.
#991 Gulf Racing Japan Porsche 911 GT3 R
Drivers: John Wartique, Nicolas Saelens, Philipp Sager, Hisashi Kunie, Kimihiro Yashiro
Why this car could win: Gulf Racing Japan finished eighth in the Super GT Series GT300 championship. Plus, the car is in the famous Gulf Racing livery. That has to given them an extra couple tenths of a second.
Why this car won't win: Not the most experienced line-up and a livery can only do so much.
Coming next week we will be a look at a handful of other interesting Dubai 24 Hour entries from the other eight classes.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Friday Five: Valencia, Interlagos, Motegi, Phoenix, Austin
Three championships will be decided this weekend meanwhile two series head to the penultimate rounds of their 2017 seasons. There will be an inaugural event of a 24-hour endurance race in the United States and it will be held in Texas.
Valencian Community Grand Prix
The MotoGP season ends this weekend at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia and the championship will be decided this weekend.
Marc Márquez sits on 282 points and he has a 21-point lead over Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso. With only 25 points left on the table Dovizioso will have to win at Valencia to have any shot at the title and he will need Márquez to finish 12th or worse. Both riders enter with six victories this season meaning should Dovizioso and Márquez finish tied on points and Dovizioso were to win the race, Dovizioso would be the champion on tiebreaker.
Márquez has only won twice at Valencia and only one of those came in the MotoGP class (2014). Despite his lack of victories, Márquez has finished on the podium at Valencia the last five years including finishing on the podium in all four of his MotoGP starts at the track. Dovizioso has never won at Valencia with his best finish being second in the 2004 125cc race. His best MotoGP finish at the track was third in 2011 when he was with the factory Honda team.
Márquez is going for his fourth MotoGP championship and sixth world championship overall. Dovizioso's only world championship came in the 125cc class back in 2004.
Spaniards have won the last five years at Valencia with Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha winning three of the last four years. Ducati's most recent victory at Valencia was with Casey Stoner in 2008 and the most recent MotoGP victory for an Italian rider at Valencia was Marco Melandri in 2005.
Maverick Viñales has locked up third in the championship on 226 points. His Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi sits in fourth on 197 points. Rossi won at Valencia in 2003 and 2004 but he only has four podium finishes in the last 12 races at the track. Dani Pedrosa trails Rossi by 12 points but Pedrosa will finish no worse than fifth in the championship.
Johann Zarco is 6th, 17 points ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. Both riders finished on the podium in Sepang with Lorenzo picking up his best finish of the season with a second place finish. Pramac Racing Ducati's Danilo Petrucci will likely get a career-best championship finish. The Italian is 8th on 121 points and he is 17 points clear of Team LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow. Jonas Folger will miss his fourth consecutive race due to illness that has been diagnosed Gilbert's syndrome but the German will likely finish tenth in the championship. He has 84 points and is nine points clear of Álvaro Bautista and 11 points clear of Jack Miller.
The Valencian Community Grand Prix will take place on Sunday November 12th at 8:00 a.m. ET.
Brazilian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton returns to Brazil after having clinched his fourth World Drivers' Championship in Mexico City despite picking up his worst finish this season in ninth. Last year, Hamilton picked up his first career victory at Interlagos where he led all 71 laps and won by over 11 seconds to Max Verstappen in a torrential downpour. It was Mercedes third consecutive Brazilian Grand Prix victory.
No manufacture has won the Brazilian Grand Prix four consecutive years. Ferrari won the race three consecutive years from 1976 to 1978 with Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann, who won two of the three. Ferrari would match the achievement from 2006 to 2008 with Felipe Massa's two victories sandwiching Kimi Räikkönen's 2007 championship-clinching victory. Red Bull followed Ferrari by winning from 2009 to 2011 with Mark Webber having victories sandwich Sebastian Vettel's 2010 victory.
Massa, Vettel and Hamilton are the only active drivers with victories in Brazil. Only Alain Prost, Reutemann and Michael Schumacher have more than two Brazilian Grand Prix victories.
Vettel sits second in the championship on 277 points, 15 points ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo has retired from the last two races and Räikkönen has finished third in the last two races, narrowing the gap to the Australian for fourth to 14 points. Max Verstappen has won two of the last four races with finishes of second and fourth in the other two results. He is 30 points behind Räikkönen.
Sergio Pérez's gap to his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon has shrunk to nine points with the Mexican on 92 points to the Frenchman's 83 points. Ocon has finished ahead of Pérez in the last three races. Carlos Sainz, Jr. remained ninth on 54 points but Lance Stroll cracked the top ten with a sixth place finish at Mexico giving him 40 points, four more than his teammate Massa and six more than Renault's Nico Hülkenberg.
Massa returns to his home race off the back of another retirement announcement. His retirement from last year's race was the first time Massa failed to finish in his home race since his first Brazilian Grand Prix in 2002. He has scored points in nine of 13 Brazilian Grand Prix starts with two victories and six podium finishes. Massa's 11th and most recent grand prix victory came in that famous 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. This year's race will occur 3,297 days after that 2008 race.
While Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India and Williams pretty much have the top five in the World Constructors' Championship locked up, the fight for sixth will likely come down to the final race.
Scuderia Toro Rosso sits in sixth on 53 points, five points ahead of Renault and six points ahead of Haas. Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley are both looking for their first career points. Since the end of the European portion of the season, Renault has scored 14 points while Toro Rossi has scored 13 points, 12 of which came with Sainz, Jr.'s fourth place finish at Singapore, and Haas has scored 12 points but has four points finishes in the last six races, including a double points finish at Suzuka. Toro Rosso and Renault has each only had two points finishes in the last six races. Toro Rosso has not had both cars finish in the points since Barcelona while Renault has not had both cars finish in the points since the French manufacture returned as a full works team last season.
The Brazilian Grand Prix will take place at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday November 12th.
Motegi GT Grand Final
Two championships will be decided at Twin Ring Motegi as the Super GT season comes to a close.
In GT500, the #37 Lexus Team KeePer TOM's Lexus LC 500 of Nick Cassidy and Ryō Hirakawa lead the championship with 69 points. The duo is fresh off its second victory of the season at Buriram. Six points back is the #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus of Andrea Caldarelli and Kazuya Oshima. The #6 Lexus has not won a race this season but it has three runner-up finishes this season, including finishing runner-up in both the #37 Lexus' two victories this season. Caldarelli has finished second in the GT500 championship two of the last three years and Caldarelli and Hirakawa won the Motegi season finale two years ago.
Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli are attempting to pick up their third championship in the last four seasons. The drivers of the #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R are seven points back and like the #6 Lexus it has not won a race this season but it has finished second in two of the last three races. James Rossiter sits on 53 points. His only victory this season was at Autopolis with Kazuki Nakajima in the #36 Lexus Team au Tom's Lexus. Nakajima missed the Fuji round in May due to FIA World Endurance Championship commitments. The #38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus of Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura won that Fuji race and the drivers trail the #37 Lexus by 18 points with 21 points left on the table.
In GT300, the #4 Goodsmile Racing Mercedes-AMG of Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka lead the championship with 65 points despite not winning since the season opener at Okayama. The #4 Mercedes-AMG has finished second in two of the last three races. Taniguchi and Kataoka won the 2014 GT300 championship and both drivers are going for their third GT300 title.
The #51 LM corsa Lexus RCF GT3 of Yuichi Nakayama and Sho Tsuboi became the first and so far only repeat winner in GT300 this season with their victory at Buriram. However, the #51 Lexus trails by nine points entering the finale. The #65 LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG of Naoya Gamou and Haruki Kurosawa won in GT300 at the Suzuka 1000km and they are 13 points back in the championship. The 55 ARTA BMW of Sean Walkinshaw and Shinchi Takagi are 19 points back in fourth position.
The 53-lap Motegi GT Grand Final will start at 11:30 p.m. ET on Saturday November 11th.
Can-Am 500
The penultimate round of the NASCAR Cup season is upon us and there is one spot remaining for the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick clinched their positions with victories at Martinsville and Texas respectively. Martin Truex, Jr. has secured his position on points. Truex, Jr. leads the championship with 4,168 points, 50 points ahead of Busch and 56 points clear of Kevin Harvick.
Brad Keselowski is the first driver on the outside. He has 4,111 points and he is 19 points ahead of Denny Hamlin. Ryan Blaney trails Keselowski by 22 points with Chase Elliott 49 points back and Jimmie Johnson in eighth, trailing Keselowski by 51 points. If any of these five drivers win at Phoenix they will earn that final spot in the championship race. If either of Truex, Jr., Busch, Harvick or a non-Chase driver wins then the final spot will go to the next driver in points.
Harvick has the most victories at Phoenix all-time with eight and the remaining seven Chase drivers combine for seven Phoenix victories, four of which belong to Johnson. Busch's lone Phoenix victory came in his second start at the track in November 2005. Hamlin won the March 2012 race. Keselowski has five top five finishes and eight top ten finishes in 16 Phoenix starts. Blaney and Elliott each have two top ten finishes in three Phoenix starts with each their best finish at the track being eighth. Phoenix has not been a great track for Truex, Jr. He has one top five finish and seven top ten finishes in 23 starts and he has finished outside the top ten in nine of the 12 Phoenix races since the track was reconfigured prior to the autumn race in 2011.
Chevrolet has won eight of the last ten Phoenix races. Toyota's only two victories at Phoenix were the first two races after the reconfiguration with Kasey Kahne winning with Red Bull Racing in November 2011 and Hamlin taking the March 2012 race.
The Can-Am 500 will take place at 2:37 p.m. ET on Sunday November 12th.
Hankook 24H COTA
The Creventic 24H Series makes its debut in the United States with a non-championship round at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Forty-two cars are entered across eight classes.
Despite not winning a race overall, the #1 Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG took the A6 championship as the amateur entry won the A6-Am class on four of six occasions. Michael Kroll, Chantal Kroll, Kenneth Heyer and Christiaan Frankenhout return to the #1 Mercedes-AMG with Jörg Viebahn joining the team this weekend. Herberth Motorsport won three of six races this season including the season opener Dubhai 24 Hours. Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn, Robert Renauer and Alfred Renauer will be in the #991 Porsche.
The lone American in the A6-Pro class will be Ben Keating as he will drive the #3 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Luca Stolz. Nicolas Minassian will be in the #8 Mercedes-AMG for ROFGO Racing with the 2013 FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-Am champions Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall and Roald Goethe. Pirelli World Challenge regular Jorge De La Torre has entered the #20 Aston Martin for himself, Mark Kvamme, Ross Gunn and Tack Sun Kim.
The American trio Charles Putnam, Charles Espenlaub and Joe Foster won the 991-class championship and they will be in the #85 Porsche.
Black Falcon has entered two Mercedes in the SP2 class. American Russell Ward will be in the #84 Mercedes with Maximilian Götz, Damien Faulkner and Indy Dontje. The #2 Mercedes will be driven by Thomas Jäger, Ryan Ratcliffe, Saud Al Faisal, Gabriele Piana and Mustafa Mehmet Kaya.
The SP3 class sees PWC GTS race winner Ian James in the #40 Brookspeed Porsche with James McGuire, Pierre Kleinburg and John Schauerman. Four Americans are entered in the #71 Cor Euser Racing BMW alongside Cor Euser. Those Americans are Chapman Ducote, David Ducote, Wayne Ducote and Jim Briody. Radio Le Mans lead commentator John Hindhaugh will be in the #232 Aston Martin with Andy Palmer, Peter Cate and Paul Hollywood.
In the A2 class, PWC race winner Ryan Eversley will be in the #183 THRW Honda Racing Honda with Douglas Chen, Jeremy Lucas and Scott Nicol. THRW Honda Racing has entered the #184 Honda for Calvin Tam, Michael Tsay, Lawrence Hwang and Derek Ferretti. The A2 champions Team Eva Solo/Jönnsso Consulting have come over from Denmark. The all-Danish driver line up of Jan Engelbrecht, Thomas Sørensen, Henrik Sørensen, Claus Bertelse and Søren Jønsson will drive the #171 Peugeot.
The Hankook 24H COTA will start at 10:00 a.m. ET on Saturday November 11th and the race will continue until 12:00 a.m. ET before an intermission will take place. The final ten hours of the race will resume at 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday November 12th with the race finishing at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Valencian Community Grand Prix
The MotoGP season ends this weekend at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia and the championship will be decided this weekend.
Marc Márquez sits on 282 points and he has a 21-point lead over Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso. With only 25 points left on the table Dovizioso will have to win at Valencia to have any shot at the title and he will need Márquez to finish 12th or worse. Both riders enter with six victories this season meaning should Dovizioso and Márquez finish tied on points and Dovizioso were to win the race, Dovizioso would be the champion on tiebreaker.
Márquez has only won twice at Valencia and only one of those came in the MotoGP class (2014). Despite his lack of victories, Márquez has finished on the podium at Valencia the last five years including finishing on the podium in all four of his MotoGP starts at the track. Dovizioso has never won at Valencia with his best finish being second in the 2004 125cc race. His best MotoGP finish at the track was third in 2011 when he was with the factory Honda team.
Márquez is going for his fourth MotoGP championship and sixth world championship overall. Dovizioso's only world championship came in the 125cc class back in 2004.
Spaniards have won the last five years at Valencia with Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha winning three of the last four years. Ducati's most recent victory at Valencia was with Casey Stoner in 2008 and the most recent MotoGP victory for an Italian rider at Valencia was Marco Melandri in 2005.
Maverick Viñales has locked up third in the championship on 226 points. His Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi sits in fourth on 197 points. Rossi won at Valencia in 2003 and 2004 but he only has four podium finishes in the last 12 races at the track. Dani Pedrosa trails Rossi by 12 points but Pedrosa will finish no worse than fifth in the championship.
Johann Zarco is 6th, 17 points ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. Both riders finished on the podium in Sepang with Lorenzo picking up his best finish of the season with a second place finish. Pramac Racing Ducati's Danilo Petrucci will likely get a career-best championship finish. The Italian is 8th on 121 points and he is 17 points clear of Team LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow. Jonas Folger will miss his fourth consecutive race due to illness that has been diagnosed Gilbert's syndrome but the German will likely finish tenth in the championship. He has 84 points and is nine points clear of Álvaro Bautista and 11 points clear of Jack Miller.
The Valencian Community Grand Prix will take place on Sunday November 12th at 8:00 a.m. ET.
Brazilian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton returns to Brazil after having clinched his fourth World Drivers' Championship in Mexico City despite picking up his worst finish this season in ninth. Last year, Hamilton picked up his first career victory at Interlagos where he led all 71 laps and won by over 11 seconds to Max Verstappen in a torrential downpour. It was Mercedes third consecutive Brazilian Grand Prix victory.
No manufacture has won the Brazilian Grand Prix four consecutive years. Ferrari won the race three consecutive years from 1976 to 1978 with Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann, who won two of the three. Ferrari would match the achievement from 2006 to 2008 with Felipe Massa's two victories sandwiching Kimi Räikkönen's 2007 championship-clinching victory. Red Bull followed Ferrari by winning from 2009 to 2011 with Mark Webber having victories sandwich Sebastian Vettel's 2010 victory.
Massa, Vettel and Hamilton are the only active drivers with victories in Brazil. Only Alain Prost, Reutemann and Michael Schumacher have more than two Brazilian Grand Prix victories.
Vettel sits second in the championship on 277 points, 15 points ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo has retired from the last two races and Räikkönen has finished third in the last two races, narrowing the gap to the Australian for fourth to 14 points. Max Verstappen has won two of the last four races with finishes of second and fourth in the other two results. He is 30 points behind Räikkönen.
Sergio Pérez's gap to his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon has shrunk to nine points with the Mexican on 92 points to the Frenchman's 83 points. Ocon has finished ahead of Pérez in the last three races. Carlos Sainz, Jr. remained ninth on 54 points but Lance Stroll cracked the top ten with a sixth place finish at Mexico giving him 40 points, four more than his teammate Massa and six more than Renault's Nico Hülkenberg.
Massa returns to his home race off the back of another retirement announcement. His retirement from last year's race was the first time Massa failed to finish in his home race since his first Brazilian Grand Prix in 2002. He has scored points in nine of 13 Brazilian Grand Prix starts with two victories and six podium finishes. Massa's 11th and most recent grand prix victory came in that famous 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. This year's race will occur 3,297 days after that 2008 race.
While Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India and Williams pretty much have the top five in the World Constructors' Championship locked up, the fight for sixth will likely come down to the final race.
Scuderia Toro Rosso sits in sixth on 53 points, five points ahead of Renault and six points ahead of Haas. Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley are both looking for their first career points. Since the end of the European portion of the season, Renault has scored 14 points while Toro Rossi has scored 13 points, 12 of which came with Sainz, Jr.'s fourth place finish at Singapore, and Haas has scored 12 points but has four points finishes in the last six races, including a double points finish at Suzuka. Toro Rosso and Renault has each only had two points finishes in the last six races. Toro Rosso has not had both cars finish in the points since Barcelona while Renault has not had both cars finish in the points since the French manufacture returned as a full works team last season.
The Brazilian Grand Prix will take place at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday November 12th.
Motegi GT Grand Final
Two championships will be decided at Twin Ring Motegi as the Super GT season comes to a close.
In GT500, the #37 Lexus Team KeePer TOM's Lexus LC 500 of Nick Cassidy and Ryō Hirakawa lead the championship with 69 points. The duo is fresh off its second victory of the season at Buriram. Six points back is the #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus of Andrea Caldarelli and Kazuya Oshima. The #6 Lexus has not won a race this season but it has three runner-up finishes this season, including finishing runner-up in both the #37 Lexus' two victories this season. Caldarelli has finished second in the GT500 championship two of the last three years and Caldarelli and Hirakawa won the Motegi season finale two years ago.
Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli are attempting to pick up their third championship in the last four seasons. The drivers of the #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R are seven points back and like the #6 Lexus it has not won a race this season but it has finished second in two of the last three races. James Rossiter sits on 53 points. His only victory this season was at Autopolis with Kazuki Nakajima in the #36 Lexus Team au Tom's Lexus. Nakajima missed the Fuji round in May due to FIA World Endurance Championship commitments. The #38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus of Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura won that Fuji race and the drivers trail the #37 Lexus by 18 points with 21 points left on the table.
In GT300, the #4 Goodsmile Racing Mercedes-AMG of Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka lead the championship with 65 points despite not winning since the season opener at Okayama. The #4 Mercedes-AMG has finished second in two of the last three races. Taniguchi and Kataoka won the 2014 GT300 championship and both drivers are going for their third GT300 title.
The #51 LM corsa Lexus RCF GT3 of Yuichi Nakayama and Sho Tsuboi became the first and so far only repeat winner in GT300 this season with their victory at Buriram. However, the #51 Lexus trails by nine points entering the finale. The #65 LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG of Naoya Gamou and Haruki Kurosawa won in GT300 at the Suzuka 1000km and they are 13 points back in the championship. The 55 ARTA BMW of Sean Walkinshaw and Shinchi Takagi are 19 points back in fourth position.
The 53-lap Motegi GT Grand Final will start at 11:30 p.m. ET on Saturday November 11th.
Can-Am 500
The penultimate round of the NASCAR Cup season is upon us and there is one spot remaining for the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick clinched their positions with victories at Martinsville and Texas respectively. Martin Truex, Jr. has secured his position on points. Truex, Jr. leads the championship with 4,168 points, 50 points ahead of Busch and 56 points clear of Kevin Harvick.
Brad Keselowski is the first driver on the outside. He has 4,111 points and he is 19 points ahead of Denny Hamlin. Ryan Blaney trails Keselowski by 22 points with Chase Elliott 49 points back and Jimmie Johnson in eighth, trailing Keselowski by 51 points. If any of these five drivers win at Phoenix they will earn that final spot in the championship race. If either of Truex, Jr., Busch, Harvick or a non-Chase driver wins then the final spot will go to the next driver in points.
Harvick has the most victories at Phoenix all-time with eight and the remaining seven Chase drivers combine for seven Phoenix victories, four of which belong to Johnson. Busch's lone Phoenix victory came in his second start at the track in November 2005. Hamlin won the March 2012 race. Keselowski has five top five finishes and eight top ten finishes in 16 Phoenix starts. Blaney and Elliott each have two top ten finishes in three Phoenix starts with each their best finish at the track being eighth. Phoenix has not been a great track for Truex, Jr. He has one top five finish and seven top ten finishes in 23 starts and he has finished outside the top ten in nine of the 12 Phoenix races since the track was reconfigured prior to the autumn race in 2011.
Chevrolet has won eight of the last ten Phoenix races. Toyota's only two victories at Phoenix were the first two races after the reconfiguration with Kasey Kahne winning with Red Bull Racing in November 2011 and Hamlin taking the March 2012 race.
The Can-Am 500 will take place at 2:37 p.m. ET on Sunday November 12th.
Hankook 24H COTA
The Creventic 24H Series makes its debut in the United States with a non-championship round at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Forty-two cars are entered across eight classes.
Despite not winning a race overall, the #1 Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG took the A6 championship as the amateur entry won the A6-Am class on four of six occasions. Michael Kroll, Chantal Kroll, Kenneth Heyer and Christiaan Frankenhout return to the #1 Mercedes-AMG with Jörg Viebahn joining the team this weekend. Herberth Motorsport won three of six races this season including the season opener Dubhai 24 Hours. Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn, Robert Renauer and Alfred Renauer will be in the #991 Porsche.
The lone American in the A6-Pro class will be Ben Keating as he will drive the #3 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Luca Stolz. Nicolas Minassian will be in the #8 Mercedes-AMG for ROFGO Racing with the 2013 FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-Am champions Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall and Roald Goethe. Pirelli World Challenge regular Jorge De La Torre has entered the #20 Aston Martin for himself, Mark Kvamme, Ross Gunn and Tack Sun Kim.
The American trio Charles Putnam, Charles Espenlaub and Joe Foster won the 991-class championship and they will be in the #85 Porsche.
Black Falcon has entered two Mercedes in the SP2 class. American Russell Ward will be in the #84 Mercedes with Maximilian Götz, Damien Faulkner and Indy Dontje. The #2 Mercedes will be driven by Thomas Jäger, Ryan Ratcliffe, Saud Al Faisal, Gabriele Piana and Mustafa Mehmet Kaya.
The SP3 class sees PWC GTS race winner Ian James in the #40 Brookspeed Porsche with James McGuire, Pierre Kleinburg and John Schauerman. Four Americans are entered in the #71 Cor Euser Racing BMW alongside Cor Euser. Those Americans are Chapman Ducote, David Ducote, Wayne Ducote and Jim Briody. Radio Le Mans lead commentator John Hindhaugh will be in the #232 Aston Martin with Andy Palmer, Peter Cate and Paul Hollywood.
In the A2 class, PWC race winner Ryan Eversley will be in the #183 THRW Honda Racing Honda with Douglas Chen, Jeremy Lucas and Scott Nicol. THRW Honda Racing has entered the #184 Honda for Calvin Tam, Michael Tsay, Lawrence Hwang and Derek Ferretti. The A2 champions Team Eva Solo/Jönnsso Consulting have come over from Denmark. The all-Danish driver line up of Jan Engelbrecht, Thomas Sørensen, Henrik Sørensen, Claus Bertelse and Søren Jønsson will drive the #171 Peugeot.
The Hankook 24H COTA will start at 10:00 a.m. ET on Saturday November 11th and the race will continue until 12:00 a.m. ET before an intermission will take place. The final ten hours of the race will resume at 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday November 12th with the race finishing at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Over or Under?
1. Over or Under: 4.5 retirements at Valencia?
2. Over or Under: 7.5 positions improve by Brendon Hartley from his starting position in Brazil?
3. Over or Under: 1.5 non-Japanese manufactures on the GT300 podium?
4. Over or Under: 110.5 laps led for the Phoenix winner?
5. Over or Under: 600.5 laps completed in the 24H COTA?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Under: There was one lead change between the two World Superbike races from Qatar.
2. Under: Lucas Mahias won the World Supersport race by 0.023 seconds over Jules Cluzel.
3. Under: Ford drivers led 16 laps at Pukekohe.
4. Over: Two classes were won by non-European teams, the Japanese Toyota Gazoo Racing in LMP1 and the American Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in GTE-Pro.
5. Under: David Starr completed 237 laps.
Predictions
1. Marc Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso each finish on the podium at Valencia.
2. There will not be a red flag in qualifying or the race at Interlagos for rain.
3. Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy hold on to win the GT500 championship.
4. There will be at least three cautions in the final stage at Phoenix.
5. The overall Hankook 24H COTA winner will not be Hofor-Racing or Herberth Motorsport.
Last Week's Predictions
1. Kawasaki wins a race at Qatar but does not sweep the weekend (Wrong! Kawasaki swept the weekend).
2. There is a first time winner this season in World Supersport (Wrong! Lucas Mahias picked up his second victory of the season).
3. One of the winners from Pukekoke starts outside the top four (Correct! Shane Van Gisbergen won race one from sixth).
4. At least two Shanghai class winners are victorious from pole position (Wrong! None of the class winners started on pole position).
5. There will at least be one incident of contact between active Chase drivers (Correct! Kyle Busch got into Brad Keselowski at the start, forcing both cars to pit on lap one).
Last Week: 2/5 Overall: 20/37
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)