Friday Five: Shanghai, Valencia, Australia, Macau

We are into part two of this weekend's preview and it is mostly in the Asia-Pacific region. We have an endurance race and a sprint race, a grand prix and a rally and a few titles to decide. A few drivers look to retain their crowns, others are looking to ascend to the throne. Meanwhile, some motorcycles will race in Spain.

6 Hours of Shanghai
The fifth round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship season and the final round of the calendar year 2018 takes place at Shanghai with the sixth editions of the 6 Hours of Shanghai. It is the final time the race will be six hours in duration. Next season's visit to Shanghai will be a four-hour race.

The #8 Toyota of Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima lead the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 84 points and has a 13-point lead over the sister #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López after the #7 Toyota won at Fuji last month. The #1 Rebellion Racing Rebellion of Thomas Laurent Gustavo Menezes and Mathias Beche trail the #8 Toyota by 21 points with André Lotterer and Neel Jani 33 points back in the #3 Rebellion.

One point covers the top three LMP2 teams heading into Shanghai. The #36 Signatech Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and André Negrão lead the championship with 87 points with the two Jackie Chan DC Racing entries tied on 86 points. The #37 Oreca of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jefri won the most recent round at Fuji while the #38 Oreca of Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Stéphane Richelmi has two victories this season, both victories coming at tracks that start with the letter "S" in Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone.

Michael Christensen and Kévin Éstre have control of the World Endurance GTE Drivers' Championship. The #92 Porsche has won two of four races this season and sits on 96 points. The #92 Porsche has finished on the podium in every race this season. The #66 Ford GT of Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla trail by 31 points after a pair of sixth-place finishes in the last two races after winning at Spa-Francorchamps and finishing third at Le Mans. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi won at Silverstone and despite that being the duo's only podium finish of the season, it has them third in the championship on 55.5 points.

Porsche has won three consecutive races in GTE-Am. The #80 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell, Christian Ried and Julien Andlauer lead the championship with 80 points after victories at Le Mans and Silverstone. The #56 Team Project 1 Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti won the most recent race at Fuji and are second in the championship on 66 points. The #90 TF Sport Aston Martin of Salih Yoluç and Charlie Eastwood have finished second in three of four races this year and are on 54 points, two ahead of the factory #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda. Jonathan Adam will be in the #90 Aston Martin for the third consecutive race.

Corvette Racing has entered a Corvette for this round. It is the first time Corvette has entered a car in a WEC event that was not Le Mans or in the United States. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will split the #64 Corvette. Gavin and Milner finished third in the IMSA GTLM championship this year and they won at Long Beach.

The 6 Hours of Shanghai will begin at 10:00 p.m. ET on Saturday November 17th.

MotoGP
Marc Márquez clinched the MotoGP title three races ago in Japan but the Spaniard could end the 2018 season with ten victories.

It would be only the second time Márquez has won ten races in a MotoGP season, he won 13 races in 2014. He also had ten victories in the 2010 125cc season and he won the title that year as well. If Márquez is to break into double figures in the win column, he will have to do it at one of his most elusive tracks. He has only won twice at Valencia with a Moto2 victory in 2012 and a MotoGP victory in 2014. He does have six consecutive podium finishes at Valencia across all series.

Andrea Dovizioso will finish second in the championship regardless of what happens on Sunday. Dovizioso has never won at Valencia and an Italian has not won in MotoGP at the track since Marco Melandri in 2005. The last Italian to win at Valencia in any category was Michele Pirro in 2011 while in Moto2. Dovizioso's only podium finishes at the track were a second in 125cc in 2004 and a third in MotoGP in 2011.

The battle is for third between the Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales. Rossi has 195 points and a two-point lead over his Spanish teammate. Rossi is looking to avoid his first winless season since 2012, his final year with Ducati. Rossi has never had a winless season with Yamaha. Rossi and Viñales each have two victories at Valencia. Rossi won the 2003 and 2004 MotoGP races while Viñales won in the 125cc class in 2011 and in Moto3 in 2013.

Álex Rins and Johann Zarco are tied for fifth in the championship on 149 points. Rins and Zarco finished second and third in the most recent round from Sepang. Rins currently holds the tiebreaker as  both riders each have two runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes. Rins has finished fourth twice while Zarco's next best finish is fifth. Zarco finished second in last year's race from Valencia and he won the Moto2 race in 2016. Rins has yet to win at the track.

Cal Crutchlow is a point behind Rins and Zarco in seventh with Danilo Petrucci five points behind the battle in eighth. Andrea Iannone is ninth on 133 points and Jorge Lorenzo will look to return to competition after missing the last four races due to injury. Lorenzo sits in tenth on 130 points.

The MotoGP race is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on Sunday November 18th.

Moto2
The Moto2 championship has been wrapped up and MotoGP-bound Francesco Bagnaia will look to close out his career in the series with his ninth victory of the season.

Bagnaia has seven podium finishes in the last eight races and he has never finished on the podium at Valencia with his best finish being fourth last year. Bagnaia will move up to ride for Pramac Racing Ducati next year in MotoGP. Miguel Oliveira will also be moving up to MotoGP in 2019 and he will finish second in the championship regardless of what happens on Sunday. Oliveira has two victories and 11 podium finishes but has not won since Brno in August. Oliveira will ride a Tech3 KTM next season.

Brad Binder will stay in Moto2 next season and he is looking for his fourth victory of 2018. Binder's three victories this year are his only podium finishes in 2018.

Fifteen points cover fourth to seventh in the championship. Lorenzo Baldassarri has 162 points and has a five-point gap over Álex Márquez. Joan Mír is two points behind Márquez and Sepang winner Luca Marini is seventh on 147 points.

Oliveira has won twice at Valencia, in 2015 in Moto3 and last year in Moto2. Binder won the 2016 Moto3 race from the track.

The Moto2 finale will take place at 6:20 a.m. ET on Sunday November 18th.

Moto3
Jorge Martín will move up to be Brad Binder's teammate next year in Moto2 but the 2018 Moto3 champion will look to close the season with his eighth victory of the year and his second consecutive Moto3 victory at Valencia. Martín won the most recent race at Sepang and he has started on pole position in the last two races.

Marco Bezzecchi is second in the championship on 214 points and he holds a nine-point advantage over Fabio Di Giannantonio. Bezzecchi has won three times this year while Di Giannantonio has won twice. Enea Bastianini is fourth on 166 points with Lorenzo Dalla Porta rounding out the top five on 151 points. Bastianini's only victory this season was at Barcelona in June. Dalla Porta won at Misano in September. Dalle Porta has been the runner-up finisher in three of the last four races.

There have been six different winners in the last six Moto3 races from Valencia and those six winners represented five different countries. An Italian has not won the 125cc/Moto3 race at Valencia since Simone Corsi in 2008.

The Moto3 race will take place at 5:00 a.m. ET on Sunday November 18th.

Rally Australia
The World Rally Championship will decided at the finale and three drivers could take home the top prize in Australia. This is the first time the WRC title will be decided in the final round of the season since 2011.

M-Sport Ford driver Sébastien Ogier seeks his sixth consecutive championship and the Frenchman re-took the championship lead in the last round from Catalunya. Ogier has 204 points and a three-point lead over Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville. Toyota's Ott Tänak has an outside at the title with the Estonian 23 points behind Ogier.

Ogier and Tänak each have four victories this year while Neuville has won three times. All three drivers have six podium finishes this season.

Three different drivers have won the last three editions of Rally Australia with Neuville entering as the defending championship. Ogier won in 2015 and Andreas Mikkelsen won in 2016. Ogier's 2015 victory was his third Rally Australia victory. Toyota's two Rally Australia victories were with Juha Kankkunen in 1989 and 1993.

The last time a driver overcame a deficit to win the World Rally Championship in the final round was Sébastien Loeb in 2009, who trailed Mikko Hirvonen by one point entering the finale. Loeb won Wales Rally GB while Hirvonen finished second and Loeb took the title by one point.

Guia Race of Macau
Seven drivers are alive for the World Touring Car Cup championship entering the final round form Macau.

Gabriele Tarquini won the most recent race from Suzuka and the Hyundai driver extended his championship total to 291 points. Fellow Hyundai driver Yvan Muller trails Tarquini by 39 points with Muller's M Racing-YMR teammate Thed Björk rounding out an all-Hyundai top three and 53 points behind Tarquini.

Pepe Oriola is the first non-Hyundai driver in the championship and the SEAT driver sits on 227 points with Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay on 216 points. Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri has 213 points and Tarquini's teammate Norbert Michelisz is the final driver mathematically alive for the title on 212 points.

Tarquini and Björk are tied for the most victories this season with four apiece. Muller and Vernay each have three victories while Oriola, Guerrieri and Michelisz all enter the finale with just one victory.

It is Macau and Rob Huff is entered. Huff has won nine Macau races and he has had at least one victory in eight of the last ten years at Macau. Huff is ninth in the championship and he has victories at the Hungaroring and Suzuka this season.

Tarquini was the 2009 World Touring Car Championship while Muller won the WTCC title four times. Björk won the WTCC title last year while Vernay won the TCR International Series championship in 2017. Oriola, Guerrieri and Michelisz are all going for their first championship.

The first WTCC race will be at 1:25 a.m. ET on Saturday November 17th. The final two races of the season will be at 7:20 p.m. ET on Saturday November 17th and at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday November 17th.

Macau Grand Prix
This weekend marks the 65th Macau Grand Prix and 28 cars are entered for the event.

Dan Ticktum won last year's race and he will defend his victory. Ticktum will drive for Motopark and he is coming off a runner-up finish in the European Formula Three championship to Mick Schumacher. Schumacher will be at Macau driving for Theodore Racing by Prema. Schumacher defeated Ticktum by 57 points for the title.

Ticktum will have Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race winner Joel Eriksson as a teammate as well as Ferdinand Habsburg. Habsburg led last year's Macau Grand Prix into the final corner of the race but hit the barrier on exit and slid to a third place finish. Eriksson was the fastest qualifier last year at Macau and he started second for the main race before retiring after two laps.

Callum Ilott started on pole position last year at Macau and he is back as one of four Carlin entries alongside Jehan Daruvala, Sacha Fenestraz and Yoshiaki Katayama. Ilott is currently third in the GP3 Series with one round to go next week from Abu Dhabi.

Team TOM's has entered the All-Japan Formula Three champion Sho Tsuboi and vice-champion Ritomo Miyata. Tsuboi won 17 of 19 races including ten consecutive victories to close out the season. Miyata won the other two races with Tsuboi finishing second in each.

B-Max Racing Team will have Super Formula race winner Yuhi Sekiguchi in car alongside Álex Palou. Sekiguchi finished fourth in this year's championship and his lone victory was in the rain-shortened race from Okayama.

Jake Hughes leads the F3 Asian Championship with a round to go and he will drive for Hitech GP. Hughes has won all nine races he has entered this season. He missed the second round of the season from Ningbo and the season closes next week from Sepang.

Ticktum could become the seventh driver to win the Macau Grand Prix in consecutive years joining John MacDonald, Arsenio Laurel, Vern Schuppan, Riccardo Patrese, Geoff Lees, Edoardo Mortara and Felix Rosenqvist. Schumacher's father Michael won the race in 1990 and his uncle Ralf won it in 1995.

The qualifying race will take place at 8:00 a.m. ET on Friday November 16th with the Macau Grand Prix scheduled for 2:30 a.m. ET on Sunday November 18th

FIA GT World Cup
This year marks the fourth FIA GT World Cup from Macau. Fifteen drivers from five manufactures are entered in this year's race.

Edoardo Mortara is the defending champion and he is back in the #1 Mercedes for Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing. His teammates will be the 2015 FIA GT World Cup winner Maro Engel in the #888 Mercedes and this year's Blancpain GT Series champion Raffaele Marciello in the #999 Mercedes.

Audi won this race in 2016 and it looks to reclaim the title with four drivers entered. Christopher Haase is coming off a runner-up finish in the Intercontinental GT Challenge and he will be in the #28 Audi for Audi Sport Team Rutronik. Robin Frijns had two runner-up finishes in the DTM season this year and he will be in the #66 Audi for Audi Sport Team WRT with Dries Vanthoor as his teammate in the #88 Audi. Frijns was the runner-up finisher last year to Mortara. Adderly Fong will drive the #77 Audi for Zun Motorsport Crew.

Laurens Vanthoor won the 2016 race for Audi but the Belgian looks to get Porsche its first victory in the FIA GT World Cup. Vanthoor will drive the #911 Porsche for Manthey Racing with Le Mans winner and World Endurance Drivers' Champion Earl Bamber as his teammate in the #912 Porsche. Craft-Bamboo Racing will have Darryl O'Young and Mathieu Jaminet in the #55 Porsche and #991 Porsche respectively.

The only non-German manufacture entered for the FIA GT World Cup is Nissan and Nissan has three entries. Tsugio Matsuda leads the charge. The two-time Super GT GT500 champion will drive the #23 Nissan with Oliver Jarvis in the #35 Nissan and Alexandre Imperatori in the #18 Nissan.

BMW has one bullet in the chamber and it is DTM race winner Augusto Farfus. The Brazilian will drive the #42 BMW for Team Schnitzer.

The FIA GT World Cup will take place at 11:25 p.m. ET on Saturday November 17th.

Over or Under?
1. Over or Under: 188.5 laps completed by the 6 Hours of Shanghai overall winner?
2. Over or Under: 3.5 riders in the top ten of the championship improving their championship position after Sunday's race?
3. Over or Under: 15.5 points for Brad Binder this weekend?
4. Over or Under: 3.5 seconds covering the top five of the Moto3 race?
5. Over or Under: 0.5 Australians scoring points in Rally Australia?
6. Over or Under: 2.5 total championships between WTCC/TCR for this year's World Touring Car Cup champion after Sunday?
7. Over or Under: 1.5 teams on the podium of the Macau Grand Prix?
8. Over or Under: 1.5 manufactures on the podium of the FIA GT World Cup?

Last Week's Over/Unders 
1. Over or Under: 91.5 minutes elapsed time for the Motegi race? (Under: The race took 91 minutes and nine seconds).
2. Over or Under: 0.5 retirements on lap one? (Under: There were no retirements of lap one).
3. Over or Under: 14.5 stage points for Chase Elliott? (Under: Elliott had 14 stage points).
4. Over or Under: 20.5 being the worst finishing position for a championship eligible driver? (Over: Justin Allgaier finished 24th).
5. Over or Under: 3.5 starting position for the race winner? (Over: Brett Moffitt won from fifth).
Last Week: 3 Unders; 2 Overs. Overall: Unders 26; Overs 21

Predictions
1. Nothing controversial, such as a disqualification from a session, happens to a Toyota entry.
2. Jorge Lorenzo gains at least one position in the championship.
3. A ride that is not heading to MotoGP in 2019 wins the Moto2 race.
4. An Italian wins the Moto3 race.
5. The WRC champion does not win Rally Australia.
6. Rob Huff wins a race but only one race from Macau.
7. Dan Ticktum does not repeat in the Macau Grand Prix but he finishes in the top five.
8. A new manufacture wins the FIA GT World Cup.

Last Week's Predictions
1. There will be at least one European race winner this weekend (Wrong! All winning drivers were Japanese).
2. The race lap record is broken by at least a half-second (Correct! Valtteri Bottas broke it by 0.504 seconds).
3. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. all remain championship eligible after Phoenix (Correct! All three are still alive).
4. The top three finishers combine to lead at least 170 laps (Wrong! The top three led a combined 95 laps).
5. There will be fewer than six cautions (Correct! There were five).
Last Week: 4/7. Overall: 24.5/42

Friday Five: Five Finales and a Hat Trick of Street Races

We are less than a week away from Thanksgiving but the motorsports feast is this weekend with five season finales, six championships to be decided and a slew of races from a street course in Asian providing plenty to snack on over three days.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

The 36th and final race of he NASCAR Cup season takes place at Homestead-Miami Speedway and four drivers from four teams and two manufactures have a shot at the championship.

Martin Truex, Jr., has been the top driver all season. The New Jerseyan has won seven races this season, including six on 1.5-mile ovals. Truex has an average finish of 2.7 on 1.5-mile ovals this season with his worst finish being eighth. He has finished in the top five in eight of nine Chase races with the exception being 23rd at Talladega. His best finish at Homestead was second in 2006. While he has three top fives and seven top ten finishes in 12 Homestead starts, he has failed to finish in the top ten the last three years in the finale.

Kyle Busch won five races this season including three during the Chase. However, Busch's three victories are his only top five finishes during the Chase and he has not had a top five finish on a 1.5-mile oval since finishing fifth at Kentucky in July. Busch won the 2015 championship with a victory at Homestead. He has finished in the top ten in four of the last five Homestead races.

Kevin Harvick won the 2014 championship with a victory at Homestead and he won the most recent 1.5-mile race at Texas two weeks ago. Harvick has nine consecutive top ten finishes at Homestead and he has 14 top ten finishes in 16 Homestead starts. The California has never retired from a Cup race at Homestead and he has completed 4,277 of 4,278 possible laps.

Brad Keselowski suffered an accident in last year's Homestead race and it was his first retirement at the track after three consecutive top ten finishes including two third-place finishes. Keselowski clinched the 2012 championship with a 15th place finish after Jimmie Johnson retired from the race. He has the best average starting position at the track of the four championship contending driver at 11.6.

Since the introduction of this Chase format in 2014, each champion has won the Homestead race all three seasons and at least one championship contender has finished outside the top ten. Ford leads all manufactures with seven victories at Homestead but the manufacture has not won at the track since 2010 and all seven of Ford's victories have been by Roush-Fenway Racing. Both times Stewart-Haas Racing has won at Homestead the team has won the championship with Harvick in 2014 and Tony Stewart in 2011. Team Penske has never won at Homestead in Cup while Joe Gibbs Racing has six Homestead victories.

Five of the last six Cup champions have ended the season with five victories.

The season finale for the NASCAR Cup season will take place at 2:46 p.m. ET on Sunday November 19th.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

It is an all-Chevrolet affair for the championship in NASCAR's second division as three JR Motorsports drivers and one Richard Childress Racing driver will fight for the title.

William Byron won at Phoenix last week, his fourth of the season. Byron leads all championship-eligible drivers in victories this season. Byron won last year's Truck race at Homestead and he could become the second teenage to win the NASCAR Grand National Series championship. Chase Elliott is the youngest champion in series history at 18 years, 11 months and 18 days old. Elliott's championship is the only title for JR Motorsports.

Elliott Sadler dominated this season but the Virginian has not won a race this season and Sadler is coming off an 18th place finish at Phoenix. He had six consecutive top ten finishes prior to Phoenix. Only two of Sadler's 13 Grand National Series victories have come on a 1.5-mile racetrack, including his most recent victory in the series, which came last autumn at Kentucky. He finished third last year at Homestead and last year was the third time he has finished runner-up in the championship.

Justin Allgaier won twice this season, including at Chicagoland in September. Like Sadler, Allgaier has only won twice on 1.5-mile racetracks but both of those victories have occurred at Chicagoland for Allgaier. He has never finished in the top five at Homestead with last year being his best finish at the track when he finished sixth. He matched his career-best championship finish last year with a third place championship finish.

Daniel Hemric was the final driver to clinch a spot in the championship race with his fifth place finish at Phoenix. The rookie has yet to win this season. His best finish this season was second at Mid-Ohio and his best finish on a 1.5-mile oval was fourth at Chicagoland in September. Hermic is also winless in 49 Truck series starts. He made three Truck starts at Homestead and had finishes of 12th, eighth and fifth. Richard Childress Racing is bidding for its fifth Grand National Series championship. The team's most recent title was with Austin Dillon in 2013.

The NASCAR Grand National Series finale will be at 3:45 p.m. ET on Saturday November 18th.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

One driver is looking to become the second driver to win consecutive NASCAR Truck championship. Another is looking to become the third driver to win at least three Truck series championships and two drivers are going for their first title, including one rookie.

Johnny Sauter has won the last two races and the Wisconsinite is looking to successful defend his Truck championship. Sauter won last year's championship after a third place finish at Homestead and he entered that race off the back of two victories and a second place finish. Sauter has already matched the amount of top five finishes he had last year with 12.

Matt Crafton is looking for his third Truck championship in the last five seasons. He won back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014. Crafton's only victory this season was at Eldora and his only top five finish on a mile-and-a-half racetrack was second at Atlanta in March. He won at Homestead in 2015 from pole position.

Christopher Bell has won the most races this season as the Oklahoman has five victories. Three of Bell's victories were on 1.5-mile racetracks. His most recent victory was the first race of the Chase at Loudon but Bell enters Homestead with seven consecutive top ten finishes. Bell finished eighth in last year's Homestead race.

Austin Cindric was the final driver to qualify for the final race and the rookie for Brad Keselowski Racing did it off the back of six consecutive top ten finishes, including a second place finish at Texas and a fourth place finish at Las Vegas. This will be Cindric's first start at Homestead. Cindric could become the first Ford driver to win the Truck championship since Greg Biffle in 2000.

The final race of the Truck season will be Friday November 17th at 8:49 p.m. ET.

6 Hours of Bahrain

The LMP1 championship has been decided in the FIA World Endurance Championship but the other three classes have yet to be decided.

Bruno Senna and Julien Canal took the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers championship lead with their victory at Shanghai with Nicolas Prost. They sit on 161 points and the #31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca drivers lead the drivers of the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca, Thomas Laurent, Oliver Jarvis and Ho-Pin Tung by four points entering the season finale. Both teams have won three races this season but the #31 Oreca has three runner-up finishes while the #38 Oreca has finished third twice and finished off the podium three times.

Gustavo Menezes has an outside shot of successfully defending the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers. The American trails by 23 points and would have to win the race and have the #31 Oreca retire from the race and the #38 Oreca finish eighth or worse in class. Menezes shares the #36 Signatech Alpine with Nicolas Lapierre and André Negrão. This team won at Austin in September. 

The GT World Endurance Drivers' Championship will come down to one of four possibilities. The #51 AF Corse of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi lead with 135 points but they are only two points ahead of the #91 Porsche of Richard Lietz and Frédéric Makowiecki. The #51 Ferrari has won three times and finished on the podium in six of eight races while the #91 Porsche has not won this season but has six podium finishes and the team's worst finish is sixth. Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell kept their title hopes alive with a victory at Shanghai. The #67 Ford GT drivers are 8.5 points back. Davide Rigon is the final driver with a shot at the title. The #71 AF Corse Ferrari driver trails his teammates by 22.5 points. Sam Bird joins Rigon in the #71 Ferrari. They won at Spa-Francorchamps in May.

The FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-Am drivers also has three teams battling for the title. The #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda enter with that elusive championship within the teams' grasp. The trio has scored 166 points and took the championship lead with their third victory of the season last time out at Shanghai. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Marvin Dienst, Christian Ried and Matteo Cairoli dropped to second in the championship, ten points back after finishing third at Shanghai. The #77 Porsche's worst finish this season was fourth at Austin. Clearwater Racing has an outside shot at the title as the #61 Ferrari of Matt Griffin, Weng Sun Mok and Keita Sawa trails by 19 points. The #61 Ferrari won the season opener at Silverstone and has five podium finishes this season.

Bahrain marks the final round for Porsche LMP1 program. Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard and Earl Bamber clinched the World Endurance Drivers' Championship at Shanghai and the #2 Porsche has won four races this season, as has the #8 Toyota of Sébasten Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson. The #1 Porsche of Neel Jani, Nick Tandy and André Lotterer has finished on the podium in five consecutive races but has not won this season. The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López has three podium finishes this season.

The 6 Hours of Bahrain will start at 8:00 a.m. ET on Saturday November 18th. 

Rally Australia

The World Rally Championship is the fifth season finale this weekend.

Sébastien Ogier locked up his fifth consecutive title with a third place finish in Wales Rally GB but the Frenchman has not won since Rally de Portugal in May. This is the fewest rally victories for Ogier since he won twice in 2010. The Frenchman entered Rally Australia with 40 rally victories and 500 stage victories. 

Andreas Mikkelsen won last year's Rally Australia and he will be driving for Hyundai for the third consecutive round after contesting three races for Škoda in WRC-2 and three races for Citroën earlier this season. Mikkelsen's teammate Thierry Neuville sits second in the championship and he is 14 points ahead of M-Sport World Rally Team Ford driver Ott Tänak. Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala sits on 136 points in fourth and Wales Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans rounds out the top five on 118 points. Citroën drivers Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Stéphane Lefebvre look to give the French manufacture its third victory of the season. 

Ford could match Volkswagen for most Rally Australia victories at four. Ogier could tie Juha Kankkunen for most Rally Australia victories by a driver at four. 

Macau Grand Prix

The autonomous territory of Macau hosts three major motorsports events this weekend and the main event is the 64th running of the Macau Grand Prix. Twenty-two cars are entered for the famed Formula Three race.

Carlin has entered six cars including FIA European Formula 3 Champion and McLaren development driver Lando Norris. Norris won nine of 30 races and finished on the podium in 20 races. Norris is attempting to become the ninth different British driver to win the Macau Grand Prix since the race became a Formula Three event in 1983. Carlin is going for its second consecutive victory in the event and third overall. Carlin will also field cars for Jehan Daruvala and Ferdinand Habsburg, both race winners in Formula Three, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion Sacha Fenestraz and Canadian Delvin DeFrancesco, who finished third in the Euroformula Open Championship. 

Joel Eriksson finished second to Norris in the Formula Three championship and he will be one of five Motopark with VEB entries. Prema Powerteam, in partnership with Theodore Racing, has entered four cars including two for Maximilian Günther and Callum Ilott, who finished third and fourth in Formula Three. Mick Schumacher is one of Prema's entries. His father Michael won the 1990 Macau Grand Prix and his uncle Ralf won the 1995 Macau Grand Prix and that is the most recent time a German won the Macau Grand Prix.

Pedro Piquet is another notable second-generation driver on the Macau Grand Prix entry list. He will drive for Van Amersfoot Racing with Estonian Ralf Aron.

Team TOM's has won the Macau Grand Prix five times most recently in 2008 and the team has entered two cars for Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata. Tsuboi finished second in the All-Japan Formula Three championship and he finished third in the Super GT GT300 championship this year. Álex Palou finished behind Tsuboi in the All-Japan Formula Three championship and he will be at Macau with ThreeBond Racing with Dorago Corse. Palou made his Formula Two debut at Jerez and had a pair of eighth place finishes.

The qualifying race will be at 9:20 p.m. ET on Friday November 17th. The 64th Macau Grand Prix is scheduled for 2:30 a.m. ET on Sunday November 19th.

FIA GT World Cup

For the third consecutive year, Macau hosts the FIA GT World Cup. Twenty GT3 cars will be on the grid for this year's edition with seven manufactures represented.

The first two winners of the FIA GT World Cup are back with Maro Engel in the #999 Mercedes-AMG for Team GruppeM Racing and Laurens Vanthoor in the #911 Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche. Each driver will have a teammate with Raffaele Marciello in the #888 Mercedes-AMG and Darryl O'Young in the #991 Porsche. 

Mercedes-AMG Team Driver Academy has entered two cars for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters-experienced drivers with Edoardo Mortara in the #48 Mercedes-AMG and Daniel Juncandella in the #50 Mercedes-AMG. Mortara won the Macau Grand Prix in 2009 and 2010 and Juncandella won the 2011 Macau Grand Prix. HubAuto Racing has entered two Porsches with Romain Dumas in the #7 Porsche and Super GT regular Hiroki Yoshimoto in the #77 Porsche. 

Audi won last year's event and the German manufacture will have five cars attempting to defend the title. Audi Sport Team WRT will have Blancpain Sprint Series co-champion Robin Frijns in the #1 Audi and DTM regular Nico Müller in the #2 Audi. Defending Formula E champion and 2005 Macau Grand Prix winner Lucas di Grassi will be in the #11 Audi for HCB-Rutronik-Racing with his teammate being one of two silver-rated drivers on the grid, Fabian Plentz in the #12 Audi. The other silver-rated there is Markus Pommer and the ADAC GT Masters driver will be in the #27 Aust Motorsport Audi. 

BMW has four cars entered. Augusto Farfus, who won two races at Macau in WTCC competition, will be in the #18 BMW Team Schnitzer BMW with fellow BMW DTM drivers Marco Wittmann and Tom Blomqvist also on the entry list. Wittmann will be in the #91 BMW for FIST Team AAI and Blomqvist will be in the #99 Rowe Racing BMW. Supercars driver Chaz Mostert will be Wittmann's teammate in the #90 BMW.

There are three manufactures with one entry. Defending Blancpain GT Series champion Mirko Bortolotti will be in the #5 FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghini. Two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Felix Rosenqvist will be in the #63 Ferrari for IMSA GT Daytona champions Scuderia Corsa. Renger van der Zande will drive the factory-backed #84 Honda NSX.

The FIA GT World Cup qualifying race will be at 11:25 p.m. ET on Friday November 17th. The FIA GT World Cup championship race will be at 11:10 p.m. ET on Saturday November 18th.

Guia Race of Macau

While not the season finale, Macau is the penultimate round for the 2017 World Touring Car Championship season. With 120 points left on the table, nine drivers have a shot at the championship. 

Volvo driver Thed Björk leads the championship with 228.5 points but the Swede has not won since the first race on the Nürburgrng Nordschleife in May. Honda driver Norbert Michelisz has won three races this season, more than any other driver but he trails Björk by 16.5 points. Björk's teammate Nicky Catsburg trails his teammate by 29 points and Catsburg's only victory this season was the second race at the Nordschleife.

Tiago Monteiro will miss his third consecutive round due to injuries suffered in a high-speed testing crash at Barcelona in September. The Portuguese Honda driver was leading the championship at the time of the accident with 200 points. 

Tom Chilton sits on 184.5 points, a half point ahead of his Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën teammate Mehdi Bennani. Esteban Guerrieri substitutes for Monteiro for the second consecutive race and the Argentine has 180 points. Rob Huff has 142 points and the seven-time Macau race winner is looking for his first win this season in a Citroën for Münnich Motorsport. Last year, Huff failed to win one of the two TCR International Series races at Macau and it was only the second time in nine years Huff did not win at Macau. Volvo driver Néstor Girolami is the final driver with a shot at the title. He sits on 110 points.

The first WTCC race will be at 1:10 a.m. ET on Saturday November 18th with race two at 9:40 p.m. ET later that day.

Over or Under?

1. Over or Under: 100.5 laps led by Martin Truex, Jr.? 

2. Over or Under: 2.5 of the final four drivers leading a lap in the Xfinity Series race?

3. Over or Under: 14.5 finishing position for Austin Cindric?

4. Over or Under: 23.5 classified cars after the 6 Hours of Bahrain?

5. Over or Under: 11.5 points scored by Hayden Paddon at Rally Australia?
6. Over or Under: 6.5 cars covered by ten seconds in the Macau Grand Prix?
7. Over or Under: 0.5 flips in the FIA GT World Cup races?
8. Over or Under: 1.5 podium finishes for non-European drivers between the two WTCC races?

Last Week's Over/Unders

1. Over: There were eight retirements in the MotoGP race from Valencia.

2. Under: Brendon Hartley retired and would have been 17th after starting 18th.

3. Over: Mercedes-AMG and BMW were the only two manufactures on the GT300 podium.

4. Under: Matt Kenseth led 63 laps on his way to victory.

5. Over: The 24H COTA winning #911 Herberth Motorsport Porsche completed 608 laps.

Predictions

1. The NASCAR Cup champion will not have exactly five victories this season. 

2. Sam Hornish, Jr., finishes ahead of at least two of the four championship eligible drivers.

3. The winner of the Truck race does not lead the most laps.

4. The #98 Aston Martin holds on and wins the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-Am Drivers.

5. Sébastien Ogier gets his third rally victory of the season.
6. Mick Schumacher retires from at least one of the two races.
7. A past Macau Grand Prix winner does not win the FIA GT World Cup.
8. Rob Huff wins one of the two WTCC races.

Last Week's Predictions

1. Marc Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso each finish on the podium at Valencia (Partially Wrong. Márquez finished third and Dovizioso retired). 

2. There will not be a red flag in qualifying or the race at Interlagos for rain (Correct! Although there was a red flag for Lewis Hamilton's accident but rain was not the cause). 

3. Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy hold on to win the GT500 championship (Correct! Hirakawa and Cassidy won the title with 84 points).

4. There will be at least three cautions in the final stage at Phoenix (Correct! There were five cautions in the final stage).

5. The overall Hankook 24H COTA winner will not be Hofor-Racing or Herberth Motorsport (Wrong! Herberth Motorsport won).

Last Week: 3.5/5 Overall: 23.5/42