2025 Sports Car Predictions

We will end this week looking into the sports car world as we have 2025 coming more into focus with each passing second. For the sports car world, competition comes quickly after the calendar flips. It does not take look for us to get into big endurance races from all across the globe. There always seems to be something new in sports car racing, and that will be the case again with the introduction of the Aston Martin Valkyrie program. Aston Martin aside, there are plenty of things to watch across a variety of categories.

FIA World Endurance Championships

1. The pole-sitter will be classified in at least seven of eight races

The fastest qualifier is usually a good car. It might not win all the time, but it is good. It is expected to be competitive. You are more likely to win from pole position than from last place, even in WEC's Hypercar class, which does not feature the greatest number of entries.

However, in 2024, the pole-sitter failed to finish in three of eight WEC races. Because WEC isn't the longest season, three retirements is quite a lot. I think there will be a correction in 2025. We are not going to see the pole-sitter fail to be running as often as we did this past season. 

I will leave the door open that in at least one race the pole-sitter falls out of a race, but not more than that.

2. At least two manufacturers that did not win in LMGT3 in 2024 do win in 2025

The first year with GT3 cars in WEC was rather successful. Four manufacturers were victorious. It should be noted that rather coincidentally that all four winners were past participants in WEC's GTE class. Not sure if there is any correlation but it is a note. 

While four manufacturers won, five did not. Lamborghini, McLaren, Chevrolet, Ford and Lexus all went winless. Lamborghini will not be back, but Mercedes-AMG enters the championship in its place. Those five other manufacturers combined for five podium finishes. Only one of those was a runner-up result. 

At least two new manufacturers win in 2025. TF Sport's Corvettes went second and third in the Bahrain finale. Mercedes-AMG has yet to find a GT3 series it does not win in. Lexus should be competitive. McLaren will have a good shot at a win. Things will change this season.

3. Each Cadillac entry will get a podium finish

In its final season with Chip Ganassi Racing running the program, Cadillac’s best finish was a fourth in Austin. With Team Jota taking over, Cadillac will have two entries in the world championship. The #12 Cadillac V-Series.R will have Sébastien Bourdais, Alex Lynn and Jenson Button behind the wheel. Earl Bamber, Norman Nato and Will Stevens will drive the #38 Cadillac.

Team Jota won at Spa-Francorchamps with the Porsche 963, and the #12 entry was the sixth-best in the championship. 

Cadillac had a good 2023 season in WEC. Its one entry was fifth in the championship. Last year, Cadillac scored 42 points over the eight races, though it won pole position in Fuji. In IMSA, Cadillac has been able to win endurance races and a championship. That success has not translated to WEC yet.

It might not be a championship, but Cadillac should be a little more competitive and it will have two capable entries to get results. Both will shine at times in 2025.

4. There will be at least two overall winners with a driver winning in his home country

Last year, no WEC race featured a victorious native-son overall. The previous two seasons had seen home country winners. Both of those were at Fuji with Ryō Hirakawa in 2022 and Kamui Kobayashi in 2023. Fun fact, the last three home country winners have not been European. Gustavo Menezes won with Rebellion Racing at Austin in 2020. The last European driver to win a race at home was Mike Conway with Toyota in the season opener for the 2019-20 super season at Silverstone. 

While there are eight races on the 2025 WEC calendar, only four will likely feature a natives in the Hypercar class. We are not going to see a Qatari nor a Bahraini. There is a good chance there will not be an American nor a Brazilian either. I like the chances at the other four races.

One, Toyota is going to be competitive at Fuji. Ferrari is a good option to win at Imola. Porsche has two French drivers, one in each of its entries and Porsche has this things with winning at Le Mans. That is also without taking into consideration the two French drivers at Cadillac, four French drivers at Alpine and at least one with possibly more French drivers at Peugeot. Of the 18 full-time Hypercar entries, at least seven will have a French driver. The Vanthoor brothers represent Belgium in the top class and it just so happens there is a race at Spa-Francorchamps.

We had no home winners in 2024. We will see at least two in 2025.

IMSA

5. The overall pole-sitter will win consecutive races at some point

Entering 2025, IMSA has not had a winner from pole position in GTP in 12 consecutive races. The most recent victory was with Meyer Shank Racing at Mosport in 2023. Earlier in 2023 was the most recent time IMSA saw consecutive races won from pole position. That was with Meyer Shank Racing with its illegal tire pressures at Daytona and then with Whelen Racing at Sebring. 

A year after no winners from pole position, IMSA will have one occasions where the overall pole-sitter will win consecutive races.

6. At least three LMP2 races feature a class winner with a Formula One-experienced driver

The LMP2 class will feature a stout collection of drivers in 2025. With a few driver changes and manufacturer alliances changing in the GTP class, LMP2 is much stronger on the professional front, especially with drivers with Formula One experience.

Sébastien Bourdais moves to LMP2 with the Cadillac program leaving Chip Ganassi Racing for Wayne Taylor Racing. Bourdais will be with Tower Motorsports. Pietro Fittipaldi is driving for Pratt Miller Motorsports as the PMM joins LMP2. Fittipaldi made two Formula One starts in 2020. Paul di Resta will be back with United Autosports. Felipe Massa will be back for the 24 Hours of Daytona with Riley Motorsports.

LMP2 will be a sneaky good class and we will see top drivers lead teams to victories. There will be a spell where we see those with history on the grand prix grid.

7. The top three in the GTD Pro Endurance Cup championship will all be full-time entries

In 2024, the top three entries in GTD Pro in the Endurance Cup were the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW (43 points), the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari (41 points) and the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini (39 points). Risi and Iron Lynx were Endurance Cup-only teams. Risi won the 24 Hours of Daytona and Iron Lynx won at Petit Le Mans.

In 2025, GTD Pro will see the top three in the Endurance Cup all be full-time entries, not a complete reverse from this past season, but a big change nonetheless. There are plenty of capable full-time teams in GTD Pro. They will be tough to beat in the endurance races. The endurance-only teams will hold their own, but they will not be as strong as they were in 2024.

8. Renger van der Zande's winning streak ends at eight consecutive seasons

Perhaps this should not be as big of a surprise, but van der Zande has won an IMSA race overall in eight consecutive seasons. He has also won in 11 consecutive seasons after winning in the Prototype Challenge for three consecutive years. 

As harsh as its sounds, I think van der Zande comes up short in 2025. After seven seasons with Cadillac, van der Zande moves to Acura with Meyer Shank Racing. We know MSR is a capable team and it knows the Acura ARX-06, but this is MSR returning after a year away and it is now a two-car team. The #93 Acura, van der Zande's car, is effectively the new team. Nick Yelloly joins from BMW to round out the program.

This does not feel as strong of an entry as we have seen van der Zande in over the last few seasons. It will be tough for it to be the top Acura let alone the best GTP car period. GTP is a tough class, and we just saw the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac go winless in 2024 with Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. If Derani can go winless in a season, van der Zande can go winless in a season. 

All good things must come to an end, and I think we will see something not seen since 2016.

European Le Mans Series

9. At least two different Americans win a race

American drivers combined to win zero races in ELMS last season. For 2025, there are already six Americans confirmed for ELMS participation. 

In LMP2, Logan Sargeant will be with IDEC Sport. Rodrigo Sales and P.J. Hyett will each be in pro-am LMP2 entries with TDS Racing and AO by TF respectively. Wyatt Brichacek is going to be in LMP3 with DKR Engineering. Gustavo Menezes will return to full-time competition with an Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG in LMGT3. Scott Noble will drive a Ferrari for JMW Motorsport. 

The numbers are there. Sargeant is the favorite. It will be tough for Sales and Hyett to win overall as a pro-am in LMP2, but it is not out of the question. Menezes is making a change to GT racing after years in prototypes. However, I think we will see more American winners.

10. LMGT3 will have different British drivers win in consecutive races

Duncan Cameron won at Circuit Paul Ricard with Spirit of Race Ferrari in the LMGT3 class. It was the only victory for a British driver in the LMGT3 class. 

ELMS has not had British winners in consecutive races in the GT class since the first two races of the 2018 season. Liam Griffin and Alex MacDowall won at Circuit Paul Ricard. Cameron then won at Monza.

Cameron will be back in LMGT3 in 2025, but ELMS' GT class, but there will be a few other Brits in the class. Ben Tuck and Andrew Gilbert will each be in a Kessel Racing entry. Michael Wainwright is set for a  ride with GR Racing. There are also a number of open seats that could be occupied by British drivers. If Cameron wins in 2025, he will not be the only one and there will be another Brit not too far behind.

Other

11. The closest finish in an Intercontinental GT Challenge race will be greater than four seconds 

IGTC does have a knack for close races. 

The Nürburgring 24 Hour was decided by 0.603 seconds, and that wasn't even the closest race in the 2024 IGTC season! The Indianapolis 8 Hours saw Team WRT BMW win by 0.260 seconds over the Wright Motorsports Porsche. Even the Bathurst 12 Hour was decided by just over 2.6 seconds. 

After a year of close finishes, we are going to see a year for fewer close finishes. Four seconds is close, but that will be the closest it gets in 2025. 

The upcoming IGTC season will see the return of the Suzuka 1000km. There will be one more chance for a close finish, but I don't think they will be as close as we saw in 2024.

12. Ben Barnicoat will win a proper class on at least three different continents in at least two different championships

Barnicoat is a bit of an under-appreciated driver, but he has been rather successful with the Lexus program  in IMSA. For 2025, we will see Barnicoat move to Lexus' WEC program with Akkodis ASP Team.

It is not clear how much Barnicoat will run in IMSA, but he has won seven races in three full seasons in IMSA. He could lead Lexus to WEC glory to the surprise of no one. Whether or not Barnicoat is full-time in both championships or an endurance driver in IMSA, he is going to be competing in multiple series, and I believe he will be winning in multiple series as well in multiple corners of the globe.

We are beyond halfway in our 2025 predictions. With Formula One and NASCAR also in the bag, we will have some two-wheel predictions come Monday.

2021 Motorsports Christmas List

Christmas is coming up this weekend and we must hand out some presents! Many had better years in 2021 than 2020, but everyone needs something to make their lives a little better. Though life might still be unsettled, this is a chance to find some joy and celebrate what we have. 

There are many people who need something, whether they know it or not, whether they will say they need it or not say a thing. This is our chance to give out items even if they were not asked for. Why wait any longer? 

Let's see what is around the Christmas tree!

To Kyle Larson: People not asking him if he is going to run the Indianapolis 500. Come on, people! The answer is no.

To Jimmie Johnson: Two co-drivers for an IMSA Endurance Cup effort. How about Joey Hand and Juan Pablo Montoya?

To Álex Palou: Just a sliver of notoriety in the United States. He may be from Spain, but Palou is one of the most affectionate drivers in the world and IndyCar should not let his nationality be a deterrent. He has the personality the series needs from a top driver.

To Scott Dixon: A moratorium on people writing the "Is Scott Dixon Done?" articles and columns for at least all of 2022.

To Tony Kanaan: A Ganassi fifth car for all the ovals. Let's give him one final trip to Texas, Iowa and Gateway.

To Marcus Ericsson: A few more rabbit's feet, because he can't count on being any luckier in 2022 than he was in 2021.

To Alexander Rossi: A few IndyCar victories, just to shut people up. 

To Colton Herta: Timely cautions in his favor and sturdy driveshafts.

To Hélio Castroneves: A three-place bump to his road/street course qualifying results. He is going to need it. 

To Simon Pagenaud: No mistakes doing laundry now that he will be with Meyer Shank Racing and have more pink apparel. 

To Sébastien Bourdais: A four-year commitment that Chip Ganassi Racing will take him to Le Mans starting in 2023 with LMDh.

To Romain Grosjean: DHL sponsorship for the next five years.

To Kyle Kirkwood: A guarantee that he will spend at least the next five years in IndyCar and most of those years will to be with A.J. Foyt Racing. 

To Oliver Askew: Respectable Formula E results and a part-time IndyCar seat. 

To Patricio O'Ward: Justifiable promotion in Mexico and to the Hispanic-American population. IndyCar seriously does not understand what a gem O'Ward is and is going to blow growing its fanbase.

To Felix Rosenqivst: His 2019 IndyCar season in a bottle.

To Josef Newgarden: No opening lap spins.

To Will Power: Somehow, he needs fewer mechanical issues again this year! 

To Will Power and Scott McLaughlin: A Bathurst 1000 wild card entry.

To Scott McLaughlin: Better friends taking him to NFL games.

To Rinus VeeKay: More consistent results.

To J.R. Hildebrand: A chance in the IndyCar broadcast booth.

To James Hinchcliffe: A GTD-Pro ride with Pfaff Motorsports. If there is any driver that should drive a plaid Porsche, isn't it Hinchcliffe?

To Jack Harvey: A box of chocolates. He is just a good guy. He deserves some sweets. 

To Graham Rahal: A few days off at home.

To Christian Lundgaard: A stomach strong enough to handle American cuisine, especially if he lives in Indiana.

To Callum Ilott: Formula One teams not forgetting he exists.

To David Malukas: A rookie season that matches some of Dale Coyne's other recent rookies.

To Takuma Sato: A trip to Le Mans with the Acura LMDh program. 

To Charlie Kimball: A car specifically built and trimmed for the Indianapolis 500.

To Mazda: Enough funding to continue in IMSA in 2022 and pursue an LMDh program.

To Corvette: Favorable Balance of Performance in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

To Marc Márquez: Full fitness.

To the other three Honda MotoGP riders: A bike they can handle.

To Valentino Rossi: A GT3 program that includes starts at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Bathurst 12 Hour, 24 Hours of Spa and a European Le Mans Series GTE program to boot.

To KTM: Civility among its four MotoGP riders. Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández could be a dangerous teammate pairing and not for the right reasons.

To Fabio Quartararo: Better chest protectors. 

To Franco Morbidelli: All his bones remaining in one piece.

To Andrea Dovizioso: A comeback season for the history book.

To the motorcycle community: An Isle of Man TT. We have been waiting.

To Suzuki: Riders staying upright more often. 

To Darryn Binder: Better corner entry judgment. 

To Johann Zarco: His first career MotoGP victory. He deserves it. 

To Aprilia: The best of Maverick Viñales. 

To Jack Miller: No long-lap penalties.

To Francesco Bagnaia: Keeping the tires on the track when it matters most.

To MotoGP: A race at Barber Motorsports Park. This is going to be on this list every year until it happens. 

To Toprak Razgatlioglu: A MotoGP opportunity before too much time passes.

To Jonathan Rea: A MotoGP opportunity now. Who cares how old he is? Let's give him a shot!

To Liam Lawson: Better sportsmanship from his competitors.

To Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters: A return to Brands Hatch and a visit to Anderstrop, two of the races from the original 2020 schedule that didn't happen.

To Oscar Piastri: Alpine dropping some dough to get him a handful of IndyCar races. If Alpine is funding part of Christian Lundgaard's IndyCar program, the least it can do is get Piastri a few real races in 2022.

To Shane van Gisbergen: Safe bike rides.

To Brad Keselowski: Aspirin.

To Kevin Harvick: A victory with some help from teammate, maybe holding up a driver from a certain Chevrolet team. 

To Kyle Busch: Sponsorship that will keep him happy from 2023 onward.

To Denny Hamlin: A psychologist. 

To Bubba Wallace: Social media platforms going extinct. 

To Harrison Burton: No comparisons to his successor. 

To Joey Logano: Less than six months between victories.

To Kurt Busch: More sports car opportunities.

To Erik Jones: A larger bookshelf. 

To Daniel Hemric: A second NASCAR Grand National Series victory.

To Kaz Grala: A full-time NASCAR Grand National Series entry. If Landon Cassill is getting one, why not Grala? 

To Andy Lally: Ideal conditions in his handful of NASCAR starts.

To Gateway Motorsports Park: Its NASCAR Cup race being a night race.  

To Texas Motor Speedway: Starting over. I am serious. Let's bulldoze most of it, if not all of it, and try again. Let's take a year or two off and then come back in 2025 with a better racetrack. 

To Doug Coby: Full-time NASCAR Truck Series season with a few short track races in NASCAR's second division. 

To SRX: An even better second season but remaining true to work in season one. Keep it short, keep it on short tracks and attract a few more contemporary drivers and not as many retired out of race shape drivers.

To IMSA officials: A few new whistles because they swallow their previous ones during the final lap at Petit Le Mans.

To IMSA: A sensical points system.

To Ricky Taylor: Not being blocked at the least opportune time or at least getting the officials to call a block when he has been blocked.

To Jordan Taylor: A proper NASCAR Cup ride on road courses. It is bullshit it hasn't happened already.

To A.J. Allmendinger: Better results in October and November. February through September he has down pat. Just those two months.

To Virginia International Raceway: A return of IMSA's top prototype class.

To Mazda MX-5 Cup: A few races on network television. People would love it! 

To James Davison: A quality ride somewhere. Something that at least matches his talent.

To Formula One: Competent race control and fewer red flags.

Also To Formula One: Realizing sprint qualifying isn't as good as it is being made out to be.

To American Formula One fans: A television partner that brings its own Formula One analysis and does more than simulcast Sky Sports' coverage. It is good to have more voices in the room.

To NASCAR: Realizing it owns a short track, it is called Iowa Speedway, and giving that a Cup race.

To Indianapolis Raceway Park: A NASCAR Grand National Series race. By the way, how the fuck did we allow 11 years to go by between NASCAR national series races at IRP? How stupid are the people in charge that they let such a thing happen? Morons. 

To Dane Cameron: More respect for his talent level.

To Felipe Nasr: A one-off IndyCar race with Team Penske at Road America.

To JDC-Miller Motorsports: More than one good race. 

To Jack Hawksworth: Assigned as the lead driver for Toyota's IndyCar return.

To Bill Aubelen and Robby Foley: Contact that goes in their favor. 

To Tommy Milner: No one ever calling him Tommy Milner, Jr. 

To Chip Ganassi Racing's sports car program: No tire punctures in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

To Kamui Kobayashi: A Super Formula race victory.

To Gabby Chaves: Reminders to the top teams in Daytona Prototype international and IndyCar that he still exists. 

To Spencer Pigot: The same thing Gabby Chaves is getting. 

To FIA World Endurance Championship: Compelling racing in its professional classes.

To Peugeot: Counterpunches that land on Toyota.

To Ferrari: No delays or hiccups in its Hypercar development.

To Gustavo Menezes: Becoming the first American to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall since 1996. 

To Glickenhaus: A full-time WEC effort.

To Pipo Derani: A full FIA World Endurance Championship season along with his full IMSA season.

To the Indianapolis 8 Hours: Roger Penske embracing it. Also, America's top GT3 teams embracing it as well. 

To Team WRT: Success in the United States.

To SportsCar 365: A revival of The Double Stint podcast. It was quite a good show, an informative and concise chat about sports car racing each week. 

To Ryan Hunter-Reay: One final full season in IndyCar.

To Ed Carpenter: Committing to two full-time drivers for his IndyCar team while accepting an oval-only or Indianapolis 500-only program for himself.

To Marco Andretti: More races, but if he is happy doing what he is doing, he could re-gift those to someone else.

To Ernie Francis, Jr.: Five-year commitment to open-wheel racing.

To Kaulig Racing; A guarantee that all sponsorship payment checks clear.

To Martin Truex, Jr. and Christopher Bell: Soft landing spots for whenever either is kick out of Joe Gibbs Racing for Ty Gibbs. 

To Ty Gibbs: A year off to see the world, talk to some different people, see some different cultures, learn a few things. 

To John Hunter Nemechek: Someone at Toyota looking out for him. 

To Austin Cindric: A deep playoff run.

To Chase Briscoe: A firm understanding of NASCAR's cutting the course rules on road courses, because he is the only one who seemed not to understand it. 

To Alex Bowman: More top ten finishes.

To Ryan Blaney: A better sense of humor. 

To Tyler Reddick: A move to a bigger and better team.

To Road Atlanta: A NASCAR weekend. We don't need a second weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

To Dover International Speedway: A promise that Speedway Motorsports, Inc. doesn't screw it up. 

To World Rally Championship: A close championship possibly involving multiple drivers named Sébastien.

To Spa-Francorchamps: Ten years without rain on Belgian Grand Prix race day. 

To Max Verstappen: Humility. 

To Lewis Hamilton: A few timely virtual safety cars.

To Fernando Alonso: Esteban Ocon coming to his aid. 

To Daniel Ricciardo: That better second year he has regularly had.

To Yuki Tsunoda: Acceptance that his Formula One career could be over before he is 23 years old.

To Lando Norris: Intuition to stop for wet weather tires a lap before everyone else. 

To Nicholas Latifi: Anonymity. 

To Kimi Räikkönen: Peace and quiet. 

To Pietro Fittipaldi: A full-time ride somewhere! Stop wasting your time as a Formula One reserve driver for a team that will never give you the full race seat! 

To Race of Champions: Kyle Larson blowing off the Clash to race on ice in Sweden and Lewis Hamilton deciding he needs a Swedish holiday as well and competes. 

To Formula E: A compelling championship that does not require a convoluted qualifying format.

To Oliver Turvey: Any ride he wants in the world of motorsports. He cannot be thrilled running at the back for NIO in every race.

Also To Oliver Turvey: Patience with his new teammate.

To Mitch Evans: Perfect launches from every start next season.

To New Zealand: An FIA Grade 1 circuit, but one with legitimate grass runoff, that can host Formula One, WEC, IndyCar and any other major motorsports series. It deserves it. 

To Carlos Sainz, Jr.: Long-term commitment from Ferrari. How is this guy already on the fence? And he beat Charles Leclerc in the championship! 

To George Russell: Some thick skin. 

To Sergio Pérez: His best race coming in Mexico City. 

To Valtteri Bottas: More rallying opportunities.

To Sebastien Vettel: Sufficient fuel levels the next time he finishes on the podium. 

To Mick Schumacher: A few good days that go with his talent. 

To Every Formula One Circuit: Adequate grass runoff on the edge of the circuit. 

To the Bathurst 12 Hour: A healthy grid with drivers from all around the globe. 

To Supercars: Fewer border restrictions.

To Canada: A Canadian Grand Prix. We are missing Montreal. 

To Super Formula: A few more international drivers. 

To Phillip Island: MotoGP and World Superbike weekends. Another track that has been gone for too long due to the pandemic.   

To the inaugural Miami Grand Prix: Suitable support races. North American grand prix weekends have underwhelming support races. We can do so much better.

To the Bahrain Grand Prix: Moving to the perimeter circuit. Mind as well do something different. 

To the Asian Le Mans Series: A return to the Pacific region. 

To Nyck de Vries: A Formula One ride so the world can have a Dutchman to root for.

To Fontana: Remaining a two-mile oval. It sounds like everyone is getting cold feet over the re-configuration. Just leave it how it is then. Plus, I don't think NASCAR know what it wants to do. 

To Alex Zanardi: A full recovery.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. What an odd year this has been? The quintessential example of two steps forward and one step back. We have come a long way from last Christmas, and yet this Christmas feels like it has circled back to where we were a year ago. This year had many positives. It felt more normal, arguably was close to normal, but we didn't quite get fully back there. It was better than 2020, but that wasn't going to be that hard to accomplish. And yet here we are, uncertain and clueless about what will happen next. 

But there is plenty to be encouraged about and 2022 should be better. Positivity will take us a long way. Most importantly, stay safe, stay healthy and enjoy this time with friends and family.  

Best of the Month: November 2021

We are down to the final month of the year. November brought us champions in NASCAR, IMSA, World Superbike, World Touring Car Cup and Super GT. Now, there are only a few pieces of hardware left to hand out and then we will get a break, but competition will return soon enough. We can look toward the New Year later, but it is almost here.

Best of the Year

We are at the end of the year, and this is the final best of the month, as December will be filled with 2022 predictions and an award show. I thought this would be a great time to look at some of the highlights of the year, the little things that might have been missed. 

I have gone over the last 11 months and picked out two bright spots to highlight. 

January

Midweek Supercross races: With the Supercross season being slightly delayed and with the pandemic restrictions in affect, Supercross ran a few condensed shows with three races in eight days, a Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday schedule. 

It was just nice to have competition back, but it was also a different way to spend a Tuesday night. It is likely midweek Supercross races will not return, but they could work. These races are at stadiums, people are used to attending baseball games on Tuesday nights. Television could work something out. I don't think it has to be a regular thing, but one or two events have promise.

24 Hours of Daytona: It felt normal to have the 24 Hours of Daytona on its scheduled weekend. Plenty of races had been moved around at the start of 2021. Daytona was far enough ahead of time that it could be scheduled for its normal weekend and take place. 

The only change was the Roar test moved to the weekend before instead of at the start of the month, but it makes sense to have the 24 Hours of Daytona be ten days at the track than to have a three-day weekend at the start of the month and then a five-day weekend at the end of the month. The consecutive weekends will stay in place for 2022 and that is a good thing.

February

Condensed Speedweeks: Staying in Daytona, NASCAR changed its Speedweeks schedule, and it wasn't even a week. Instead of opening on the weekend before the Daytona 500, the Clash opened the festivities on Tuesday, Daytona 500 qualifying was held on Wednesday, the Daytona 500 qualifying races were on Thursday with the Truck race Friday, Grand National Series race Saturday and Cup race Sunday. 

It was six consecutive days of on-track action. Every day had a meaningful event. Of course, that changes in 2022 with the Clash moving to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum two weeks prior to the Daytona 500. I am fine with the Clash moving to the LA Memorial Coliseum and using it as a test event at a stadium. It is a non-championship race. It doesn't matter. If it isn't good, we can move on to something else, but if there was a year to run the Clash on the Daytona road course, it was this one with the new car. 

I am not sure what a temporary quarter-mile oval will show us with the new car. NASCAR will not race at a track this small and this flat during the season. The Daytona road course would at least give us a taste of what to expect in the six road course races this season and there is expected improvement on road courses with these new cars.

Formula E season opener: Formula E opened its season with a pair of night races in Saudi Arabia and the season started with two thrilling races. Nyck de Vries dominated the first race, leading lights to flag, but there were some great battles in the back half of the points.

But race two stood out. Sam Bird and Robin Frijns traded the lead. António Félix da Costa climbed his way to a podium spot. De Vries started 20th and finished ninth. It was a lively race and set the tone for the season.

March

Shane van Gisbergen: There are some drivers that are just on it, and van Gisbergen had a showing during the month of March. He already swept the Supercars season opener from the Mount Panorama Circuit, but he suffered a broken collarbone in a cycling accident after the season opener. 

However, van Gisbergen did not miss a round and competed at Sandown a week later, sweeping the races and completing one of the passes of the season on his way to victory in the first race in the damp. It was a sign of the season to come.

Sonoma in green: I think because Sonoma's big events have been in summer, whether it is NASCAR in June, the NHRA in July or IndyCar in August or September, we have this picture of a dry, dusty place that is not as appealing, but when it hosts a race in March, as what happened this year with GT World Challenge America, it is one of the most beautiful circuits in the world. 

I think NASCAR should move its Sonoma race to March with all the other West Coast races. It doesn't make sense to run Sonoma in June between Gateway and Nashville. I also like a road course early in the season, which we had in 2021 with the Daytona road course as the second race filling in for Fontana. In 2022, Austin will be the sixth race of the year, which is fine considering a sixth of the schedule is road courses, but NASCAR should take advantage of Sonoma in March and ease the travel for the teams. Austin would be better in May anyway. 

April

Racetracks hosting Supercross events: Daytona is normally the only racetrack that hosts a Supercross round with dirt spread on its front straightaway, but Atlanta joined the club and it held a triple-header in April. Each race was pretty good and played a crucial role in the championship. 

I like racetracks because there is more space for the Supercross track. It allows for faster racetracks. Some stadiums are too tight, and the courses can be too choppy. Other tracks have hosted Supercross before, including Charlotte and Talladega. Supercross has a good thing going in stadiums, but Atlanta will return to the Supercross schedule in 2022 and I think two or three other tracks could host rounds. 

Texas Motor Speedway might have the time in 2023 if IndyCar doesn't return. Its spring schedule will be quite open. It would be cool if Bristol could host a round. That might be too tight, but if Bristol keeps doing a dirt race, it will be perfectly set up for a Supercross round. It will just need to add the jumps.

Formula E at real racetracks: Though there was some controversy, the Formula E races at Valencia were pretty good and isn't it funny that Formula E put on a good show at course meant for race cars? Weird. 

Mexico City is the same way, and Puebla, another purpose-built racetrack was just as good this year. Formula E will stick to the street circuits, but I sense if it starts running out of cities, it will open up to more purpose-built tracks. We are approaching the tenth Formula E season. It will be interesting to see how the series evolves in its second decade.

May

Bumping: There were 35 cars entered for the Indianapolis 500 and bumping makes the event better. Everyone must raise their game. Every year someone we do not expect is in the fight to make the show. 

Indianapolis 500 qualifying has evolved and though it isn't what it was during the glory days, I think the current set up is good. This year we had Team Penske's Will Power, a Penske-supported car for Simona de Silvestro, Indianapolis 500 veteran Sage Karam, a fourth Foyt car for Charlie Kimball and a new team with RC Enerson fighting for the final three spots. 

None of them felt safe. Power and Penske struggled for qualifying speed. De Silvestro never looked great, but never appeared to be in danger during practice. Karam was rolling the dice for a Dreyer & Reinbold Racing again. Kimball was slow in a car that was used in the road course race the weekend before. Enerson needed a miracle. 

No one is guaranteed a spot. It doesn't matter how many races you have won or how many people know your name. You need to make the race based on your qualifying time.

Indianapolis 500: It wasn't a full crowd, but after one Indianapolis 500 in August behind closed doors, this year's race was the reset we needed. We now know what 135,000 people look like at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But it felt like a full house. It felt like that when Conor Daly took the lead and in the closing laps with three cars in the battle. 

After everything we went through, the reward was a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner. It had been 30 years since Rick Mears did it. For a generation, this will their story, their four-time winner. We will have 60 years of stories thanks to Hélio Castroneves until a fifth member joins the club. 

June

Belle Isle: Next year will be the final Belle Isle race, but we need to appreciate the track. It had its detractors, but since 2013, it became a suitable street course. It expanded back to the longer course. It was repaved but it quickly wore down. And there were some strong races at the track. This year's doubleheader was memorable for multiple races, but the Sunday race was a strong example of what Belle Isle became. 

It was tire compound gamble, alternate tires versus primary tires in the closing stint and whether one could last longer than the other. Josef Newgarden tried his best to hold on. If the cautions did not fall late, Colton Herta might have been on top, but the race allowed Patricio O'Ward to charge from fifth to first. 

I am not sure how the downtown Detroit circuit will be. It honestly looks boring. I just hope IndyCar isn't trading away a good thing for something that is shiny but has no substance.

Marc Márquez at Sachsenring: Death, taxes, and Marc Márquez winning at the Sachsenring. The Spaniard has a fondness for Germany, but he entered the German Grand Prix without a victory this season. Márquez missed the opening two rounds as he continued to recover from his arm injury. He had a few good chances but gave away a race in the wet at Le Mans. If there was any place for Márquez to show he has still got it, it was Germany. 

Sure enough, Márquez dominated, from fifth on the grid no less and he led every lap. It was Márquez's 11th consecutive Germany victory. He has not stood on the top step of the podium since 2009 in 125cc. He is two behind Giacomo Agostini's record of 13 German Grand Prix victories. This might not have been the season Márquez had hoped for, but a German victory was enough to show he still has it. 

July

Friday Evening IMSA: Hopefully one of IMSA's final make up races, IMSA remained at Watkins Glen after the 6 Hours of the Glen to run a normal two-hour and 40-minute race on the following Friday evening. It reminded me of those days when Grand-Am would run Friday evening of the NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glen or the Montreal weekend. 

I understand why IMSA doesn't run with NASCAR anymore, but those Friday night races were fun shows, and I don't think we appreciated what those weekends were back in the day. Sports car racing was broken up and some didn't like that Grand-Am was a support race to NASCAR, but it was a full weekend and fans got to see multiple top categories racing on the same weekend at the same track. We even saw a few NASCAR guys from in IMSA and some IMSA guys would run as road course ringers in the Cup race.

Now everyone wants to share weekends. IndyCar and NASCAR are now sharing weekends. If it were to return in 2022, everyone would go nuts if IMSA was running with NASCAR at Austin or Road America. Maybe one weekend a year would work. I would like to see NASCAR run at Road Atlanta. Perhaps it could be a sprint weekend with a sprint race for IMSA and then a NASCAR race.

Marco Andretti wins at Slinger: The Superstar Racing Experience was an overall success but one of the highlights of the season was the Slinger Speedway round was arguably the best of the season and it featured a four-way fight between Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Slinger Nationals winner Luke Fenhaus and Andretti.

Andretti won the opening heat and started on the front row for the feature with Fenhaus. Andretti led early but Fenhaus and Stewart ended up occupying the top position for most of the night. Andretti stayed in touch with Labonte. A few late cautions bunched the field and allowed Andretti to get to second with ten laps to go. There was a green-white-checkered finish and in the two-lap dash, Andretti came out on top with Stewart in third.

For Andretti, it was his first victory in just over two years. It might not have been an IndyCar race or a major sports car race, but at a 1/4-mile oval against the local hero, Andretti pulled it out. Andretti did well in SRX, and it was nice to see him happy.

August

Olympic Break: I will admit, I loved the Olympic break that was taken this year. IndyCar and NASCAR were both off to allow broadcast partner NBC to show the Olympics without having to squeeze in races. Part of the Formula One summer break overlapped with the Olympics. MotoGP was off.

We need a break every now and then even during summer, when we believe motorsports should not take a break. We need to get away from it and do something different. There is an entire world out there that doesn't revolve around motorsports. 

Robin Miller's Final Weekend at the Speedway: The IndyCar/NASCAR combination weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was a sentimental weekend. Robin Miller had been battling cancer and had quite a fight in July. He stepped away from writing to focus on his health. 

However, Miller was good enough to pop out to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to see everyone at the track, and he got to see everyone from IndyCar and NASCAR. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America that weekend in a special ceremony. But it was a historic weekend when you look closer at the races.

Will Power won the IndyCar race, his 40th victory, the fifth driver to reach 40 IndyCar victories. It was the first NASCAR Cup race on the IMS road course, and it ended with A.J. Allmendinger scoring a surprise victory for Kaulig Racing in a part-time Cup program. Fittingly, Allmendinger dedicated the victory to Miller in his post-race interview. 

Ten days later, Miller passed away, aged 71. 

We are all navigating a world without Robin Miller. We are in good hands, but it tough when such a legend is no longer there. 

September

McLaren wins the Italian Grand Prix: The 2021 Formula One season had been crazy enough entering Monza, but Italy hosted the second sprint qualifying weekend. Valtteri Bottas won the race, but a power unit changed sent Bottas to the rear of the field. Max Verstappen inherited pole position with Daniel Ricciardo in second. 

Ricciardo took the lead from the start and a botched first pit stop for Verstappen knocked the Dutch driver down the order and in danger of falling behind Lewis Hamilton during the pit cycle. Hamilton made his pit stop and emerged ahead of Verstappen, but the two drivers would be side-by-side entering the chicane. Neither gave an inch and both ended the race in the gravel.

It allowed Ricciardo to take an easy victory with Lando Norris making it a McLaren 1-2. It was McLaren's first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and it was the first McLaren 1-2 since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. It had been a long time coming for McLaren and it has been the toughest nine years for the organization. It was great to see the team back on the top step. It could be a sign of brighter days ahead. 

Return of Long Beach: We weren't sure Long Beach would take place in 2021 when the season began. It had already been lost in 2020 when a new date and public gathering restrictions prevented it from happened. In 2021, it was moved from April to the final weekend in September in hopes of maximizing the crowd, but no one could be sure it would work out. 

The good news is the vaccine roll out allowed for eased restrictions and most races in the second half of the season were run with limited restrictions. Long Beach was able to take place. We had a good IMSA race and a fun IndyCar race where Colton Herta charged from 14th to first. The IndyCar championship finish was not the most thrilling we had ever seen, but it was great to be back at Long Beach and it was a great crowd even if it was limited. 

Long Beach returns to April in 2022, which is where it should be. This one season finale was nice, but we know what works with Long Beach. April is where it belongs. 

October

Indianapolis 8 Hours: People keep asking for an endurance race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway... well IMS has an endurance race, damn it! 

It might not be IMSA. It might not be the FIA World Endurance Championship. There are no prototypes, but the Intercontinental GT Challenge's Indianapolis 8 Hour is a fine event and this year's race broke out. There were 41 entries and attracted drivers from all over the world. This year's race was a little clunky with caution periods, but it was a thrilling finish. 

We need to embrace what we have, and we a respectable race in 2021. Many more American teams competed. A lot of notable names showed up. It is a different race with the eight-hour length. It is ok that it is a GT3/GT4 race that the SRO organizes. Let's turn this into a mid-autumn classic.

Friendly start times: Because of the pandemic, we haven't had many races around the globe due to travel restrictions and I was thinking about how I haven't had to stay up late or wake up early for any races on the other side of the globe in basically two years. 

October was always the month of Formula One's Asia-Pacific swing. There was always the Japanese Grand Prix, but then there was the Chinese Grand Prix for a period and then Korea and Malaysia. October would become the month of little sleep. MotoGP also runs in the Asia-Pacific region during October with races in Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Australia. 

I haven't minded the change, but it does have me wondering if it has changed my viewing habits. Will I get up for races like I once did, or will I settle to record the races and watch them first thing in the morning? Unless the schedule doesn't allow it, I always get up for a race. I will change my sleep schedule to watch a race. Will I continue to do that? I will have to wait until next year to find out.

November

Thursday Night Blunder: We are at the end of the season and the end of the season has brought idle time, which means we can fill it with meaningless events. In this case, the Dinner with Racers crew has revived the Thursday Night Blunder iRacing series, and it is a great source of weekly joy. 

In the simulated world, you can do the unthinkable, and so Dinner with Racers does it. Through three events, Thursday Night Blunder has had NASCAR stock cars circa 2009 versus IndyCars versus Formula Vees around the generic iRacing Superspeedway, then it ran the McLaren F1 car versus GT3 cars versus jumpy trucks around the Irwindale Speedway Figure-Eight, and then it held an all-Formula Vee race around the combined Monza circuit, road course and oval, no chicanes on the road course.

There is no reason these events need to be overly serious. Make it crazy. Make it unpredictable. Fill the track with chaos and enjoy the show.

Thanksgiving: Like the Olympic break, I like Thanksgiving weekend. It is normally a down weekend for motorsports. Sometimes there is a Formula One race, but NASCAR is finished, IndyCar has been off for months, MotoGP is set, and we can start looking to the New Year and not feel overeager. 

There are a few events left, just enough to hold you over, but it is good to get some time off. There are other things to spend time on. We can live without motorsports, and it will be waiting for us when it is ready. 

December Preview

There are a few key events to end December: The final two Formula One races and the Bathurst 1000

It is Max Verstappen versus Lewis Hamilton for the World Drivers' Championship. Verstappen holds the eight-point championship lead over Hamilton. Verstappen could clinch the world championship at Saudi Arabia. There are four clinching scenarios:

Verstappen victory with fastest lap with Hamilton finished sixth or worse. 

Verstappen victory without fastest lap with Hamilton seventh or worse. 

Verstappen finishes second with fastest lap with Hamilton finishing tenth or worse. 

Verstappen finishes second without fastest lap with Hamilton finishing outside the top ten. 

The title could also go to the wire, which would be for the first time since 2016 and it would be the 30th time the championship was decided in the final race. 

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At Bathurst, the Supercars championship is already decided. Shane van Gisbergen clinched it in the penultimate round at Sydney Motorsports Park. 

Van Gisbergen won the Bathurst 1000 last year with Garth Tander and they could become the first drivers to win consecutive Bathurst 1000s since Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup won three consecutive years from 2006-08. Tander could become the seventh driver with five Bathurst 1000 victories. 

Speaking of Whincup, it will be his final race as a full-time Supercars driver. The 38-year-old has made 526 Supercars starts, won seven championship and 124 races. He is also looking for his fifth Bathurst 1000 victory, but he has not won The Great Race since 2012. Whincup is second in the championship behind his Tripe Eight Race Engineering teammate. Craig Lowndes is back as Whincup's co-driver and Lowndes is looking for his eighth Bathurst 1000 victory. 

Will Davison is the top Ford in the championship in third and Davison shares the #17 Dick Johnson Racing Ford with his younger brother Alex. Will has two Bathurst victories (2009 and 2016). Alex's best finish was fourth in 2014 when he and Will were co-drivers for the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz. This is the fifth time the brothers have been Bathurst co-drivers.

Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell will make his third Bathurst 1000 start, his first appearance since 2017, as co-driver to Andre Heimgarnter in the #7 Kelly Grove Racing Ford. Campbell won the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour. 

Sadly, the Kyalami 9 Hours has been postponed due to the new COVID-19 variant and travel restrictions to South Africa. I had written a little preview, but that has disappeared like snows of yesteryears. 

Track Walk: 2020 Harvest Grand Prix

IndyCar is back at the IMS Road Course

The antepenultimate round and the penultimate round of the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season will be a first-time event, and possibly a one-time only event, the Harvest Grand Prix from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and it will be a doubleheader. This race is named after the Harvest Auto Racing Classic, held on September 9, 1916. Johnny Aitken swept the three races that made up the Harvest Auto Racing Classic in 1916. The first two races, a 20-miler and a 50-miler, were non-championship events and the 100-miler counted toward the championship. Those three victories gave Aitken 16 victories at IMS, a track record that still stands to this day. It was the final official race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway other than the Indianapolis 500 until the Brickyard 400 in 1994. 

Coverage
Time: Race one coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday October 2 with green flag scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET. Race two coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday October 3 with green flag scheduled for 2:31 p.m. ET.
Channel: USA (Race one on Friday), NBC (Race two on Saturday)
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule 
Thursday:
First Practice: 2:25 p.m. ET (75 minutes)*

Qualifying: 6:20 p.m. ET*

Friday:
Race: 4:00 p.m. ET (85 laps)
Saturday:
Qualifying: 10:20 a.m. ET* 
Race: 2:31 p.m. ET (75 laps)

* - All practice and qualifying sessions are available live with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.

And Then There Were Seven

Three races remain and with 162 points left on the table, seven drivers are alive for the IndyCar championship. That could quickly drop to five drivers at the Harvest Grand Prix.

Scott Dixon's pair of tenth-place finishes at Mid-Ohio has cut his championship lead over defending championship Josef Newgarden down to 72 points. It was 96 points heading into the Mid-Ohio weekend. Dixon and Newgarden are the only drivers with multiple victories this season, they are the top two drivers in laps led and they are the only two drivers to complete every lap this season. 

Dixon has six podium finishes and eight top five finishes while Newgarden has stood on the podium four times with six top five finishes. Over half of Newgarden's laps led came in his victory in the second Iowa race. The only times Dixon has led over half a race was this Texas victory where he led 157 laps and 111 laps at Indianapolis. Neither driver has led a lap in the last three races. 

Patricio O'Ward finds himself 118 points off the lead and O'Ward has not finished worse than 12th this season, having taken the checkered flag in every race. He has completed all but two laps, finishing a lap down at Texas and in the second Iowa race respectively. He has been in the top four of the championship since his runner-up from pole position in the second Road America race. 

Colton Herta's Mid-Ohio victory lifted him to fourth in the championship and Herta finds himself trailing Dixon by 129 points. Mid-Ohio was his first podium finish of the season, but he has five top five finishes. Fifty-seven of his 72 laps led this season came in his Mid-Ohio victory, but he has led in the last three races and four of the last five. 

Will Power picked up his first victory of 2020 in the first Mid-Ohio race and his championship hopes hang by a thread, with Power 150 points off Dixon. Power has four podium finishes; however, he has finished outside the top ten in six of 11 races this season. He has led a lap in eight races this season, more than any other driver in IndyCar. 

Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato will head to the Harvest Grand Prix with a mathematical shot at the championship, but that could vanish in the first race this weekend. If Dixon scores at least six points in race one, Sato will be eliminated from the championship. If Dixon scores at least seven points in race one, Rahal will be eliminated. Both Rahal's and Sato's hopes also hang on Dixon possibly missing the remainder of the season and would require either driver to score the maximum 162 points from the final three races.

Dixon could clinch the championship after race one if he scores at least 36 points more than Newgarden. That means Dixon would have to finish at least second with a few bonus points and Newgarden finishing in one of the last positions. For the remainder of the championship eligible drivers, the key number to be below after the first Harvest Grand Prix race is 108 points, but with Dixon likely starting both races, a driver will have to be under 103 points heading into the Saturday race. 

In terms of keeping the championship alive heading into the St. Petersburg finale, a driver will have to be within 54 points, and with Dixon likely starting the St. Petersburg finale, which should feature at least 24 cars, a driver will have to be within 48 points of Dixon after this weekend to have the championship go to the wire.

Looks Who's Back!

There are a few familiar faces returning to the IndyCar grid for the Harvest Grand Prix. 

For the first time in the 21st century, Hélio Castroneves will make an IndyCar start for a team other than Team Penske. Castroneves will step into the #7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet in place of Oliver Askew, who is experiencing concussion-like symptoms stemming back from his accident at the Indianapolis 500.

Askew had started the four races following Indianapolis, a pair of doubleheaders at Gateway and Mid-Ohio. In the four races, he completed 549 of 550 laps and had finishes of 14th, 17th, 19th and 15th. His finishing position was worse than his starting position in the last three races. 

Castroneves last drove for a team other than Team Penske at the 1999 CART finale with Hogan Racing, where the Brazilian spent the first two years of his IndyCar career. In 39 starts with Hogan Racing, Castroneves' best finish was second at Milwaukee in 1998 and at Gateway in 1999. In those two seasons, he never had a top five finish on a road or street course, with his best result being seventh at Belle Isle and Mid-Ohio in 1999. Castroneves missed the Grand Prix of Indianapolis for the first time in his career in July. In six IMS road course starts he has two podium finishes, three top five finishes and five top ten finishes. He has completed 499 of 501 laps. 

James Hinchcliffe will drive the #26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Autosport, in place of Zach Veach and Hinchcliffe will be in the car for the St. Petersburg finale at the end of the month. Veach had decided to step away from the car after it was decided he would not return to the team for the 2021 season. Veach opened 2020 with a fourth-place finish at Texas, matching his career-best, but he has finished outside the top ten in the last ten races and eight of those were results outside the top fifteen. 

Hinchcliffe had made three starts with Andretti Autosport in the #29 Genesys Honda this season, including an 11th-place finish in Grand Prix of Indianapolis and seventh in the Indianapolis 500. Hinchliffe's best finish on the IMS road course was third in 2016. 

Sébastien Bourdais will be making his 2020 debut with A.J. Foyt Racing in the #14 Chevrolet. Bourdais will drive the #14 Chevrolet in the two Harvest Grand Prix races and the St. Petersburg season finale ahead of a full-time ride with the team for the 2021 season. 

Bourdais had been originally scheduled to drive at St. Petersburg, Barber, Long Beach and Portland in the #14 Chevrolet before the pandemic shook up the schedule. He has spent his 2020 season driving the #5 Mustang Samplings Cadillac for JDC-Miller Motorsports in IMSA's DPi class with João Barbosa. He also drove the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Risi Competizione Ferrari in the GTE-Pro class with Olivier Pla and Jules Gounon. Risi Competizione ended up fourth in class. 

Dalton Kellett will drive in the #41 Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing at the Harvest Grand Prix. Kellett has started five races this season with his best finish being 20th. He made his IndyCar debut at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis back in July and finished 21st.

Sage Karam will be back for his third race weekend of the season in the #24 Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Karam's other two race weekend were at Indianapolis. He had finishes of 23rd and 24th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 respectively. 

Another Two Trips Around IMS

With the Harvest Grand Prix weekend taking place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, this gives the drivers two more races on the track the series has visited once a year since the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2014. 

The IMS road course is the first track to host three races in one season since 1979 when Atlanta, Michigan and Trenton each hosted three races in the inaugural CART season. Each track hosted a doubleheader first before hosting a single race later that year. 

This is the first time a road course has hosted separate race weekends on an IndyCar schedule since 1915 when the American Grand Prize and the William K. Vanderbilt Cup race were held on successive weekends at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. 

Scott Dixon won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis back in July ahead of Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud. It was Dixon's first victory on the IMS road course, it was Rahal's second runner-up finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and it was Pagenaud's fourth podium at the track. 

Dixon's victory snapped Team Penske's winning streak in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at five consecutive races. It was Honda's first victory at the track since 2014 when Pagenaud won with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. 

Dixon had three runner-up finishes on the IMS road course prior to his victory earlier this year. He has led the third-most laps at the track with 66 led and he has the best average finish at 5.6. 

Will Power and Simon Pagenaud are tied with three victories apiece at the track, but Power has the most laps led, having led 210 out of 581 laps run in seven IMS road course races. Pagenaud is second all-time in laps led with 68 laps led. Power has won the pole position four times at this track, including back in July.

Pagenaud has one top ten finish in the last five races, and he has not had a top five finishes since he was fourth in the second Iowa race. The IMS road course is the track where Pagenaud has won the most at. The only other track he has multiple victories is Sonoma, which is no longer on the schedule. 

Rahal is one of three drivers with six top ten finishes on the IMS road course. Dixon and Pagenaud are the other two. With an average finish of 7.57, the IMS road course is Rahal's best track in terms of average finish with at least three starts. 

Sato is the most recent winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, taking his second Indianapolis 500 victory back in August. He was tenth at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in July, his fourth top ten finish in that race, but he has never finished better than ninth at this track. 

Andretti Autosport got its first victory of 2020 with Colton Herta at Mid-Ohio last month, and the team picked up its first podium sweep since 2005 with Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay finishing directly behind Herta. Rossi retired from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis due to fuel pressure issues while running in the top ten. It was his second consecutive finish outside the top twenty at the IMS road course. Hunter-Reay has finished outside the top ten in the last three IMS road course races. 

Santino Ferrucci has finished in the top ten of both his IMS road course starts with finishes of tenth and ninth. Ferrucci sits tenth in the championship, five points ahead of Felix Rosenqvist and 19 points ahead of Rossi and Marcus Ericsson. Rosenqvist has finishes of eighth and 15th in his two IMS road course starts while Ericsson has finishes of 24th and sixth.

Jack Harvey has started third and second in his two IMS road course starts. Harvey was third in 2019 but was 17th in July after getting caught out during a caution before he made his second pit stop. 

Rinus VeeKay extended his lead in the rookie of the year battle at Mid-Ohio and with Oliver Askew out for this weekend, the battle is down to two drivers. VeeKay is 39 points ahead of Álex Palou. Palou has not had a top ten since the second Road America race. VeeKay was fifth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis earlier this year and Palou started 21st and finished 19th.

Final Doubleheader

This will be the fifth doubleheader of the 2020 season, the most doubleheaders in a season in IndyCar history. The 1968 season had four doubleheaders at Mosport, the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course, Langhorne and Mont-Tremblant.

No driver has finished in the top ten of all eight races apart of the four doubleheaders to take place, but Dixon leads the way with seven top ten finishes. The only blemish on the Kiwi's résumé was a 12th in the second Road America race. Dixon leads all drivers with five top five finishes from doubleheader weekends. 

Dixon and Newgarden have each won twice on doubleheader weekends, but Power leads the way with four podium finishes on doubleheader weekends.

Dixon has the best average finish at 5.75 ahead of O'Ward's 6.375, Newgarden's 6.5 and Power's average finish of eighth. The Andretti drivers of Herta and Rossi are fifth and sixth with average finishes of 8.5 and 9.625 respectively. Ericsson is averaging a tenth-place finish from doubleheader weekends and he is one of five drivers with at least six top ten finishes from these weekends along with Dixon, O'Ward, Newgarden and Herta. Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay round out the top ten with average finishes of 11.125 and 11.25 respectively. 

Team Penske leads the way with four victories, ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing's three and Andretti Autosport's one. In terms of podium finishes, Team Penske leads with eight while Andretti has five, three of which came in the most recent race. Ganassi and Arrow McLaren SP are tied on four. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has two podium finishes and Dale Coyne Racing has one. 

Of the 21 drivers that contested all four doubleheaders, 20 drivers had at least one top ten finish from the eight races. The exception was Zach Veach, whose best finish was 16th in both Road America races. Of the 20 drivers with at least one top ten finishes, only Ferrucci, Harvey, Conor Daly, Charlie Kimball and Marco Andretti do not have a top five finish in one of those eight races.

Manufacture Battle

With three races remaining, the manufactures' championship continues, and it is advantage Honda in more ways than one. 

Honda has 910 points; 86 points clear of Chevrolet with three races remaining. Honda has won seven of 11 races, meaning Chevrolet can only match Honda's victory total for the 2020 season. On top of that, the Honda teams are doing better on their number of engines used versus the Chevrolet teams. 

Every Honda team has only used two of three engines allowed for this abbreviated 2020 season entering this weekend, while all but one full-time Chevrolet team is on its third engine with three races to go. The #4 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet is the only team that has yet to use its third engine. 

Earlier this year, IndyCar announced the return of grid penalties for any entrant that exceeds the engine allotment, meaning any team that uses a fourth engine will have to fall back on the grid. With the final three races being road and street courses, if a team uses a fourth engine, a six-spot penalty will be assessed. 

It should be noted that once an entry exceeds the engine allotment that entrant cannot score points for the manufactures' championship, meaning top Chevrolet teams could no longer be able to contribute to the manufactures' effort, while a vast majority, if not all the Honda entries could be eligible to score points. 

Honda has won the manufactures' championship the last two seasons after Chevrolet won it for six consecutive seasons after rejoining the series in 2012. 

Welcome to October

This will be the first time IndyCar has raced in October since the 2013 season finale at Fontana, which Will Power won. That 2013 season's month of October started with a doubleheader at Houston, which Dixon and Power split.

There have been 150 IndyCar races held in the month of October. A.J. Foyt and Bobby Rahal are tied for the most October victories at six apiece. Foyt had four of those victories come at Sacramento with one at Phoenix and another at Silverstone. Rahal had four of those victories come at Laguna Seca with one at Phoenix and one at Nazareth.

Four active drives have victories in October. Power has won the last two October races at Houston and Fontana in 2013. Along with Dixon winning the first race in October 2013, he won at Homestead in October 2010. Bourdais' two October victories were at Surfers Paradise in 2005 and 2007. Hunter-Reay's first career victory was at Surfers Paradise in October 2003. 

Thirty drivers have won multiple October races with 13 drivers having won at least three times in the month and seven drivers with at least four victories. 

This will be the first natural-terrain road course held in October since the 2003 CART race at Mexico City, which Paul Tracy won. The 13 October races since have been held at Surfers Paradise, Texas, Fontana, Homestead, Kentucky and Houston.

Indianapolis 8 Hours

IndyCar is running on Friday and Saturday this weekend because the doubleheader was added to the already scheduled inaugural Indianapolis 8 Hours, the second round of the 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge season.

Twenty-two cars are entered for this race, 13 GT3 entries ten GT4 entries. 

The #7 Bentley of Jules Guonon, Maxime Soulet and Jordan Pepper won the 2020 IGTC season opener, the Bathurst 12 Hour back in February and they lead the drivers' championship. 

While Bentley won at Bathurst, Mercedes-AMG left with the manufactures' championship lead on 30 points, five ahead of Bentley. There are three Mercedes-AMG's entered for Indianapolis. George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Richard Heistand will be in the #4 Mercedes-AMG for DXDT Racing while David Askew, Ryan Dalziel and Ben Keating will be in the sister car, the #63 Mercedes-AMG. SunEnergy1 Racing is back with the #75 Mercedes-AMG for Kenny Habul, Martin Konrad and Mikaël Grenier. 

Porsche is tied with Bentley for second in the manufactures' championship on 25 points. Wright Motorsports will field the #20 Porsche for Fred Poordad, Max Root and Jan Heylen. 

Audi will field one car in a partnership between Team Hardpoint and WRT. Mirko Bortolotti and Markus Winkelhock will join Spencer Pumpelly in the #31 Audi. 

Honda, BMW and Ferrari all failed to score points at Bathurst and all three manufactures have multiple entries this weekend. 

Honda has three entries. The factory Team Honda Racing will have Mario Farnbacher, Dane Cameron and Renger van der Zande in the #30 Honda NSX. Racers Edge Motorsports will field two cars, the #80 Honda for Ziad Ghandour and Kyle Marcelli and the #93 Honda NSX for Trent Hindman, Shelby Blackstock and Robert Megennis. 

Walkenhorst Motorsport will field the pair of BMWs. Augusto Farfus, Nicky Catsburg and Conor De Phillippi will be in the #34 BMW with Martin Tomczyk, Nick Yelloly and David Pittard in the #35 BMW. 

Squadra Corse will have Martin Fuentes and Rodrigo Baptista in the #1 Ferrari. Vital Speed will field the #6 Ferrari for Trevor Baek, Jeff Westphal and Ryan Briscoe. 

Lamborghini and Aston Martin are championship-eligible entrants that are not entered for Indianapolis. 

Notable GT4 entries include Jason Bell, Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell in the #2 GMG Racing Audi, Michael Cooper in the #3 Motorsport USA McLaren with Michael McAleenan and Dan Rogers, James Sofronas, Elias Sato and Andy Lee in the #8 GMG Racing Audi and Andy Lally in the #17 TRG Porsche with James Rappaport and Derek DeBoer. 

Parkers Chase will be in the #25 CCR Team TFR BMW with Cole Ciraulo and Tim Barber and Bill Auberlen will be in the #82 Bimmerworld BMW with James Clay and Chandler Hull. 

The Indianapolis 8 Hours will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 4. For teams entered in the GT World Challenge America, points will be awarded at the end of the third hour to make up for the lost round at Mosport. GTWCA teams could pull off the track after the third hour and have it in no way impact their points total earned or they could choose to continue for an overall result. 

Fast Facts

Saturday's race will be the seventh race to take place on October 2 and the first since Ed Carpenter won at Kentucky in 2011. It was Carpenter's first career victory.

Sunday's race will be the seventh race to take place on October 3 and the first since Adrián Fernández won at Fontana in 2004. It was Fernández's final career victory. 

Saturday will be Max Papis' 51st birthday. 

Scott Dixon could become the first champion to lead wire-to-wire since Sébastien Bourdais in 2006.

In July,  Scott Dixon became the seventh driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, joining Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey, Dean Stoneman, Colton Herta, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud.

Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi or Takuma Sato could all become the eighth driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Marco Andretti, Rinus VeeKay, Newgarden, Herta or Harvey could become the first driver to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indy Lights and IndyCar.

Patricio O'Ward could become the first driver to win in Pro Mazda/Indy Pro 2000 and IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Will Power leads all active IndyCar drivers with four victories at IMS (three Grand Prix of Indianapolis victories and one Indianapolis 500). 

Twelve competitors have at least five victories at IMS, including Michael Schumacher, Marc Márquez, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

If Power sweeps the weekend, he would become sixth driver with six IMS victories joining Aitken, Ray Harroun, who has eight victories, Louis Chevrolet, Joe Dawson and Eddie Hearne, who all have six victories.

Scott Dixon or Takuma Sato could become the first driver with three victories in a year at IMS since Sting Ray Robb swept the Indy Pro 2000 races at the track just prior to Labor Day weekend. Prior to Robb, the last driver to win three races at IMS in one year was Aitken when he swept the Harvest Auto Racing Classic in 1916.

Andretti Autosport could become the first team with consecutive 1-2-3 finishes since Team Penske at Mid-Ohio and Loudon in 1994.

An American driver has never won an IndyCar race on the IMS road course with the best finish being second on three occasions (Ryan Hunter-Reay 2014, Graham Rahal 2015, Rahal 2020). Hunter-Reay and Rahal are the only American drivers to finish on the podium in IndyCar races on the IMS road course. Hunter-Reay was also third in 2017. 

The only other American drivers to finish in the top five for an IndyCar race on the IMS road course are Charlie Kimball, Alexander Rossi, Spencer Pigot and Colton Herta. Kimball has three top five finishes.

The average starting position for an IMS road course race winner is 3.285 with a median of one. 

The last two winners on the IMS road course started on the fourth row. 

The average number of lead changes at the IMS road course is nine with a median of ten. The fewest number of lead change was four in 2017. The most was 12 in 2014.

The average number of cautions at the IMS road course is 1.857 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 7.857 with a median of eight.

Possible Milestones:

If Hélio Castroneves starts one of two races this weekend, he will become the fourth driver to reach 350 starts in IndyCar history, joining Mario Andretti, Tony Kanaan and A.J. Foyt in reaching that milestone.

Scott Dixon is two victories away from tying Mario Andretti for second all-time on 52 victories.

Will Power is one victory away from tying Al Unser for fifth all-time on 39 victories.

Ryan Hunter-Reay is two victories away from becoming the 22nd driver in IndyCar history to reach 20 victories.

Scott Dixon needs to lead 59 laps to become the fifth driver with 6,000 laps in an IndyCar career. 

Scott Dixon needs to lead 97 laps to surpass Hélio Castroneves for fourth all-time in laps led.

Josef Newgarden needs to lead 56 laps to become the 23rd driver to lead 2,500 laps in an IndyCar career.

Predictions

Alexander Rossi and Will Power split the weekend. Scott Dixon will lock up the championship early. Josef Newgarden will get his best finish on the IMS road course. Jack Harvey will get at least one top five finish and he will challenge for a podium finish. Sébastien Bourdais will get A.J. Foyt Racing its best finish on a road course. Patricio O'Ward will finish ahead of Hélio Castroneves in both races. Conor Daly will finish ahead of Rinus VeeKay in at least one race but Daly will be behind Castroneves in race one. Sage Karam will get at least one lead lap finish. Sleeper: Marcus Ericsson.

2020 Bathurst 12 Hour Preview

A week after Daytona the motorsports world turns it eyes to a 12-hour endurance race in Bathurst, Australia on the Mount Panorama Circuit.

For the 19th-time the Bathurst 12 Hour will take place and for the fifth consecutive year this race will be the opening round to the Intercontinental GT Challenge season. The five-race IGTC calendar will feature Bathurst, the 24 Hours of Spa on July 25-26th, Suzuka 10 Hours on August 23rd, the inaugural Indianapolis 8 Hours on October 3rd and the Kyalami 9 Hours on November 22nd.

This year's Bathurst race will feature 11 manufactures. Porsche took the IGTC championship last year, ending Audi's run of three consecutive championships in the first three years of IGTC competition. Porsche driver Dennis Olsen won the drivers' championship, joining Laurens Vanthoor, Markus Winkelhock and Tristan Vautier as the drivers to take that honor. Porsche won three of the five races in the 2019 season after having never won a IGTC race since the introduction of the series.

Porsche will defend its title while Mercedes-AMG will look to breakthrough and gets its first IGTC crown after falling seven points behind Porsche. Audi and BMW made it a clean sweep of the top four in the championship for German manufactures. The other manufactures competing for the championship will be Lamborghini, Bentley, Honda, Aston Martin and Ferrari. Lamborghini and Aston Martin are new to the championship while Nissan has not committed to the full season.

Five different manufactures have won the last five editions of the Bathurst 12 Hour. Nissan won in 2015 with McLaren, Ferrari, Audi and Porsche taking the races since. Mazda has the most Bathurst 12 Hour victories, having won the race four times when it was a touring car race in the 1990s. Audi has three victories while Mitsubishi, BMW and Ferrari each have two victories. Mitsubishi and BMW had all of their victories come when the race was touring car based.

There are 39 entries for this year's Bathurst 12 Hour with 33 Class A entries for GT3 cars, two Class C entries for GT4 cars and four Class I entries for invitational cars. Class A is broken down into three categories, Class A Pro, Class A Pro-Am and Class A Silver. There are 20 Class A-Pro entries, six Class A-PA and seven Class A-SIL entries.

This preview will look at each Class A entry, give you the team, the drivers, reasons why that entry could win this race and reasons why that entry will not win the Bathurst 12 Hour.

#1 Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche GT3 R
Drivers: Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor, Craig Lowndes
Why this car could win: Earl Bamber Motorsport won this race last year and it is taking the defending IMSA GT Le Mans class champions in Bamber himself and Vanthoor and pairing them with two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Lowndes.

Why this car will not win: This is a completely new lineup from last year's winners, Bamber and Vanthoor are coming over from the 24 Hours of Daytona and Lowndes is not in his prime anymore. On paper, this is a great entry and I think this car will be pushing for the victory but this is not the Porsche team running for the IGTC championship. Politics could play out on the mountain.

#2 Audi Sport Team Valvoline Audi R8 LMS GT3
Drivers: Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Haase, Frédéric Vervisch
Why this car could win: Vanthoor won this race two years ago, Haase is a two-time 24 Hours Nürburgring winner and Vervisch and Vanthoor won the Suzuka 10 Hours last year.
Why this car will not win: Haase has yet to win this race and Vanthoor is coming from Daytona. This is another entry that should be putting up a strong fight.

#4 Grove Racing Porsche GT3 R
Drivers: Stephen Grove, Brenton Grove, Benjamin Barker
Why this car could win: These three drivers have won the last two years at Bathurst in Class B for Porsche GT3 Cup cars.
Why this car will not win: This team has moved up to Class A and this is a much tougher class.

#6 Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3

Drivers: Adrian Deitz, Tony D'Alberto, Julian Westwood, Camerson McConville
Why this car could win: It will be on the grid is a DJR Team Penske endurance race driver for the three Supercars endurance races with Fabian Coulthard. McConville won the Bathurst 24 Hour in 2002.
Why this car will not win: This is one of the Class A Silver entries.

#7 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3

Drivers: Jules Gounon, Maxime Soulet, Jordan Pepper
Why this car could win: Gounon and Pepper have a lot of experience together in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Series. Soulet has had his success with Bentley. Bentley was on the podium for in 2016 and 2017.
Why this car will not win: In the last two years in the IGTC the best finish for Bentley is sixth.

#8 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3
Drivers: Alex Buncombe, Oliver Jarvis, Seb Morris
Why this car could win: Jarvis is coming off a runner-up finish in the 24 Hours of Daytona. Buncombe has experience at Bathurst not only in the 12-hour but as a two-time Bathurst 1000 starter.  Buncombe also has a Blancpain Endurance Series championship to his name. Morris was the 2017 British GT champion in the GT3 class.
Why this car will not win: This is Morris' Bathurst debut and, despite Buncombe's Bathurst experience, he has not been to Bathurst since 2017. Jarvis is flying in from Daytona.

#9 Hallmarc Audi R8 LMS GT3
Drivers: Marc Cini, Dean Fiore, Lee Holdsworth
Why this car could win: Fiore and Holdsworth have plenty of Bathurst experience between this race and the Bathurst 1000. Cini is a regular in this event. These three were 11th in last year's race, third amongst the A-PA class.
Why this car will not win: It is a Class A Pro-Am and there are too many Class A Pro entries in this race for a Pro-Am to sneak through and get the victory.

#12 NED Racing Team Porsche GT3 R
Drivers: David Calvert-Jones, Romain Dumas, Jaxon Evans
Why this car could win: Calvert-Jones has won in Class B in this race and he has stood on the overall podium. Dumas is one of the most versatile drivers in the world. Evans is a Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion and he was in Porsche SuperCup last year.
Why this car will not win: Like the entry above, this is a Pro-Am squad and though I think this might be the top Pro-Am entry, even with Dumas overall victory is asking a lot.

#18 KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3
Drivers: João Paulo de Oliveira, Edoardo Liberati, Alexandre Imperatori
Why this car could win: De Oliveira is a race winner in Super GT and Super Formula. Liberati and Imperatori ran together in Intercontinental GT Challenge last year. Nissan won this race in 2015. This team led 18 laps in last year's race before finishing seventh.
Why this car will not win: Nissan's best finish in IGTC last year was sixth. There are stronger cars in the field.

#22 Audi Sport Team Valvoline Audi R8 LMS GT3
Drivers: Garth Tander, Christopher Mies, Mirko Bortolotti
Why this car could win: Tander is a three-time Bathurst 1000 winner, he was runner-up last year with Shane van Gisbergen and he won the Bathurst 24 Hour in 2002. Mies has won this race twice. Bortolotti had a lot of success with Lamborghini and in his first two starts with Audi he has look good, finishing third at Daytona in the GTD class.
Why this car will not win: It is hard to argue against this car. Bortolotti is coming from Daytona but Tander and Mies will be ready. Audi won this race two years ago. The one concern is Audi struggled last year. Its best finisher was in ninth and none of the Class A Pro Audis finished the race. Last year's results are going to linger a little bit.

#24 Bostik Australia Audi R8 LMS GT3
Drivers: Tony Bates, Geoff Emery, Max Twigg, Dylan O'Keeffe
Why this car could win: Emery has won three consecutive Australian GT Championships. Twigg was fourth in the Australian GT Championship last year.
Why this car will not win: It is a Class A Silver entry.

#27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3
Drivers: Marcos Gomes, Tim Slade, Daniel Serra
Why this car could win: Serra has been an ascending driver in sports cars for the last few years and last year he won at Le Mans, Petit Le Mans and picked up his third consecutive Stock Car Brasil championship. Slade knows Mount Panorama and he won the California 8 Hours last year.
Why this car will not win: Gomes is too much of an unknown and this will be Serra's Bathurst debut.

#29 Trofeo Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Drivers: Liam Talbot, Dean Canto, Marcel Zallousa, Grant Denyer
Why this car could win: Canto has 21 Bathurst 1000 starts to go with his Bathurst 1000 experience. Denyer has some Bathurst experience but is an amateur driver.
Why this car will not win: This is a Class A Silver entry.

#30 Honda Racing Team JAS Honda NSX GT3

Drivers: Dane Cameron, Renger van der Zande, Mario Farnbacher
Why this car could win: Cameron is coming off an IMSA Daytona Prototype international championship, van der Zande is coming off his second consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona victory, Farnbacher is coming off an IMSA GT Daytona championship. This is a pretty stout trio for Honda to put together.
Why this car will not win: We have yet to see Honda have any great success in IGTC or what will now be known as the GT World Challenge Europe Series. Not to forget mentioning all three of these drivers are coming over from Daytona and van der Zande is the only one with Bathurst experience with that coming in 2016. This will be the first time the Honda NSX GT3 has entered the Bathurst 12 Hour. We are not sure how this car will handle Mount Panorama.

#34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3
Drivers: Augusto Farfus, Nicky Catsburg, Chaz Mostert
Why this car could win: Farfus and Mostert are heading to Bathurst fresh off a victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTD class. Last year, Farfus and Mostert led 68 laps with Martin Tomczyk, the most laps led. Catsburg is coming over fresh off a debut with Corvette at Daytona. Mostest won the Bathurst 1000 in 2014. Walkenhorst Motorsport won the 24 Hours of Spa in 2018.
Why this car will not win: BMW has not won the Bathurst 12 Hours since it became a GT3 race. All three of these drivers are coming from Daytona, two of which are coming off a victory and here is a fun fact: Since adopting GT3 cars in 2011, no Daytona class winner has gone immediately to Bathurst and won the race.

#35 KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3
Drivers: Josh Burdon, Katsumasa Chiyo, Tsugio Matsuda
Why this car could win: Chiyo won this race in 2015. Matsuda has two Super GT GT500 championships and two Super Formula championships. Burdon and Chiyo were teammates last year in IGTC.
Why this car will not win: The only time Burdon and Chiyo finished in the points last year was sixth at Suzuka.

#46 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Patrick Assenheimer, Sergey Afanasiev, Michele Beretta
Why this car could win: Black Falcon has a history of winning endurance races and just won the Dubai 24 Hour.
Why this car will not win: It is a Class A Silver entry.

#59 59Racing McLaren 720S GT3

Drivers: Dominic Storey, Fraser Ross, Martin Kodrić
Why this car could win: It is on the grid. Storey is an Australian GT Championship Endurance champion. Kodrić is a GT World Challenge Asia champion and was third in the International GT Open championship last year.
Why this car will not win: It is a Class A Silver entry.

#60 59Racing/EMA Racing McLaren 720S GT3
Drivers: Álvaro Parente, Ben Barnicoat, Tom Blomqvist
Why this car could win: Parente has had a lot of success with McLaren and won this race in 2016. Barnicoat has spent the last two years running an LMP2 car in European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Blomqvist is making his McLaren debut after five years at BMW where he won a Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race and ran in Formula E.
Why this car will not win: This lineup is too inexperienced together. It is a pretty good lineup but this car doesn't feel like a race winner right now.

#62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
Drivers: Luco Ghiotto, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Oliver Caldwell
Why this car could win: Ghiotto is the latest successful Formula Two driver to leave the path to Formula One for greater pastures in sports car racing. This is his Bathurst debut after being third in the Formula Two championship last year. Kirchhöfer has been picking up respectable results in ADAC GT Masters and he was runner-up in this ace last year. Caldwell is 17 years old and spent 2019 in the Formula Regional European Championship where he was fifth in the title race with one victory.
Why this car will not win: A little bit too inexperienced to win Bathurst this year.

#63 Orange1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3

Drivers: Andrea Caldarelli, Marco Mapelli, Dennis Lind
Why this car could win: These three drivers had great success in the Blancpain Endurance Series last year with Lind unfortunately missing the finale while Caldarelli and Mapelli won the race to take the championship. Caldarelli and Mapelli also won the Blancpain Sprint Series title as well to sweep the those championships. Caldrelli is coming off a GTD class victory at Daytona and Mapelli was second in class. Mapelli was second in this race in 2015.
Why this car will not win: Caldarelli and Lind are making Bathurst debuts and Mapelli has not been here since 2016. I think this car could be the surprise of the weekend and be competing at the front but it is a tough field and if it just breaking into the top ten that would be a good result.

#75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3

Drivers: Kenny Habul, Dominik Baumann, Martin Konrad, David Reynolds
Why this car could win: Reynolds is a Bathurst 1000 winner and has made plenty of starts in this race. Habul was second overall in this race in, albeit with a stack list of co-drivers, Jamie Whincup, Tristan Vautier and Raffaele Marciello.
Why this car will not win: This is a Pro-Am lineup and I think this field is too deep for this entry to win.

#76 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
Drivers: Jake Dennis, Rick Kelly, Scott Dixon
Why this car could win: Dennis was second in this race last year after a fierce battle with Matt Campbell and Dennis did everything he could to win this race. Kelly is a two-time Bathurst 1000 winner and he was runner-up in this race in 2016. Scott Dixon is Scott Dixon and just picked up his third overall victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Why this car will not win: Dixon's inexperience? That sounds crazy but Dixon has never raced at Mount Panorama. I don't think this is going to be a race full of rookie mistakes for Dixon but it is a new car and a new track and Dixon is human racing against a bunch of guys for whom this is their main form of racing. I think this car could win. The 2020 season could be all Scott Dixon with victories at Daytona, Bathurst, Sebring, Indianapolis and with a sixth IndyCar championship to boot but if Dixon is to win this race it is not because he carried the team but because Dennis repeated his 2019 performance, Kelly was smooth and Dixon got ran a respectable pace without making a mistake.

#77 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3
Drivers: Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Yelmer Buurman
Why this car could win: Engel, Buurman and Stolz have shared the same car plenty of times. They were co-drivers in the Blancpain Endurance Series last year and they were champions in 2018. Engel has won the 24 Hours Nürburgring and Buurman has won the Dubai 24 Hour. Engel and Stolz had a great race going last year with Gary Paffett before a water pump issue ended their race.
Why this car will not win: It is hard to come up with a reason. This is a good lineup and nobody would be surprised if this car won. The only negative is Mercedes-AMG has not won at Bathurst since 2013.

#96 Hobson Motorsport Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3
Drivers: Brett Hobson, Kurt Kostecki, Jake Kostecki
Why this car could win: I am going to save you some time, it is a Class A Silver entry, it isn't going to win overall.
Why this car will not win: See above.

#159 Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
Drivers: Andrew Watson, Olivier Hart, Roman de Angelis
Why this car could win: Watson has had some respectable races at Bathurst. De Angelis is making the step into high-end GT3 racing after Porsche GT3 Cup success in North America.
Why this car will not win: Another silver entry.

#188 Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3

Drivers: Alexander West, Chris Goodwin, Côme Ledogar, Maxime Martin
Why this car could win: Ledogar was previously a Blancpain Endurance Series champion. West and Goodwin have raced together before in Blancpain GT Series competition. Martin is a DTM race winner and is having a strong season in Aston Martin's WEC program.
Why this car will not win: This is a Pro-Am entry with a heavy emphasis on the Am. Ledogar and Martin do lift this car to a competitive level. This will be Martin's Bathurst debut.

#222 Audi Sport Team Valvoline Audi R8 LMS GT3

Drivers: Kelvin van der Linde, Mattia Drudi, Markus Winkelhock
Why this car could win: Van der Linde and Winkelhock have more GT3 success than can be listed but van der Linde won the IGTC race at Suzuka last year, van der Linde is the reigning ADAC GT Masters champion, both drivers have won the 24 Hours Nürburgring, van der Linde once and Winkelhock three times and Winkelhock was the 2017 IGTC champion. Drudi spent last year in Porsche SuperCup, ADAC GT Masters and the Blancpain Endurance Series.
Why this car will not win: Drudi is the weakest link in the three Audi Sport Team Valvoline cars. I think that brings this car down and makes an overall victory difficult. 

#777 The Bend Motorsport Park Mercedes-AMG GT3

Drivers: Yasser Shahin, Nick Foster, Anton de Pasquale, Sam Shahin
Why this car could win: Foster won the California 8 Hours last year. De Pasquale is coming off a respectable sophomore season in Supercars where he picked up two podium finishes and finished 14th in the championship after being 20th as a rookie.
Why this car will not win: It is a Pro-Am entry and not one of the stronger Pro-Am entries. 

#888 Mercedes-AMG Team Triple Eight Race Engineering

Drivers: Shane van Gisbergen, Jamie Whincup, Maximilian Götz
Why this car could win: It has two of the top Supercars drivers in van Gibsergen and Whincup and both those drivers have won this race before. Add to those two Götz, who was second in the IGTC last year and previously was a Blancpain Sprint Series champion.
Why this car will not win: Götz has had a rough last couple of years. He has only won four races in the last three years, two in ADAC GT Masters, one in Blancpain GT Series Asia and a Blancpain Endurance Series Pro-Am class victory and before that he had not won since 2014. I think this will be  a contender for the victory. Van Gisbergen and Whincup are not going to struggle but there could be one stronger Mercedes-AMG in the way.

#911 Absolute Racing Porsche GT3 R

Drivers: Mathieu Jaminet, Patrick Pilet, Matt Campbell
Why this car could win: Here is one of the winners from last year in Campbell, whose strong 2019 got him a promotion into Porsche's factory GT program. Campbell is special and I do not see him faltering. Pilet is still a strong driver and Jaminet is another Porsche hopeful.
Why this car will not win: Repeating is hard to do for anyone and this is a different team running the lead Porsches at Bathurst. This will be Pilet's Bathurst debut. 

#912 Absolute Racing Porsche GT3 R

Drivers: Dirk Werner, Matteo Cairoli, Thomas Preining
Why this car could win: Werner is another third of the Bathurst-winning combination from last year. Cairoli and Preining have plenty of WEC experience with Cairoli having a few GTE-Am victories to his name.
Why this car will not win: This is the Bathurst debuts for Cairoli and Preining. It just doesn't feel like a Bathurst 12 Hour winning team. 

#999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing
Drivers: Felipe Fraga, Maximilian Buhk, Raffaele Marciello
Why this car could win: Fraga is another rising star in sports car racing. Buhk and Marciello have each won championships in GT World Challenge Europe. Buhk was third in IGTC last year and Marciello was fourth. Marciello did win the 2018 Suzuka 10 Hours.
Why this car will not win: Buhk's one major endurance race victory was the 2013 24 Hours of Spa. It has been a while. This is a good entry but it is not even the best Mercedes-AMG on the entry list.

The Bathurst 12 Hour will begin at 1:45 p.m. ET on Saturday February 1st with it concluding 12 hours later at 1:45 a.m. ET on Sunday February 2nd.