#11 Kessel Racing Ferrari Wins Red-Flagged Gulf 12 Hours

The Gulf 12 Hours ended just over ten minutes from the scheduled distance after an accident between the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Michael Lyons and the #38 Black Pearl Racing by Rinaldi Ferrari of Alexander Volz.

The #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Davide Rigon, Michael Broniszewsky and Giacomo Piccini won the race and completed 301 laps. This is Rigon's second consecutive Gulf 12 Hours victory and Broniszewsky's and Piccini's first Gulf 12 Hours victories. The #11 Ferrari led 96 of 149 laps run in the second half of the event. 

The #2 Black Falcon Mercedes of Yelmer Buurman, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished second, 24.253 seconds behind the Ferrari and the #44 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin of Jonny Adam, Darren Turner and Ahmed Al Harthy rounded out the podium and finished a minute and nine seconds off the leader. 

The #55 AF Corse Ferrari of Marco Cioci, Jack Gerber and Ilya Melnikov won the Pro-Am class and  finished five laps back of the overall winners, fourth overall. Despite the accident, the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Lyons, Marco Zanuttini and Vadim Gitlin won the Gentlemen's class and rounded out the top five having completed 295 laps and Rigon set the fastest lap of the race with a 2:10.546.

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Andrea Rizzoli, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci finished sixth. The #1 Black Falcon Mercedes of Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maro Engel and Khaled Al Qubaisi finished ten laps behind the overall winning Kessel Racing Ferrari. The #1 Mercedes suffered an electrical problem while running on the lead lap and in contention for the race victory. The electrical problem forced the team to spend a fair amount of time in the garage. The team also had to serve a penalty for Engel violating the time limit on one stint. 

Loris Capirossi finished his first race on four-wheel eighth overall, 12 laps down in the #65 Kessel Racing Ferrari with co-drivers Alexis de Bernardi and Nicola Cadei. The Cup class winning #20 MRS GT-Racing Porsche of Xavier Maassen, Charlie Espenlaub and Charlie Putnam finished ninth overall and completed 284 laps. The #10 Renault Sport R.S. 01 of Jerome Naveaux, Miguel Ramos, Filipe Barreiros and Jean-Pierre Lequeux rounded out the top ten, completing 280 laps. 

Prior to the red flag that ended the race, the lone safety car period in the second half of the race occurred when the #87 GDL Racing Porsche of Remi Terrail had an accident in turn four. The safety car period lasted just over 27 minutes. 

 

#11 Kessel Racing Ferrari Leads Gulf 12 Hours, Four on Lead Lap

The Gulf 12 Hours has reached the two-hour and 15-minute intermission and other than a first-lap, first corner incident, it was a pretty kosher six-hours. 

The #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Davide Rigon, Michael Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini leads the race and led 98 of 153 laps completed in the first half of the race. The Kessel Racing entry finished a minute and ten seconds ahead of the #2 Black Falcon Mercedes of Yelmer Buurman, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Hubert Haupt. Another 27 seconds back was the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes of Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maro Engel and Khaled Al Qubaisi. The pole-sitting #44 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin is the final car on the lead lap. The Vantage GT3 of Jonny Adam, Darren Turner and Ahmad Al Harthy finished a minute and 51 seconds back of the Kessel Racing Ferrari. 

Three laps down and rounding out the top five is the top Pro-Am entry, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Andrea Rizzoli. The top gentlemen entry was the #65 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Alexis de Bernardi, Loris Capirossi and Nicola Cadei and they finished ten seconds back of the #51 Ferrari in sixth. The #55 AF Corse Ferrari of Jack Gerber, Marco Cioci and Ilya Melnikov finished seventh, 32 seconds out of fifth and the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Marco Zanuttini, Michael Lyons and Vadim Gitlin finished eight, 44 seconds out of fifth. 

The #10 Equipe Verschuur Renault Sport R.S. 01 of Jerome Naveaux, Miguel Ramos, Filipe Barreiros and Jean-Pierre Lequeux finished ninth after completing 149 laps. The #25 FF Corse Ferrari of Johnny Mowlem, Ivor Dunbar and Charlie Hollings rounded out the top ten and completed 148 laps. 

The #20 MRS GT-Racing Porsche 991 Cup of Charlie Espenlaub, Charlie Putnam and Xavier Maassen leads the Cup class and are 11th overall after completing 144 laps. They lead the class by a lap.

The lone Code 60 occurred right at the start of the race when the #55 AF Corse Ferrari made contact with the #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari of Alex Kapadia in turn one and forced Kapadia into the #87 GDL Racing Porsche of Mario Cordoni. The Code 60 lasted just over 33 minutes. The #88 Ferrari completed 64 laps but ended up retiring. The #87 GDL Racing Porsche is still running but is last overall and have completed 61 laps. The #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari was the lone retirement from the first half of the race. 

The final half of the Gulf 12 Hours will begin at 5:45 p.m. local time (9:45 a.m. ET). 

Twin 12-Hour Endurance Race Weekend Preview

There are two, 12-hour endurance races that feature GT3 stacked grids this weekend and not only does it test the strength and global reach of the GT3 regulations but it gives us a wonderful last hooray to the 2015 motorsports season in the middle of December.

Gulf 12 Hours
The fifth edition of the unique Gulf 12 Hours will be run on Friday from the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Nineteen cars are entered, 12 in the GT3-class, five in the 991 Cup class, one Renault RS01 and one Wolf GB08.

Three-quarters of the GT3 field are Ferrari 458 Italias and last year's winners, AF Corse return with three of them. The #50 Ferrari will be driven by Francisco Guedes, Alexander Moiseev and Ricardo Ragazzi. Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellachi and Andrea Rizzoli will make up the #51 Ferrari. Marco Cioci returns and will be joined by Jack Gerber and Ilya Melnikov in the #55 Ferrari.

Davide Rigon won last year's race driving for AF Corse with Stephan Wyatt and Michele Rugolo. Rigon will be in one of three Ferraris entered by Kessel Racing and his co-drivers will be Giacomo Piccini and Michel Broniszewski in the #11 Ferrari. Loris Capirossi makes his Gulf 12 Hours debut driving for Kessel Racing. Nicola Cadei and Alexis De Bernardi will be the MotoGP champions' co-drivers in the #65 Ferrari. Marco Zanuttini, Michael Lyons and Vadim Gitlin will be in the #99 Kessel Racing entry.

Black Pearl Racing by Rinaldi's #38 Ferrari will be driven by Pierre Kaffer, Steve Parrow and Alexander Volz.

Johnny Mowlem, Charlie Hollings and Ivor Dunbar will drive the #25 FF Corse Ferrari.

The #88 Ferrari has been entered by Dragon Racing and their three drivers are Frédéric Fatien, John Harsthorne and Alex Kapadia.

Black Falcon entered two Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maro Engel and Khaled Al Qubaisi sharing the #1 Mercedes and Hubert Haupt, Yelmer Buurman and Abdulaziz Al Faisal in the #2 Mercedes. Haubt, Buurman and Al Faisal won the Dubai 24 Hour back in January with Oliver Webb.

The lone Aston Martin in the race will be #44 Motorbase Performance Oman Racing Team Vantage GT3 of Darren Turner, Jonny Adam and Ahmad Al Harthy.

Two of the 991 Cup class cars features American drivers. The #20 MRS GT-Racing Porsche features Charles Espenlaub and Charles Putman and Dutch driver Xavier Maassen. The #67 GDL Racing entry will see Jim Michaelian partner with Bashar Mardini and Roberto Rayneri. The Wolf GB08 of Avelon Formula will be driven by Angelo Negro, Philipp Protte, Amro Al Hamad and Sam Taheri.

The Gulf 12 Hours has retained its unique two 6-hour race format. The first half of the event will start at 9:30 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. ET) and run six hours. A two-hour and fifteen-minute intermission will take place with the final six-hour leg beginning at 5:45 p.m. local time. (8:45 a.m. ET).

Sepang 12 Hours
On Saturday, the 16th running of the Sepang 12 Hours will take place at the Sepang International Circuit. Two-dozen cars are entered, 13 of which are in the GT3 class and unlike the Gulf 12 Hours, there are six manufactures represented in the class.

Clearwater Racing has won two consecutive Sepang 12 Hours and driver Mok Weng Sun will try to make it three consecutive Sepang 12 Hours victories and he could set the record for most Sepang 12 Hours victories if he get his fourth. Gianmaria Bruni returns to Sepang looking for his second consecutive victory in the event. James Calado and Matt Griffin have been called in to round out the line-up in the #1 Ferrari 458 Italia.

There are three other Ferraris entered. The #11 Singha Motorsport Team entry will be shared by Davide Rizzo, Piti Bhirom Bhakdi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Carlo van Dam. Naza Nexus Racing has entered the #27 Ferrari and Adrian Henry D Silva, Joshua Lee Hunt and Dominic Ang Ding Xiong are the drivers. The French Sport Garage will have Georges Cabanne, Jean Paul Buffin, Romain Brandela and Gerald Tan Wee Jun pilot the #42 Ferrari.

Bentley has entered two factory cars. The #8 Continental GT3 will features 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series champions Maximilian Buhk, Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet. Steven Kane, Guy Smith and the other half of the 2015 BSS championship winning pair, Vincent Abril are the drivers for the #9 Bentley.

Audi has entered four R8 LMSs. The #15 Audi Hong Kong Powered by Phoneix Racing Asia entry has Marchy Lee, Shaun Thong and Alex Yoong listed as their drivers. Phoenix Racing has also entered the #16 Audi for Niki Mayr-Meinhof, Nicki Thiim and Markus Winkelhock. The Blancpain GT Series regular Belgian Audi Club Team WRT has two cars entered. The #17 features Stéphane Ortelli, Laurens Vanthoors, who is returning to competition for the first time since suffering injuries in the penultimate round of the BSS at Misano. Stuart Leonard rounds out the #17's driver line-up. The #150 Audi will be driven by Enzo Ide, Christopher Mies and Christopher Haase.

Asian Le Mans Series regulars Team AAI has entered a Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3. Han Chen Chen, Hirki Yoshimoto, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Tanigawa will pilot the #35 Mercedes.

AMAC Motorsport has entered the #51 Porsche 997 GT3 R for Warren Luff, James Winslow and Andrew MacPherson.

Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Andrew Watson, Andrea Caldarelli and Álvaro Parente will drive the #55 McLaren 650s GT3 for FFF Racing Team by ACM.

Seven entries make up the GTC class. Notable entries are the #23 Giti/Top Speed Lamborghini Super Trofeo Huracán of Yuan Bo, James Munro, Afriq Yazid and Martin Rump, the #26 B-Quick Racing Audi R8 LMS Cup V10 of Henk Kiks, Daniel Bilski and Peter Kox, the #33 CPK Racing Porsche 911 Carrera Cup of William Wang Wooi Meng, YS Lim and John Martin and the #777 Team NZ Motorsports Porsche 997 Cup will be driven by Will Bamber, John Curran, Graeme Dowsett and Alif Mohamed Hamden.

Every single winner of the Sepang 12 Hours has featured an Asian driver. Porsche has the most victories in the event with four. Audi, Bentley and McLaren have all yet to win the Sepang 12 Hours.

The race begins at noon local time on Saturday (11:00 p.m. ET Friday) and ends when the clock strikes midnight on Sunday morning (11:00 a.m. ET Saturday).

Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 3.5 Ferraris in the top five at the end of the first half of the Gulf 12 Hours?
2. Over or Under: 6.5 cars completing 300 laps in the Sepang 12 Hours?

Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: Mark Winterbottom won the V8 Supercars championship by 238 points over Craig Lowndes.
2. Under: Only one of the Ginetta LMP3 cars raced and it completed only 163 of 690 laps.

Predictions
1. AF Corse gets one car on the Gulf 12 Hours podium but does not win the race.
2. Two Audis finish on the overall podium at Sepang.

Last Week's Predictions
1. A manufacture that isn't Holden or Ford wins at least one race at Homebush (Wrong. Holden swept the weekend).
2. Rain will prevent the winner of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill from completing 700 laps (Correct. The #45 Flying Lizard Motorsport Audi completed 690 laps and it did rain).
Overall: 1/2 Running Tally: 36.5/68

#3 AF Corse Wins Gulf 12 Hours

Just over three seconds separated the top two finishers in the 2014 Gulf 12 Hours with the top three covered by 5.741 seconds as the #3 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon held off the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of Bernd Schneider, Jereon Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi, keeping the trio from winning back-to-back Gulf 12 Hours. The #59 McLaren 650S GT3 of Álvaro Parente, Kevin Éstre and Rob Bell rounded out the podium. It was the debut race for the 650S GT3. The leaders completed 315 laps.

The #2 Black Falcon Mercedes of Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished fourth, one lap down with the #4 AF Corse Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Filipe Barreiros and Marco Cioci rounded out the top five, four laps down. The #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari of Sean Walkinshaw, Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa finished sixth, 7.724 seconds back of the #4 Ferrari. The #5 AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli finished seventh.

The #10 GT Russian Mercedes of Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Alzhari finished eighth, five laps down. The #17 Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Ho-Pin Tung, Sun Jing Zu and Jian Wie Weng finished ninth, 12 laps down with the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Isaac Tutumlu, Vadim Gitlin and Marco Frezza rounding out the top ten, 13 laps down.

The #33 MRS-GT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Christian Engelhart, Ralf Bohn, Ilya Melnikov and Siegfried Venema won the Cup class finishing in 12th position, 23 laps down with the #46 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 of Gianluca Pizzuti, Simon Stoller and Fabio Emanuela winning the CN2 class in 17th, 34 laps down overall.

#3 AF Corse Wins Part One of Gulf 12 Hours

Halfway through the Gulf 12 Hours from the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and three different manufactures occupy the top three positions. All on the lead lap and all in contention for the Gulf 12 Hours victory.

The #3 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon won part one of the Gulf 12 Hours by 13.827 seconds over the 2013 Gulf 12 Hours winners Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi in the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. The #59 McLaren 650S GT3 of Rob Bell, Kevin Éstre and Álvaro Parente finished third, just over a minute and three seconds back of the winning Ferrari. The leaders completed 157 laps in part one.

Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished in fourth place in the #2 Black Falcom Mercedes and got back on the lead lap late in part one. They finished just over a minute and 24 seconds back. Rounding out the top five is Kessel Racing's #11 Ferrari driven by Isaac Tutumlu, Marco Frezza and Vadim Gitlin, as they finished a lap back of the leaders.

The #10 GT Russian Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 shared by Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Azhari finished sixth position, one lap down, ahead three Ferraris. Dragon Racing's #88 Ferrari with Sean Walkinshaw, Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa finished seventh with two AF Corses in tow. The #4 Ferrari came home in eighth with drivers Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Felipe Barreiros. The #5 Ferrari ended part one in ninth being driven by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli. All three Ferraris are two laps down.

The first of the Cup Class Porsche 911 GT3 Cups, the #33 MRS-GT Racing Porsche rounds out the top ten with drivers Ralf Bohn, Siegfried Venema and Ilya Melnikov. The MRS-GT Porsche is seven laps down.

The top CN class Wolf GB08 is the #45 Avelon Formula entry being shared by Ivan Bellarosa and Guglielmo Belotti. They are in 12th position, ten laps down.

Other notable entries:
The #60 McLaren of Peter Kox, Nico Pronk and Gilles Vannelet is 18th, 15 laps off the leaders.

The #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Jorge Lorenzo, Liam Talbot, Marco Zanuttini and  Jacques Duyver is 19th, 30 laps down.

The #69 Gulf Racing Lamborghini FL2 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Frederic Fatien spend a fair amount of time in the garage finished 22nd, completing only 91 laps in part one.

The final six hour part of the Gulf 12 Hours will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET (6:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi) with he field lined up in the order they finished part one with the intervals remaining intact.

Thursday Three: Uruguay, Abu Dhabi, Barbados

The final weekend of the motorsports season features a few all-star events but before we get to those, we head to South America for the third round of the Formula E season.

Punta del Este
After a month off, Formula E heads to South America for the first time in the series history as the streets of Punta del Este, Uruguay plays host to the all-electric championship.

Virgin Racing's Sam Bird won in convincing fashion last time the series raced from Putrajaya, Malaysia. The Brit led 21 of 31 laps as he would hold off Audi Sport Abt's Lucas di Grassi by 4.175 seconds. The Brazilian di Grassi leads the championship with 43 points, three points over Bird as di Grassi won the only other round of the Formula E season at Beijing.

Four drivers are tied for third in the championship with 18 points. Andretti Autosport's Franck Montagny finished second at Beijing but finished 15th at Putrajaya after contact with Venturi Grand Prix driver Nick Heidfeld damaged the Frenchman's car and led to a penalty ending any hope of scoring points. Montagna will not be at Punta del Este as Andretti Autosport has hired former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne. Nicolas Prost of e.dams finished fourth at Putrajaya and has won both pole positions this season, which pay three points apiece. Mahindra's Karun Chandhok and Dragon Racing's Jérôme d'Ambrosio each have finished fifth and sixth this season with the Indian Chandhok bettering the Belgian at Beijing and the two drivers flipping positions at Putrajaya.

Sébastien Buemi has 15 points after finishing third at Putrajaya, just ahead of his e.dams teammate Prost. Charles Pic and Oriol Servià each have 12 points but Pic will not be at Punta del Este as American Matthew Brabham will replace the Frenchman for the second consecutive race.

Nelson Piquet, Jr., António Félix da Costa and Jaime Alguersuari all have four points while Stéphane Sarrazin, Daniel Abt and Takuma Sato all have two points. Sato substituted for da Costa at Beijing as the Portuguese driver had a conflict with his DTM duties.

Four drivers slated to run in Uruguay failed to score in the first two rounds. Bruno Senna was on his way to points at Putrajaya before an accident on the final lap. Nick Heidfeld could have won the premiere race at Beijing but was taken out by Prost and we know contact with Montagny ended his race at Putrajaya. Both TrulliGP drivers, Jarno Trulli and Michela Cerruti, have yet to finish in the points.

Joining Vergne as Formula E debutants in Uruguay are Antonio García, who will replace Ho-Pin Tung in the second China Racing seat and Salvador Durán will replace Katherine Legge in the second Aguri ride. García was slated to run Putrajaya but after the Thailand round was dropped from the Asian Le Mans Series schedule, Tung was freed to run. The Chinese driver will be competing in the Gulf 12 Hours (more on that in a moment). Legge failed to score in each of the first two races.

Audi Sport Abt leads the team championship with 45 points, one clear of Virgin Racing. Dragon Racing is third with 33 points. The other American team, Andretti Autosport and e.drams trail Dragon by three points. Mahindra has 18 points, all at the hands of Chandhok. Aguri has six points, China Racing has four and Venturi Grand Prix has two. As mentioned above, TrulliGP is still looking to get on the scoreboard.

Gulf 12 Hours
Twenty-five cars are entered for the Gulf 12 Hours from the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The unique split 6-hour formats features 16 GT3 cars with the Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Mercedes returning to defend their title. The 2013 winning driver combination of Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi returns in the #1 Mercedes while Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal will run the #2 SLS AMG GT3.

Two McLaren 650S GT3s will be making their debut this weekend at the Gulf 12 Hours. The #59 will be driven by Rob Bell, Kevin Éstre and Álvaro Parente while Dutchmen Peter Kox and Nico Pronk will be in the #60 along with Frenchman Gilles Vannelet.

I.S.R. Racing has entered the #75 Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Aditya Patel, Jiri Pisarik and Filip Salaquarda as the team makes a transition from field junior formula entries to a full-time Blancpain Endurance Series effort in 2015. Absolute Racing has also entered an Audi with Ho-Pin Tung being joined by Xiao Jin Li and Jiang Wei Weng in the #17 R8 LMS GT3.

The #10 GT Russian Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 will be shared by Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Azhari.

Two-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo will make his Gulf 12 Hours debut driving the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 alongside Australian Liam Talbot, Italian Marco Zanuttini and Belgian Jacques Duyver. Kessel Racing's #11 Ferrari will be driven by Isaac Tutumlu, Marco Frezza and Vadim Gitlin.

AF Corse has entered four GT3 Ferraris. The #3 features FIA WEC drivers Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon. Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Felipe Barreiros comprise the #4 AF Corse Ferrari with the #5 being piloted by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli. AF Corse's final GT3 entry is the #77 which will be piloted by Adrien De Leener, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and David Akhobadze.

Dragon Racing will field the #88 Ferrari with Sean Walkinshaw being joined by Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa. Villorbra Corse field the #89 Ferrari with drivers Cedric Mezard, Christophe Hurni and Didier Cuche.

Gulf Racing will field the #69 Lamborghini FL2 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Frederic Fatien.

Five Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars are entered. MRS-GT Racing has entered two cars with the #33 being filled by Ralf Bohn, Siegfried Venema and Ilya Melnikov. The #34 MRS-GT entry has yet to be filled and might not compete. The #43 STP Racing with Sopp + Sopp has three Brits, Matthew Telling, Liam Venter and Ryan Ratcliffe being joined by South African Daniel Welch. Labre Competition entered an all-French drivers line up with Franck Labescat, Manuel Rodrigues, Christian Filippon and Denis Gibaud sharing the #50. The #67 GDL Racing entry will be driven by Nicolas Vandierendonck, Rob Thomson and Yusif Bassil.

The CN2 class has four entries, all Wolf GB08s. Avelon Formula has entered two with Ivan Bellarosa, Guglielmo Belotti and Ricardo Teixeria in the #45 and Simon Stoller, Gianluca Pizzuti and Fabio Emanuela in the #46. Motionsport has an all-British line-up with Peter Storey, Ben Gower and Ollie Chadwick in the #47. The #48 CRM Motorsport entry is occupied by Nicola and Stefano de Val and Jose Pedro Faria.

The Gulf 12 Hours features two, 6-hour races, the first beginning at 9:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi (midnight ET) and ending at 3:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. ET). The second race will start at 6:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. ET) with the race ending at midnight in Abu Dhabi (3:00 p.m. ET).

Race of Champions
After being cancelled in 2013 because of political unrest in Thailand, Race of Champions returns and for the first time ever, the event occurs in the Caribbean. Barbados plays host to the all-star event which features eleven teams of two. The host nation will have their own team as Barbados Rally Club drivers Rhett Watson and Dane Skeete were the top two competitors in the Suzuki ROC Barbados Challenge.

Romain Grosjean returns at the incumbent Race of Champions winner and finished runner-up representing France in the Nations Cup. He will be joined by FIA European Formula Three champion Esteban Ocon. The 19-year old Ocon won nine of 33 races and defeated Tom Blomqvist and future Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen for the title. Ocon was a test driver for Lotus F1 in 2014.

The United States will have three representatives split between two teams. This year's Indianapolis 500 winner and 2012 IndyCar champion and ROC competitor Ryan Hunter-Reay will be joined by 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Kurt Busch. Busch makes his first ROC appearance while Hunter-Reay teamed with Mexican rally driver Benito Guerra to form Teams Americas in 2012. Hunter-Reay won two of six races in 2012 defeating David Coulthard in the Nations Cup and Kazuya Oshima in the Race of Champions.

The other American competitor is back-to-back Stadium Super Trucks champion, IndyCar race winner, NASCAR race winner and sports car race winner Robby Gordon who will join 2014 World Touring Car champion Argentine José María López to form Team Americas. Gordon ran in the 2001 where he set the course record on the Gran Canaria course and led the United States to a semifinal appearance with teammates Shaun Palmer and Rhys Millen. López won ten of 23 WTCC races in 2014 and won the title over four-time WTCC champion and Citroën teammate Yvan Muller.

David Coulthard returns to ROC and will be joined by Williams test driver Susie Wolff, the first female competitor in the history of ROC. They will represent the United Kingdom. Coulthard will be making his ninth ROC appearance. The Scotsman's best ROC performance was in 2008 when he made the finals before being defeated by Sébastien Loeb 2-1 in the finals. Coulthard went to the semifinals in the 2012 Race of Champions before losing to Tom Kristensen.

Fresh off his record sixth V8 Supercars championship, Jamie Whincup returns to ROC to represent Australia and he will be joined by five-time 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan. Whincup and Doohan paired in 2012 where they went to the semifinals of the Nations Cup before being eliminated by the dominate German pairing of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. Whincup failed to get out of the group stage of the Race of Champions in 2012 while Doohan advance to the quarterfinals before losing to Schumacher.

Tom Kristensen will make his 13th consecutive and possibly final ROC appearance as the Dane announced his retirement prior to the final round of the FIA WEC event last month. Kristensen won the 2005 Nations Cup for Scandinavia paired with Swede Mattias Ekström and his finished runner-up in the Race of Champions in the last two editions, losing to Sébastien Ogier 2-0 in 2011 and to Grosjean 2-0 in 2012. Kristensen will be joined by 2003 World Rally champion and this year's World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg to form Team Nordic. Solberg will make his first ROC appearance in seven years. Petter and brother Henning made it to the Nations Cup semifinals that year while Petter lost to Coulthard in the first round of the Race of Champions.

GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer and the youngest winner in DTM history and Mercedes F1 test driver Pascal Wehrlein will both make their ROC debuts in Barbados. The Brit and German form Team Young Stars in the Nations Cup.

The Nations Cup will take place at noon local time (11:00 a.m. ET) on Saturday while the Race of Champions will take place at the same time on Sunday.

In the Nations Cup Group Stage, France will be in Group A alongside Team Nordic, Team Americas and Team Young Stars.

Group B will be comprised of Australia, United Kingdom, Barbados and the United States.

For the Race of Champions Group Stage, Grosjean will be in Group A alongside Coulthard both Australians, Whincup and Doohan.

Group B will feature Solberg, Busch, Wolff and the fastest driver from Team Barbados.

Group C is comprised of López, Gordon, Ocon and the winner of ROC Caribbean, an event that will occur after the Nations Cup on Saturday.

Group D will see Kristensen joined by Hunter-Reay, Palmer and Wehrlein.

ROC Caribbean participants include Watson and Skeete representing Barbados; Doug Gore and Jeffery Panton representing Jamaica; Kristian Jeffery and Mark Vieira representing Guyana and Franklyn Boodram and David Coehlo representing Trinidad and Tobago.

Cars that will be used for this year's competition are the ROC buggy, Ariel Atom, Audi R8 LMS, a stock car and Stadium Super Trucks.

A European driver has won every edition of Race of Champions. Former World Rally champion Didier Auriol has the most Race of Champions titles with four. Sébastien Loeb won three times as did Mattias Ekström. Stig Blomqvist and Juha Kankkunen each won the ROC twice. Eleven drivers have won the ROC one time.

Finland and France have each produced five different ROC winners (Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen, Harri Rovanperä, Marcus Grönholm and Hekki Kovalainen for Finland and Auriol, Loeb, François Delecour, Ogier and Grosjean for France). The only other nation to produce multiple ROC winners is Sweden (Ekström and Blomqvist). Italy (Andrea Aghini), Spain (Carlos Sainz), the United Kingdom (Colin McRae) and Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque) are the other four nations to produce ROC winners.

The last six Nations Cups have been won by Germany. Finland was the last country prior to the German dominance to win the Nations Cups when Hekki Kovalainen and Marcus Grönholm held off Travis Pastrana who was representing the United States solo in 2006. Finland won the inaugural Nations Cup in 1999. France is the only other nation with multiple Nations Cups as Regis Laconi, Yvan Muller and Gilles Panizzi won in 2000 and Loeb and Jean Alesi won in 2004.

Scandinavia won the 2005 Nations Cup with Kristensen and Ekström as representative. An All-Star team featuring Cristiano da Matta (Brazil), Fonsi Nieto (Spain) and Panizzi won the 2003 Nations Cup. The United States won the 2002 Nations Cup being represented by Colin Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Spain won the 2001 Nations Cup with Jesús Puras, Rubén Xaus and Fernando Alonso.

Over/Unders

1. Over or Under: 1.5 drivers scoring their first points of the Formula E season at Punta del Este?

2. Over or Under: 23.5 minutes in the pit lane for the winners of the Gulf 12 Hours?

3. Over or Under: 0.5 Americans in the knockout round of the Race of Champions?

Last Week's Over/Unders

1. Under: Scott McLaughlin finished third for Volvo in race two at Homebush, the only international make to score a podium.

2. Under: Four laps separated the overall winning OAK Racing Morgan and GT winning Clearwater Racing Ferrari at Sepang?

3. Under: Zero cars completed 700 laps at Thunderhill?

Predictions
1. Nicolas Prost does not win pole position for the Punta del Este round of Formula E.
2. Whoever wins part one of the Gulf 12 Hours does not win the Gulf 12 Hours overall.
3. A European driver does not win the Race of Champions.

Last Week's Predictions
1. Craig Lowndes finishes ahead of Mark Winterbottom in the final championship standings (Wrong. Lowndes finished fourth in the championship, Winterbottom finished third).
2. OAK Racing completes the perfect season (Correct).
3. One of the 12 teams I featured above wins at least their class at Thunderhill (Correct as Davidson Racing won overall).
Overall: 2/3. Running Tally: 36.5/65