IndyCar Wrap-Up: Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' 2016 Season

The fourth IndyCar Wrap-Up looks at a team that did win a race for the first time since the 2012 season. While Schmidt Peterson Motorsport did not end up in victory lane, the team had flashes and waved the Honda flag for a handful of races when the other teams appeared completely lost. Despite these flashes, the team's final positions in the championship left little to be desired.

James Hinchcliffe's return was good but should have been great

James Hinchcliffe
The Canadians' return to full-time IndyCar competition started well with an eighth-place run in qualifying at St. Petersburg but the race saw Hinchcliffe suffer two blows, the first coming in the form of a flat tires, which dropped him to the rear of the field and the second was in being caught in the tune three incident caused by Carlos Muñoz. Phoenix was not any kinder to Hinchcliffe as a practice accident put him behind the eight ball for the entire weekend and all he could settle for was an 18th-place finish. Long Beach was a big turnaround for Hinchcliffe where he started seventh, ran in the top ten all day and finished eighth. He kept up his Long Beach pace at Barber and finished sixth in a race where he was competitive against the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya, Hélio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan.

Hinchcliffe rode the late-April wave into May and started and finished third in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis where again he hung with Team Penske at the front. When the track switched over to the oval, Hinchcliffe continued to impress and ended up winning Indianapolis 500 pole position, the first pole position in his IndyCar career. He ran in the top three for most of the first half of the race but slid back a bit and ended up finishing seventh after leading 27 laps. After the month of May, Hinchcliffe was fifth in the championship. The wave crashed in Detroit where Hinchcliffe's chance of a top five finish in race one ended in the tire barriers and his race ended before turn two in race two.

He had to start at the back of grid at Road America after a spin and couldn't do any better than 14th in the race. He started 22nd for the second consecutive race at Iowa but was able to finish ninth.  Hinchcliffe returned home to Toronto, a place that has never been kind to the native son. He qualified sixth but wasn't a real factor. He went off strategy and thanks to cautions stretched his final stint over the final 39 laps and held on for a third-place finish. Mid-Ohio was another good race for Hinchcliffe where he finished fifth.

Hinchcliffe started well at Pocono and was in the top ten all day but faded to tenth after it appeared he was in contention for a top five. When the Texas race restarted, Hinchcliffe was leading and he continued to dominant the race. He held off Ed Carpenter and after Carpenter's accident, Hinchcliffe was faced with an onslaught of assaults by Tony Kanaan and Graham Rahal. Just when it appeared Hinchcliffe would hold on, Rahal made one final lunged on the inside in turn three and Hinchcliffe tried to draft by him on the outside but finished 0.008 seconds behind Rahal. He was third at the start of the final lap at Watkins Glen and ran out of fuel with less than a half a lap to go and didn't make it back to the finish line. He started 20th at Sonoma and was never a factor, only mustering a 12th-place finish and dropped to 13th in the championship.

James Hinchcliffe's 2016 Statistics
Championship Positions: 13th (416 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 3
Top Fives: 4
Top Tens: 9
Laps Led: 217
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 11
Average Finish: 10.8126

Mikhail Aleshin's return was average

Mikhail Aleshin

Like his teammate, Mikhail Aleshin returned to full-time IndyCar competition and he picked up like a driver who never left the series. He went from 17th to fifth at St. Petersburg and could have finished as high as fourth had he not run into lapped traffic at the end. Despite the success in Florida, Aleshin would take a step back. He had a top ten run at Phoenix but spun entering the pit lane and finished 17th. He was lost at Long Beach and finished 16th. He was spun before the green flag at Barber and settled for 17th. 

He started ninth for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but he faded as the race went on and ended up 13th. He was the darling of Indianapolis 500 qualifying after making an impressive save in turn one and running seventh-fastest on both qualifying days. In the race however, Aleshin's aggression got the better of him and a spin exiting turn one ended his day after 126 laps. He had a mediocre first race at Belle Isle and finished 15th and qualified fifth for race two but squandered it and finished 17th. 

Aleshin couldn't get out of the middle of the pack at Road America and finished 16th. He qualified ninth at Iowa, the top Honda, and finally put together a good race from start to finish as he charged up to fifth, the top Honda again. He qualified tenth at Toronto and slightly benefitted from cautions leading to his sixth-place finish. Aleshin's entire Mid-Ohio race was built around a caution that vaulted him from the bottom of the top ten to the race lead. He led 33 laps and when a caution with 29 laps to go forced everyone to the pit lane, Aleshin entered with a sizable gap to Will Power in second and he gagged as he exited his pit box straight into Josef Newgarden. The chance of victory was extinguished and again Aleshin finished 17th.

Despite the disaster at Mid-Ohio, Aleshin rebounded with a surprise pole position at Pocono and he raced at the front all day. He led 88 of 200 laps but could not match Will Power's speed at the end and he settled for second-place. He put himself to be a late challenger at Texas but he spun two laps after getting back on the lead lap and finished 16th. A flat tire ended a promising day at Watkins Glen after 14 laps. He started and finished 11th at Sonoma and never seemed able to take that final step forward.

Mikhail Aleshin's 2016 Statistics
Championship Positions: 15th (347 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 3
Top Tens: 4
Laps Led: 120
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 10.9375
Average Finish: 13.875

I can't help but think this season should have gone better for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Many think SPM had a better season than Andretti Autosport but Andretti Autosport's top three drivers in the championship finished ahead of SPM's top driver and Andretti Autosport finished 1-2 in the Indianapolis 500 and had the driver who led the most laps. Hinchcliffe was seventh in the championship after Mid-Ohio. He ended up 13th in the final championship standings, granted the 25-point deduction for having a car below the minimum ride height at Texas didn't help the Canadian's positioning. Had he not lost those points, Hinchcliffe would have finished eighth in the championship.

I look at this team and I think Hinchcliffe is a rock that could be built around and then I see Mikhail Aleshin and I scratch my head. People love him because he is exotic Russian driver who is fast on ovals and shows no fear but the problem is for every race he dazzles us he has four races where he either ends up in the barrier or is mired in the middle of the pack and plays no role in the outcome of a race. He didn't tear up as much equipment as he did in 2014 but he wasn't consistently a factor in races.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports reportedly has been interested in expanding to three cars. I don't think that is a bad thing for the team but it needs to be careful with its decisions. It needs a driver that can gel with Hinchcliffe and move the team forward. Oriol Servià did well with the team at Indianapolis after starting tenth and finishing 12th but any driver for the third car should be someone the team can plan on keeping for five years. Conor Daly is Hinchcliffe's roommate; he substituted for Hinchcliffe at SPM in 2015 and that seems like the obvious selection. Other than taking a chance on a young driver such as Jack Harvey or bringing another driver over from Europe, the best option on paper would be Daly. 

As for Aleshin, the bar has to be raised heading into 2017. Can SPM afford to have another year with a driver who only finishes in the top ten for a quarter of the races? Aleshin is a step or two above Takuma Sato. The only difference is we watched Sato for over a decade between Formula One and IndyCar have the yips and never harness in his speed. Aleshin has been on stage for a few years but if he doesn't become more consistent we will get tired of the act just like Sato. 

SPM had a good 2016 season but it ultimately showed its vulnerabilities. The team could be on the cusp of making that step forward but it is at a crucial decision-making phase and must choose wisely. 

Musings From the Weekend: Compound Interest

Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 33 points over Lewis Hamilton after he won the Japanese Grand Prix and Hamilton had to charge from eighth to third after a disastrous start. Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell had the Bathurst 1000 snatched from them because of a questionable penalty, which is being appealed. It set up a dramatic battle for the victory between Will Davison and Shane Van Gisbergen with Davison coming out on top and his co-driver Jonathon Webb becoming the first driver to win the Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 1000 in the same year. NASCAR had its second Sunday doubleheader in as many weeks, this one as caused by a hurricane. Formula E returned to competition. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Compounding Interest
Tires are fascinating. To me, I love watching a race, whether it is Formula One or IndyCar or MotoGP and watching the mind games and second guessing what rubber should be sported. I love watching three riders pull away at the start of a MotoGP race and by around halfway seeing another rider or two run them down because of the difference. It adds another level of intrigue to a race. Daniel Ricciardo's chase of Nico Rosberg at Singapore to me is the equivalent of watching a cyclist or runner running out of gas down the stretch after grabbing the race by the throat. The drama of can the leader hold on or will the pursuer prevail accelerates the heart rate at any time of day.

Not every race has this drama. Some series have one compound of tire for all cars and when there aren't any pit stops and downforce makes it difficult to pass, the races can be dull. Most races in the Road to Indy are dull. Ten of 18 Indy Lights races held this year didn't feature a lead change. Only three races had multiple lead changes. It is a development series and it isn't meant to put on spectacular races but there comes a point where you need to do something to spice things up.

Indy Lights does need to make the races more interesting because if the races can draw more fans viewing races on live streams or on TV than ratings go up and it is more appealing to sponsors and it could help young drivers find sponsors and continue their career and dream of making it to IndyCar. I think one gripe on Indy Lights is it isn't a good training ground because drivers don't get enough passing opportunities. Unlike a GP2 where you can't avoid passing with pit stops and differing tire compounds and the inversion of the top eight of grid from the feature race for the sprint race, Indy Lights is rather pedestrian. It is the only series where Felix Rosenqvist can start on pole position for both races at Toronto and lead all 80 laps over two races. Unless someone botches the start badly or there is a safety car, there won't be much passing.

The same could be said for Pirelli World Challenge. I felt most of the races in 2016 weren't great. Granted, most races won't be great races with the battle for the lead coming down to the final corner but when nearly half the races were won from pole position, more could be done.

I think when it comes to series that don't feature pit stops, MotoGP has the right layout and Indy Lights, Pirelli World Challenge and the rest of the Road to Indy should follow suit. Have two compounds and let teams choose what they want to race. Have the grid mixed and let the mystery of whether softer tires can do a full race and stay on top or if the harder compounds will come in and take the fight at the end play out on the race track.

One other thing I think MotoGP gets right is it allows teams to mix up the compounds on the bike. A rider can have a harder front tire with a softer tire on the rear or vice versa. Not only could this be done in Indy Lights, Pirelli World Challenge and other series that don't feature pit stops but in Formula One and IndyCar as well. Why not allow Lewis Hamilton to run soft tires on the front and medium rear tires? Why not allow Graham Rahal to have alternate compounds on the front and the primary compounds on the rear? What is the worse that could happen? Producing better racing?

With both Formula One and IndyCar being very aero-dependent cars, mixing on the compounds might be one way to alleviate some of issues with on-track action today. It is actually a very simple solution that costs nothing extra to the teams and wouldn't be a drastic change that would throw race fans off. Sure, some will label it as a gimmick but I disagree. It would be another wrinkle to a race to test the drivers, strategists and teams and those who can figure it out will come out on top. It is merely another evolution to a race, the same way football has evolved to a pass happy game and baseball has evolved to Sabremetrics viewing a strikeout as just another out and bullpen specialization in late innings. With any evolution the fittest will survive and motorsports should be the same even when the evolution comes to tires.

Heck, maybe Formula One should go all out and bring all five tire compounds to every race and make the drivers use each compounds. That will surely spice up the races and there would be no way Mercedes would finished 1-2 four times out of five with those regulations.

Champions From the Weekend
Álvaro Parente won the Pirelli World Challenge GT championship with a second-place finish at Laguna Seca.

Brett Sandberg clinched the Pirelli World Challenge GTS championship a race early with a second-place finish in the first race of the weekend from Laguna Seca.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Will Davison and Jonathon Webb and Nico Rosberg but did you know...

Sébastien Buemi started his Formula E championship defense with victory in the Hong Kong ePrix.

Johnny O'Connell crossed the finish line first in the Pirelli World Challenge GT finale from Laguna Seca but was penalized for contact with Patrick Long, dropping the Cadillac driver to fifth. Álvaro Parente will be credited with the race victory. Martin Barkey and Scott Heckert split the GTS finale.

Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR Cup race from Charlotte. Joey Logano won Grand National Series race.

The #19 Lexus of Yuji Kunimoto and Yuki Sekiguchi won the Super GT race from Buriram. The #25 Totoya of Takamitsu Matsui and Takeshi Tsuchiya won in GT300.

Coming Up This Weekend
Japan will be busy with FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji and MotoGP at Motegi.
DTM ends its season at Hockenheim.
NASCAR will be at Kansas.
Spain will also be busy with Word Rally Championship in Catalunya and World Superbike in Jerez.

Friday Five: The Chase, the Corkscrew, 130R, Harbourfront and... the Other Chase

The second weekend in October is always one of the busiest of the year. One event leads into the next for almost twelve hours. For some in the United States they will have to stay up until very early in the morning to see all the victory celebrations and champagne poured. From a metropolis to a mountain, a hairpin to a corkscrew and to a backyard, there is plenty of motorsports from different varieties to choose from.

Bathurst 1000
The 60th Bathurst 1000 marks the 21st race of the 2016 Virgin Australian Supercars Championship. It is the second of three endurance race held during the season.

Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards won last year's race and it marked Lowndes' sixth Bathurst 1000 victory, putting him in a tie with Larry Perkins and Mark Scaife for third all-time. It was Richard's fourth Bathurst 1000 victory. Both return in the #888 Red Bull Racing Holden. Lowndes is currently third in the championship behind his teammates Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup. Van Gisbergen is looking for his first Bathurst 1000 victory and Alexandre Prémat will be his co-driver in the #97 Holden, who has four Bathurst 1000 starts. Whincup is a four-time Bathurst 1000 winner and his #88 Holden co-driver Paul Dumbrell's only Bathurst triumph came in 2012 pairing with Whincup.

Scott McLaughlin is fourth in the championship and David Wall will be his co-driver in the #33 Volvo. McLaughlin scored his best Bathurst finish in fifth last year with Alexandre Prémat. Defending Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom won at Bathurst in 2013 and Dean Canto joins him in the #1 Prodrive Racing Ford. Canto finished second at Bathurst in 2012 with David Reynolds. Will Davison and Jonathon Webb are paired in the #19 Tekno Autosport Holden. Davison won the 2009 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander. Webb won the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year driving for Tekno Autosport and he or Van Gisbergen could become the first driver to win both events in the same year.

Chaz Mostert stunned everyone two years ago when he and Paul Morris won the Bathurst 1000 and Mostert looks for his second Bathurst 1000 victory in the #55 Rod Nash Racing Ford with Steve Owen, who finished second last year with Mark Winterbottom. Garth Tander and Warren Luff won the Sundown 500 last month and now the #2 Holden Racing Team Holden. Tander's third and most recent Bathurst victory was in 2011. Michael Caruso is the top Nissan driver in the championship and Dean Fiore joins him in the #23 Nissan. Tim Slade, driver of the #14 Brad Jones Racing Holden, rounds out the top ten of the championship and Ashley Walsh will be his co-driver for Bathurst.

DJR Team Penske has two Fords entered with the #12 Ford for Fabian Coulthard and Luke Youlden and the #17 Ford for Scott Pye and Tony D'Alberto. Nick Percat won the 2011 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander and Cameron McConville joins him in the #222 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden. Rick Kelly and Russell Ingall are both two-time Bathurst 1000 winners and they will pair to drive the #15 Nissan. Richie Stanaway makes his Bathurst 1000 debut as co-driver for Chris Pither in the #111 Super Black Racing Holden. Simona de Silvestro and Renee Garcie return for the second year in the #360 Nissan. They finished 21st last year.

The 60th Bathurst 1000 will begin at 8:10 p.m. ET on Saturday October 8th.

Pirelli World Challenge Finale
The final round of the Pirelli World Challenge season takes place at Laguna Seca. One race will decide the championship and four drivers are still alive in the GT class.

K-PAX Racing McLaren's Álvaro Parente enters with the championship lead on 1,554 points. The Portuguese driver leads all drivers with five victories this season. He has a nine-point advantage over Wright Motorsport Porsche's Patrick Long. The American started the season with EFFORT Racing but switched teams after EFFORT Racing had to withdraw due to financial issues. Long won the first race of the season in Austin but hasn't won since sweeping the Mosport weekend in May.

Cadillac drivers Johnny O'Connell and Michael Cooper are tied after 20 races. Both drivers sit on 1,451 points with O'Connell owning the tiebreaker. O'Connell's sweep of the Sonoma weekend kept his hopes of winning a fifth consecutive championship alive, however for either Cadillac driver to have a hope to win the championship, they will need Parente and Long to retire before the halfway point in the race. O'Connell leads all drivers with nine podium finishes this season and Cooper has victories at Barber and Mid-Ohio.

The final race of the GT season will be at 4:05 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Four drivers are still fighting for the championship in GTS with ANSA Motorsports KTM driver Brett Sandberg holding a comfortable lead in the championship. The New Jerseyan has 1,473 points after three victories and ten podiums from 17 races. He leads Blackdog Speed Shop Camaro driver Lawson Aschenbach by 111 points. Aschenbach leads GTS with four victories but only has six podiums this season. Parker Chase has yet to win a race this season but is third in the championship, 146 points back of Sandberg. The Performance Motorsports Group Ginetta driver has six podiums this season. Roush Racing Ford driver Nathan Stacy kept his championship hopes alive with a victory at Sonoma and three consecutive podium finishes. Stacy trails Sandberg by 160 points.

Race one for GTS will be at 4:55 p.m. ET on Saturday with race two at 1:50 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Japanese Grand Prix
After the Malaysia Grand Prix, three drivers are still alive for the World Drivers' Championship as Formula One heads to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 23 points over Lewis Hamilton after the German finished third while Hamilton's engine expired while leading the race with less than a third of the race to go. Daniel Ricciardo's victory keeps his title hopes alive as he is 84 points behind Rosberg. Rosberg has finished second the last two years in the Japanese Grand Prix and has scored points in all but two of his Suzuka starts. Hamilton has won the last two Japanese Grand Prix and both have come from second on the grid with Rosberg starting on pole position. Ricciardo has finished in the points in only two of four Suzuka starts and his best finish at the track is fourth.

Kimi Räikkönen jumped his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in the championship after finished fourth and Vettel's race ending in a first corner accident with Rosberg. The Finn has 160 points to the Germans 153 points. With his second-place finish at Sepang, Max Verstappen sits on 147 points. Valtteri Bottas has 80 points, six above Sergio Pérez. Nico Hülkenberg has 50 points and Fernando Alonso rounds out the top ten on 42 points, jumping Felipe Massa by a point.

Jenson Button finished ninth in his 300th career start at Sepang and Jolyon Palmer scored his maiden Formula One point and Renault has scored points in consecutive races. Scuderia Toro Rosso has one finish in the points in the last five races. Haas is coming off a double-retirement at Sepang. Both Manor Racing entries made it to the finish in Malaysia and Sauber is still looking for its first points of the season but Marcus Ericsson is coming off a respectable 12th-place finish.

The Japanese Grand Prix will take place at 1:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 9th.

Hong Kong ePrix
The 2016-17 Formula E season begins this weekend on the 1.16-mile Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit. This marks the inaugural Hong Kong ePrix.

Sébastien Buemi returns to defend his title in the #9 Renault e.dams Z.E. 16 with Nicolas Prost returning as his teammate for the third consecutive season in the #8 Z.E. 16. Buemi enters as the all-time leader in victories, pole positions and fastest laps in the series history. Prost ended the 2015-16 season by sweeping the London doubleheader and finished third in the championship, good enough to clinch the Teams' Championship for Renault e.dams.

Lucas di Grassi finished second in the 2015-16 championship by two points behind the Swiss driver. Di Grassi is second all-time in victories but leads all-time in podiums with 14 from 21 starts. Despite being one of the most consistent drivers in Formula E's short history, he has yet to win a pole position. Di Grassi will drive the #11 ABT Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler FE02 with Daniel Abt returning in the #66 ABT Schaeffler FE02. Abt's five podium finishes without a race victory is the most all-time.

Sam Bird will race the #2 Virgin Racing Virgin DSV-02 in his third season with the team. Bird will have  a new teammate for a third consecutive season as three-time World Touring Car Championship champion José María López will drive the #37 Virgin DSV-02. Bird has three career victories. Dragon Racing retains Loïc Duval and Jérôme d'Ambrosio in the #6 and #7 Penske 701-EV respectively. D'Ambrosio's two Formula E victories have both come after Lucas di Grassi has been disqualified from a race. Duval is still looking for his first career victory.

Mahindra Racing has added Felix Rosenqvist in place of Bruno Senna in the #19 M3ELECTRO and Nick Heidfeld returns to drive the #23 M3ELECTRO. Stéphane Sarrazin returns in the #4 Venturi VM200-FE-02 with Maro Engel joining the series in the #5 Venturi VM200-FE-02. Andretti Autosport has retained Robin Frijns for the #27 ATEC-02 with António Félix da Costa moving into the #28 ATEC-02 after two seasons with Team Aguri, where he won at Buenos Aires in 2015. Inaugural Formula E champion Nelson Piquet, Jr. returns to NextEV NIO in the #3 NEXTEV TCR Formula 002. Oliver Turvey remains Piquet, Jr.'s teammate in the #88 NEXTEV TCR Formula 002.

There are two new teams on the Formula E grid. The Chinese team Techeetah replaces Team Aguri and has Jean-Éric Vergne coming off from Virgin Racing and Ma Qing Hua, who ran the final four races last season with Team Aguri. Vergne will drive the #25 Renault Z.E. 16 and the Frenchman has four podiums and four pole positions in his Formula E career but has yet to win a race. Ma will drive the #33 Renault Z.E. 16 and he won two WTCC races in 34 starts in the series.

Jaguar Racing returns to international motorsports competition for the first time since running in Formula One 12 years ago. Mitch Evans and Adam Carroll will drive the #20 and #47 Jaguar I-Type 1 respectively. Evans was the 2012 GP3 champion and won five GP2 races in four years in the series. Carroll also won five races in GP2 but last raced in the series in 2011. He was the 2008-09 A1GP champion driving for Team Ireland. Carroll has spent the last few seasons in the British GT Championship and has raced in GTE-Am with the #88 Gulf Racing Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship this season.

The Hong Kong ePrix will be at 4:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 9th.

Charlotte Motor Speedway
Twelve drivers remain in the Chase after the eliminations of Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray and Chris Buescher after Dover.

Martin Truex, Jr. won two of the three first round races with Kevin Harvick winning the other first round race. Truex, Jr. led 392 of 400 laps at Charlotte in May at the Coca-Cola 600. He has three consecutive top five finishes at Charlotte. Outside of Harvick's victory at New Hampshire his best finish in the first round was 20th. Harvick has 11 top ten finishes in his last 12 Charlotte starts.

Brad Keselowski finished in the top five in all three first round races and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth were the only other drivers beside Truex, Jr. and Keselowski to finish in the top ten in all first round races. Keselowski has five top ten finishes in his last six Charlotte starts and has finished 13 of 14 Charlotte starts. Busch has finished outside the top ten in the last three Charlotte races.

Joey Logano advanced with a second at Chicago and a sixth at Dover being his best finishes during the first round. Chase Elliott finished third in the bookends in round one with a 13th at Loudon sandwiched in-between. Kurt Busch's fifth at Loudon was his only top ten finish during round one. Denny Hamlin had two top ten finishes in round one. Logano has the best average finish at Charlotte among Chase drivers at 9.5. Elliott finished eighth at Charlotte in May.

Carl Edwards' only top ten finish in round one was sixth at Loudon. Jimmie Johnson finished the latter two races of round one in the top ten and he has only one top five finish since finishing third at Charlotte in May. Austin Dillon advanced to round two with an eighth-place finish at Dover, his first top ten finishes after five consecutive outside the top ten. Edwards has 15 top ten finishes in 23 Charlotte starts but only has one victory. Johnson leads all drivers with seven Charlotte victories.

The NASCAR race from Charlotte is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on October 8th.

Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 2.5 New Zealanders in the top five of the Bathurst 1000?
2. Over or Under: 20.5 points being the margin between the PWC GT champion and vice-champion?
3. Over or Under: 0.5 safety car periods at Suzuka?
4. Over or Under: 3.5 average finish for Renault e.dams in Hong Kong?
5. Over or Under: 125.5 laps led by Martin Truex, Jr. in the Cup race?

Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: Four Americans won at Petit Le Mans (One in Prototype, one in PC and two in GTD).
2. Under: Force India scored 12 points at Malaysia.
3. Over: Three Chase drivers finished behind Chris Buescher at Dover.
4. Over: Sébastien Ogier won Tour de Corse by 46.4 seconds over Thierry Neuville.
5. Under: Four nationalities were represented in the top five in the Magny-Cours World Supersport race.

Predictions
1. Shane Van Gisbergen wins the Bathurst 1000.
2. One of the PWC GT championship eligible drivers qualifies outside the top six.
3. Only one McLaren finishes in the points.
4. At least two drivers score their first Formula E points.
5. Both Busch brothers finish in the top ten at Charlotte.

Last Week's Predictions
1. The entire PC podium finishes ahead of the GTLM race winner (Wrong. Only the top two in PC finished ahead of the GTLM winner).
2. Max Verstappen scores fastest lap of the race (Wrong. Nico Rosberg had fastest lap).
3. None of the bottom four in the Chase entering Dover advance to round two (Wrong. Austin Dillon advanced and Kyle Larson did not).
4. Sébastien Ogier wins at least six stages (Correct. Ogier won six stages).
5. Two Ducatis finish on the podium in one of the World Superbike races (Wrong. Chaz Davies won each race but was the only Ducati on the podium in each race).
Last Week: 1/5 Overall: 4/10

IndyCar Wrap-Up: KV Racing's 2016 Season

The third IndyCar wrap-up will be KV Racing. The team downsized from previous seasons to one car, hoping consolidation would improve the team's results. While having respectable and comparable numbers to the big teams, the final championship result was anything but pleasing.

Sébastien Bourdais matched with some of the best in 2016 but had his worst championship finish

Sébastien Bourdais
For the third consecutive season, Sébastien Bourdais raced for KV Racing, his second-longest spell with a team since his days with Newman-Haas Racing. The season didn't start well after being caught up in a turn three incident where he was collateral to Carlos Muñoz's mistake and got the worst of it. Bourdais rebounded quickly with an eighth-place finish at Phoenix but that came with a bit of fortunate after he grazed the wall and had to go over strategy. He was the worst Chevrolet at Long Beach but through hard work and other drivers having missteps, he ended up in ninth. He was penalized for spinning Scott Dixon at Barber and he could do no better than 16th.

He started eighth for he Grand Prix of Indianapolis but he was caught up in an incident in turn one, this time with Tony Kanaan. He tried to keep going but retired after 20 laps. He qualified 19th for the 100th Indianapolis 500. He wasn't flashy but he kept his nose clean while other front-runners didn't or had reliability issues and he finished ninth. Bourdais went off strategy at Belle Isle and while everyone else tried to stretch the fuel, Bourdais ran all-out and gapped the field enough where he could stop and maintain the lead and in this case it gave the Frenchman his 35th IndyCar victory. He went off strategy again in the second race but this time he had to stop late while most didn't. Fortunately a fuel-only stop dropped him only to eighth in the final results.

Contact on lap one at Road America forced him to stop immediately and he couldn't overcome that premature pit stop and finished 18th. At Iowa, he went off strategy and it benefitted him but he stalled on a late pit stop, costing him a chance to run on the lead lap late. Fortunately, Bourdais was able to finish eighth. He started fifth at Toronto and was in contention for the podium but cautions didn't fall his way and others were able to leapfrog him and stay ahead of him because of cautions. Seventh was all he could manage north of the border.

Bourdais was fighting for a top five at Mid-Ohio with Takuma Sato. However, contact between the two left Bourdais in the gravel and instead of a top ten, he finished 20th. He gambled by going fuel-only on the final stop at Pocono and held on for a fifth-place finish. He really didn't have a great car at Texas but just like at Indianapolis, he kept his nose clean while the front-runners didn't and he finished tenth. He spun in first corner of the race at Watkins Glen. He was 40 seconds behind the leader but through cautions and mixing up the strategy, he managed another fifth-place finish. In the season finale, Bourdais qualified ninth and stayed on the edge of the top ten all race and finished in tenth.

Sébastien Bourdais' 2016 Statistics
Championship Positions: 14th (404 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 3
Top Tens: 11
Laps Led: 24
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 11.9375
Average Finish: 11.1875

Other KV entries in 2016 included Matthew Brabham, in partnership with Team Murray, who had two respectable performances at Indianapolis. He finished 16th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis after qualifying 14th and he went from 27th on the grid in the Indianapolis 500 to 22nd, one-lap down. Stefan Wilson made his Indianapolis 500 debut and he qualified 30th with an electrical issue ending his race before completing 300 miles.

Bourdais really didn't have a bad year. Fourteenth in the championship seems a bit harsh considering Simon Pagenaud and Tony Kanaan were the only drivers to have more top ten finishes than Bourdais and Bourdais had as many top ten finishes as Will Power, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Charlie Kimball. Bourdais' struggle shows that the Chevrolet engine and aero configuration was better than average but to get to the top takes more than the right pieces. KV Racing's finish in the championship is kind of indicative of how important multi-car teams are. The worst Chevrolet team was the only single-car Chevrolet team. The only other single-car team in IndyCar is Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and while Graham Rahal finished fifth in the championship, it shows RLLR are the exception, not the rule.

KV Racing had run two cars for most of its existence prior to 2016. The drivers paired with Bourdais weren't a good complement to the Frenchman's skill. He was paired with Sebastián Saavedra in 2014 and Stefano Coletti in 2015. One driver couldn't seem to find the speed and the other was new to the United States and visiting most of the circuits for the first time. Neither driver was going to help Bourdais take the team forward and the team never hired a veteran (Justin Wilson, Oriol Servià) who could have easily helped Bourdais and KV reach that next level.

KV Racing is at a difficult spot. All signs point to Kevin Kalkhoven becoming distant from the team and leaving the team's future in jeopardy. Kalkhoven's exit could allow for Trevor Carlin to slide in and expand his Carlin empire to IndyCar. The team is moving to Florida and Carlin's US racing shop is based in Florida. However, all this appears to be too late to keep Bourdais. The Frenchman appears to be heading to a new team in 2017 and Dale Coyne Racing is the clubhouse leader for landing the four-time champion.

The entire KV-Carlin situation isn't one IndyCar should be excited about. It is a net zero gain. The series should want KV to remain standing on its own and Carlin to enter the series on its own and expanding the grid. Perhaps a collaboration of the two could bring an extra car to the grid but it still leaves IndyCar with only nine teams on the grid. The unfortunate thing for KV Racing is it always appeared KV was on the cusp of being a powerhouse. When the new engine formula was introduced everyone assumed Cosworth, the company Kalkhoven owns with former team owner Gerry Forsythe, would come into the series with an OEM and KV Racing would be the lead team. That never happened and it was a wasted opportunity, especially after getting Bourdais.

The future of KV is hard to predict with Bourdais all but officially gone and ownership in flux. This winter will be long and unbearable and for some fans will be terrifying.

There is Making It and Then There is Making It

With the Formula E season set to kick off its third season this weekend, the series has a lot to be excited about in year three and beyond. For starters, there is the never-ending list of manufactures entering the series. Audi is getting serious with Abt Sportline. Citroën is still on board with DS Virgin Racing. Renault and e.dams have a good marriage. Jaguar is entering the series in 2016-17 and Andretti Autosport has a partnership with BMW.  Mercedes has just signed an agreement to join the series for the 2018-19 season. It is attracting manufactures like a barbecue attracts flies.

The schedule is growing and is visiting new places. Hong Kong kicks off this season after the first two seasons began in Beijing. Marrakech will be the first African round in the history of the series next month. The series will return to Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Paris and Berlin and returns to Monaco as Formula E alternates years with historic on the famed Mediterranean street circuit. Brussels will host a round and Montreal is set to close out the season with a doubleheader but the most interesting round of all, the round Formula E is most proud to have on its schedule is the penultimate round: A doubleheader in Brooklyn July 15-16th. 

Formula E is on its way to accomplished what Formula One couldn't in New York City and in New Jersey, what IndyCar was able to do in East Rutherford, New Jersey but couldn't once it dreamed of making it to Manhattan and what NASCAR failed to create in Staten Island. Many have tried to break through but Formula E is set to be the first to actually race in the largest city in the United States. Formula E feels it has achieved a monumental accomplishment but it is only the first step and isn't as great of a step as they think. 

Formula E has made it to New York but making it in New York is another thing. Formula E won't be a big event in New York. With so much going on, events come and go in New York with millions not even knowing they happened. The Super Bowl billed as New York's Super Bowl was barely a blip on the city's radar screen. In a motorsports vacuum, Formula E has scored as massive victory but anyone thinking the event will captivate the city and springboard Formula E in terms of popularity in the United States and around the globe is grossly mistaken. 

While Formula E is first, first isn't a victory. Anyone can race somewhere once. Formula E is proof of that. The Brooklyn race needs to be on the schedule for decades. The series raced in London its first two years and the Battersea Park event is gone. Beijing is a larger city than New York and it is off the schedule. Miami was one-and-done and Long Beach had two years on the schedule. Making it to New York isn't an accomplishment to celebrate but rather having Brooklyn be a long-term stop on the calendar is worth bragging about. 

New York is a big city but Formula E needs more than just big cities for its races to succeed. It is only year three for the series but all motorsports series have their staple events that can be counted on drawing a crowd. Formula One has Monza and Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. IndyCar has the Indianapolis 500 and Long Beach. NASCAR has Daytona, Bristol and a slew of other events. MotoGP has been going to Assen for almost 70 years. The FIA World Endurance Championship has Le Mans. These are places fans flock to and races that have been incorporated into the fabric of these cities. The cities embrace these events and are looking forward each year to traffic jams of eager spectators that spend three or four days in the local hotels and bars pumping money into the economy. 

Formula E doesn't have that yet but at the same time the series seems ok with not having it. Formula E is a 21st century series. It doesn't care about being a big event that draws people out. If 5,000 people show up in person, Formula E is fine with that because the series is focused on global television numbers and streaming numbers. It is a series that is ok with having a constant rotation of races each year. That mindset might doom the New York event. You need some people to show up to the events to keep events going financially, unless television money is enough to keep races going but at the same time if you want an event to succeed, you need people to show. What is the point of celebrating having a race in New York if you don't care if 5,000 people show up or 50,000 people show up? And if people don't show up, then are you really making it? 

Frank Sinatra sang of New York, "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." Jay-Z reminded us "city is a pity, half of y'all won't make it." Formula E has made it there in a literal sense but making it there in terms of becoming an event the city embraces and supports for years to come will be a much more difficult task and being the first motorsports series to race in the city won't make a difference. 

Musings From the Weekend: Clearing the Log Jam

Lewis Hamilton was in control of the Malaysia Grand Prix and was about to regain grasp of the World Drivers' Championship and then his engine failed and Daniel Ricciardo swooped in for victory leading a Red Bull Racing 1-2. The IMSA season ended but it was hard to tell through the pixels and delays in the Fox Sports Go feed. There was a doubleheader at Dover on Sunday. Martin Truex, Jr. won again in the Chase and again at Dover. Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray and Chris Buescher are eliminated from championship contention. A Frenchman won in France. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Clearing the Log Jam
For the last handful of years, IndyCar has had 30-35 drivers at the end of each offseason jockeying for at most two-dozen full-time seats in the IndyCar series. A mix of drivers end up on the sidelines. You have veterans such as Ryan Briscoe, J.R. Hildebrand and Oriol Servià on the outside. You have drivers with limited experience such as Sage Karam, Gabby Chaves, Luca Filippi and Pippa Mann. You have drivers hoping to breakthrough from Indy Lights such as Matthew Brabham, Jack Harvey and Zach Veach. Then you have a handful of other drivers from Europe who appear across the Atlantic and are tempted to take the jump (Pastor Maldonado).

For some drivers, it works out. Briscoe is a Ford factory driver. Chaves and Filippi got a handful of races. Karam, Hildebrand, Servià, Mann and Brabham all got to run the Indianapolis 500. Veach returned to Indy Lights. For others, it doesn't. Harvey has yet to race anything in 2016 despite back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Indy Lights championship. Maldonado kept his name floating in the water and visited KV Racing at Iowa.

Robin Miller listed the drivers waiting for their opportunity. IndyCar has a history of drivers who waited and waited and then left. Jon Fogarty won the Atlantic Championship twice and never got a call from Champ Car or the IRL. Michael Valiante and Alex Gurney both had successful Atlantic careers and only Valiante got a taste of IndyCar and that taste was just two starts in Champ Car. Jonathan Bomarito, Jonathan Summerton and John Edwards all won races in Atlantics. Wade Cunningham won eight Indy Lights races, including three Freedom 100s and a championship and all he got was five IndyCar starts. JK Vernay won the Indy Lights title and IndyCar never called. Other drivers who have finished in the top five of the Indy Lights championship and have five IndyCar starts or less are James Davison, Martin Plowman and Stefan Wilson.

Not everyone gets their fair shake and there will always be a handful of drivers who we will always wonder about but more should be done to get these drivers into the series. Whether it is a veteran looking to keep a career going or a 20-year-old hoping to grab somebody's attention, something needs to be done. I think we all want more cars on the grid and going back to 2012 I was a proponent to grandfathering in the IR07 chassis to help teams who couldn't afford the DW12 chassis or couldn't get one of the engine leases. We are heading into year six of the DW12 chassis so I think the time has passed for the IR07 and whenever a new IndyCar chassis is introduced, the DW12 should be grandfathered for four-five seasons to keep car counts up, especially for the Indianapolis 500.

I suggested a while back of IndyCar having one or two cars for wild card entries where interesting drivers could be brought in for a one-off or a young driver is given a taste of IndyCar. However, especially for young drivers, one race isn't enough. A driver needs consistent seat time and needs to be consistently working with an engineer to learn. Spencer Pigot jumped into the #20 Chevrolet late in the going and seven races on top of his three races with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing isn't enough but it is a start.

One thing that could be done is a team, such as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and/or maybe an Indy Lights team such as Carlin or Juncos Racing could field a car for the IndyCar season but at the start of the season it is known three drivers will share the car. Even an established IndyCar team could do this.

For example, before the start of preseason testing it could be announced Zach Veach, Luca Filippi and Jack Harvey will split an entry with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Each driver could get a sample of each type of race track. Looking at the 2017 schedule there are six ovals, six road courses and four street circuits. Each driver could get two ovals, two road courses and one driver could get two street circuits while another gets the Belle Isle doubleheader and the final driver would get one street circuit. If another team did the same thing for the likes of Matthew Brabham, Kyle Kaiser and Oriol Servià you could get another two young drivers IndyCar experience and get a veteran to help with their development. These entries could almost be used as a mentorship program if young drivers are paired with a veteran.

Basically what I am proposing is for teams to do what Dale Coyne has done with the #19 car the last few seasons except have it spelled out who the drivers are before the season starts and have the intention be for young drivers to get experience.

The one positive to this would be the drivers that aren't racing that weekend could still go to observe and learn and get feedback from their teammates and crew. Another positive would be it would help those drivers who don't have enough money for a full IndyCar season but don't want to spend it on another year of Indy Lights.

An issue would be, and this is surmountable, is who would drive the Indianapolis 500? I am sure if Veach gets the seat for the Indianapolis 500 the likes of Harvey and/or Filippi could find another ride for the race as a one-off but that won't always be the case. It could cause some head butting in the team but I am sure teams can work out. Another issue is while each driver would get five or six races, how do you balance it? Would a driver be able to develop if he or she races at St. Petersburg and then isn't in the car again until Texas and then doesn't run again until Toronto? It's not just getting a driver seat but getting them consistent seat time.

Programs like this would get drivers IndyCar seat experience and help alleviate the log jam there is for young drivers trying to enter the series. The best way to clear it up were for three to five teams join IndyCar and grow the grid by a half a dozen entries or more but the current state of IndyCar does not allow for that to happen. However, that doesn't mean teams and drivers can't look for new ways to get on the race track.

Champions From the Weekend
The #31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran won the IMSA Prototype championship with a fourth-place finish at Petit Le Mans.

The #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner won the GT Le Mans title with a third-place finished at Petit Le Mans.

The #8 Starworks Oreca of Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow won the Prototype Challenge championship on tiebreaker over the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon as the #8 entry had four victories during the season to the #52's three victories.

The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan won the GT Daytona championship.

Enzo Ide won the Blancpain Sprint Series championship while Maximilian Buhk and Dominik Baumann took the Blancpain GT Series championship at Barcelona.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Daniel Ricciardo and Martin Truex, J. but did you know....

The #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier-HPD of Olivier Pla, Oswaldo Negri, Jr. and John Pew won Petit Le Mans. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Tom Kimber-Smith, Robert Alon and Jose Gutierrez won in PC. The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander and James Calado won in GTLM. The #33 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper of Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating and Marc Miller won in GTD after the #44 Magnus Racing Audi was disqualified after John Potter did not complete the minimum drive time.

The #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes of Tristan Vautier and Felix Rosenqvist won the Blancpain Sprint Series finale from Barcelona. The #33 Belgian Audi Club Team Audi of Robin Frijns and Enzo Ide won the qualifying race.

Sébastien Ogier won Tour de Corse for the first time in his career.

Chaz Davies swept the World Superbikes races at Magny-Cours. Jules Cluzel won the World Supersport race.

Italians Antonio Giovanazzi and Luca Ghiotto split the GP2 weekend from Sepang and Giovanazzi holds a seven-point lead over teammate Pierre Gasly heading to the season finale at Yas Marina. Alexander Albon and Jake Dennis were victorious in GP3.

Daniel Suarez won the rain-delayed NASCAR Grand National Series race from Dover. Tyler Reddick won the Truck race from Las Vegas.

Coming Up This Weekend
Big weekend for motorsports.
Bathurst 1000.
Japanese Grand Prix.
Hong Kong ePrix kicks off the Formula E season.
Pirelli World Challenge ends its season at Laguna Seca.
Charlotte kicks off the second round of the Chase.
Super GT heads to Buriram.

Friday Five: Petit Le Mans, Malaysia, Dover, Corsica and Magny-Cours

The first weekend of October sees the end of the IMSA season and the end of the Daytona Prototype-era in Georgia. The first round of the Chase ends in Delaware. Formula One makes a much later trip to Malaysia than in recent years. France will be busy with a rally on Corisca and motorcycle buzzing around the heart of the country. One person could clinch his fifth championship with another duo go for their third consecutive crown but have teammates in their way.

Petit Le Mans
This year's Petit Le Mans not only marks the final round of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship but it is the end of the Daytona Prototype-era as the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class will be ushered in for the 2017 season.

Three teams are battling it out for the Prototype championship and all three are Corvette DPs. Action Express Racing holds the first two spots in the championship with the #31 of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran leading the class with 285 points, one clear of their teammates and two-time defending champions Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa in the #5 entry. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Ricky and Jordan Taylor trails the #31 entry by seven points.

Cameron and Curran won two of the previous three rounds with a second to the Taylor brothers at the most recent round at Austin. The Taylor brothers lead the class with three victories this season. Fittipaldi and Barbosa only victory this season was at Watkins Glen. Both Action Express cars have finished on the podium in seven of the nine races contested this season. Simon Pagenaud joins Cameron and Curran in the #31 Corvette DP while Felipe Albuquerque will be the third driver in the #5 entry. Max Angelelli once again joins the Taylor brothers as their third driver. The #2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier-Honda returns with Scott Sharp, Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek. ESM won at Daytona and Sebring and were running at the front at Watkins Glen until an engine failure ended their race after 158 laps.

In GTLM, the fight is between four teams but the #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner have a good grasp on the championship. Gavin and Milner have 329 points after victories at Daytona, Sebring, Lime Rock and Road America, 11 points clear of the #67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. The Australian-British pairing won three consecutive races at Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen and Mosport. The #3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Antonio García trail their teammates by 24 points and their only victory was at VIR two races ago. The #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber and Frédéric Makowiecki kept their title hopes alive with a victory at Austin but still trail by 28 points entering the final round.

Porsche famously won last year's rain-shortened Petit Le Mans with Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and Richard Leitz. Audi loans factory drivers Marcel Fässler and Mike Rockenfeller to be the third drivers in the #4 and #3 Corvettes respectively. Scott Dixon returns to the #67 Ford.

The Prototype Challenge class is a two-horse race. The #8 Starworks Oreca of Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow won their fourth race of the season at Austin and has 329 points, ten clear of the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon. Kimber-Smith and Alon has four consecutive podiums won at Road America two races ago. David Heinemeier Hansson joins van der Zande and Popow in the Starworks entry and Jose Gutierrez joins the PR1/Mathiasen duo.

In the GTD class, the championship is Christian Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan's to lose. The drivers of the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari hold a 32-point lead over the #33 Riley Motorsports Viper of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating. Nielsen and Balzan essentially just need to run the minimum drive time to clinch the title. Should Nielsen do that, she will become the first woman to win a major sports car class championship in the United States. Jeff Segal will be the third driver in the #63 Ferrari with Marc Miller rounding out the driver line-up in the #33 Viper.

Malaysia Grand Prix
After a week off, Formula One is still in the Pacific and will run the Malaysia Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg took the championship lead with his victory at Singapore. The German leads his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by eight points. It is the first time Rosberg has held the championship lead since he led by a single point after Hamilton's victory at the British Grand Prix. Mercedes' only victory at Sepang came at the hands of Hamilton in 2014. Hamilton has four consecutive podiums at Sepang. Rosberg has three podiums at Sepang but the only time he has finished ahead of Hamilton at the track was in 2010.

Daniel Ricciardo is third in the championship, 94 points behind Rosberg as the Australian has four podiums in the last five races. Ricciardo heads to one of his worst tracks. The Red Bull driver has one point in four starts at Sepang. Sebastian Vettel sits fourth in the championship, 120 behind Rosberg. Vettel has won four of the last six Malaysia Grand Prix. Vettel has one podium in the last seven races after starting the season with five podiums in the first eight races.

Kimi Räikkönen rounds out the top five in the championship, as he is five points behind his Ferrari teammate. He has three podiums this season with his last coming at Austria after Rosberg and Hamilton came together, dropping Rosberg from the podium, as Rosberg had to limp home with a broken front wing. His last podium at Sepang was in 2008 when he won the race. With 150 points left on the table, Max Verstappen is the final driver mathematically eligible for the championship as the Dutchman trails by 144 points. He has four podiums this season. Last year, Verstappen finished seventh at Sepang and became the youngest-driver to score points in Formula One history in his second career start.

Valterri Bottas is seventh in the championship with 70 points, four ahead of Sergio Pérez. Nico Hülkenberg trails his Force India teammate by 20 points and Felipe Massa rounds out the top ten on 41 points. Fernando Alonso is just five points behind his former Ferrari teammate. Carlos Sainz, Jr. sits on 30 points and hasn't scored in the last four races. Romain Grosjean is two behind Sainz, Jr. and hasn't scored in the last six races. Daniil Kvyat has 25 points and his ninth at Singapore was just his third points finish since switching to Toro Rosso after round four. He had two points finishes, include a third in China in his four starts with Red Bull.

Jenson Button will be attempting to make his 300 Formula One start this weekend. Only Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher are ahead of him all-time.

Dover International Speedway
Kevin Harvick joined Martin Truex, Jr. in the second round of the Chase after his victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend. Brad Keselowski leads the points standings with 2,087 points with Truex, Jr. in second. Kyle Busch is two points behind Keselowski and Matt Kenseth is nine points back. Kenseth won at Dover earlier this season, ending Chevrolet's streak of six consecutive victories at the track. Joey Logano rounds out the top five and is 14 points behind his Penske teammate.

Denny Hamlin is tied with Harvick on 2,071 points. Harvick won last year's Chase race at Dover, his only victory at the track. Hamlin has the second-worst average finish at Dover among the Chase drivers at 18.6. Jimmie Johnson is a point behind Hamlin and Harvick. Johnson has the most victories at all-time at Dover with ten. He has finished 41st and 25th in his last two Dover races. He is two points ahead of his teammate Chase Elliott, who finished third at Dover in May. Elliott and Carl Edwards are tied on 2,068 points. Edwards has failed to get a top ten finish at Dover in his last seven starts at the one-mile oval.

Kurt Busch sits in 11th on 2,067 points and his fifth at Dover in May ended a slump of eight consecutive Dover races without a top ten finish. He is ten points clear of Kyle Larson, who is on the bubble. Larson has the best average finish at Dover among drivers with at least three starts at 6.2. In five Dover starts, Larson has two top five finishes, four top tens and his worst finish at the track is 11th, which came in his first Dover start. He finished second at Dover in May.

Larson is five points clear of his Ganassi teammate Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon. McMurray's fourth at Dover last October was his second top five finish at the track in 26 starts. Dillon has the worst average finish of the Chase drivers at Dover with a 26.7 and he has finished 33rd in the last three Dover races. His best finish at the track is 20th. Tony Stewart is 21 points behind Larson. Stewart has finished outside the top ten in the last four Dover races and has not started in the top ten at the track since the spring of 2006, a race where he had to be substituted for by Ricky Rudd due to injuries. Chris Buescher is 30 points behind Larson. He finished 18th at Dover in May.

Tour de Corse
The tenth round of the 2016 World Rally Championship is the 59th Tour de Corse after Rally China was cancelled.

Sébastien Ogier scored his third victory of the season at Rallye Deutschland and has 169 points, 59 points ahead of his Volkswagen teammate Andreas Mikkelsen. Ogier has seven podiums from nine rallies this season. Despite being a three-times world champion, Ogier has never won Tour de Corse. He did win the Rallye de France Alsace twice. Mikkelsen won Rally Poland earlier this season.

Hyundai teammates Haydon Paddon and Thierry Neuville are tied on 94 points with Paddon holding the tiebreaker. Both driver have rally victories with Paddon winning in Argentina and Neuville in Italy. Pardon holds the tiebreaker after a second in Sweden while Neuville has two third-place finishes. Defending Tour de Corse winner Jari-Matti Latvala has 89 points and his only victory this season was in Mexico.

Dani Sordo finished second at Rallye Deutschland and is now sixth with 86 points. M-Sport Ford driver Mads Østberg is the final driver with a puncher's chance for the championship. The Norwegian driver has 78 points and he finished third at Sweden and Mexico.

Magny-Cours
Entering the antepenultimate round of the 2016 World Superbike season, three riders have a shot at the title and all are British.

Jonathan Rea leads the championship with 393 points after nine victories and 18 podiums from twenty races. Forty-seven points behind Rea is his Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes, who has five victories and 14 podiums this season. Ducati rider Chaz Davies is 98 points behind Rea after five victories and ten podiums. Honda drivers Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden round out the top five with 203 points and 198 points respectively. Hayden is the only non-British rider to win this season after taking a victory in the wet at Sepang. Hayden is coming off scoring a point in MotoGP at Aragón.

In World Supersport, three riders are alive for the title with three races to go. Kenan Sofuoglu leads with 171 points. The Turkish rider has five victories and seven podiums from nine races. He could clinch his fifth World Supersport title this weekend. His Kawasaki teammate Randy Krummenacher trails him by 53 points. Since winning the opening round at Phillip Island, Krummenacher has two podium finishes and has scored points in all but one race. American P.J. Jacobsen trails Sofuoglu by 62 points. The Honda rider has four podiums this season but has yet to stand on the top step. Jacobsen won last year at Magny-Cours.

Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 3.5 American drivers winning a class at Petit Le Mans?
2. Over or Under: 13.5 points scored for Force India?
3. Over or Under: 1.5 Chase drivers finishing behind Chris Buescher at Dover?
4. Over or Under: 45.5 seconds margin of victory in Tour de Corse?
5. Over or Under: 4.5 nationalities represented in the top five of the World Supersport race?

Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Under: Nicky Hayden scored one point at Aragón.
2. Over: The average green flag run at Loudon was 38.4 laps.
3. Under: One Ligier was on the ELMS podium at Spa.
4. Over: Germans scored 44 points in Budapest.
5. Over: Five Japanese drivers scored at Sportsland SUGO.

Predictions
1. The entire PC podium finishes ahead of the GTLM race winner.
2. Max Verstappen scores fastest lap of the race.
3. None of the bottom four in the Chase entering Dover advance to round two.
4. Sébastien Ogier wins at least six stages.
5. Two Ducatis finish on the podium in one of the World Superbike races

Last Week's Predictions
1. Aleix Espargaró finishes ahead of Maverick Viñales and in the top five (Wrong. Espargaró finished seventh and Viñales finished fourth).
2. The Loudon race winner leads fewer than 65 laps (Correct. Harvick led eight laps).
3. United Autosport clinches the LMP3 championship but doesn't win the race (Correct. The #2 United Autosport clinched the title and finished second).
4. A driver gets his first DTM podium of the season (Correct. Adrien Tambay and António Félix da Costa both got their first podiums of the season).
5. The average age of the Sportsland SUGO podium will be over 32 years of age (Wrong. The average age of the Super Formula podium was 27.333).
Overall: 3/5