Mexican Grand Prix
Three races remain in the 2017 Formula One season but it appears the championship will be decided this weekend at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Lewis Hamilton picked up his ninth victory of the season last week in the United States Grand Prix and he increased his points total to 331 points in the World Drivers' Championship. With 75 points left on the table, the only other driver in contention for the championship is Sebastian Vettel. The German trails the Brit by 66 points.
Hamilton will clinch his fourth World Drivers' Championship with a finish inside the top five this weekend. He won last year's race and finished second in 2015. Hamilton could become the third British driver to win the Mexican Grand Prix on multiple occasions. Jim Clark won the Mexican Grand Prix three times, one of which was a non-championship round. Nigel Mansell won at Mexico City in 1987 and 1992. Alain Prost is the only other driver with multiple victories in Mexico. Prost won the 1988 and 1990 races. Three times has the championship been clinched in Mexico. John Surtees did it in 1964, Denny Hulme in 1967 and Graham Hill in 1968. Those three drivers drove for Ferrari, Brabham and Lotus respectively and they did it on Dunlops, Goodyears and Firestones respectively.
Vettel retired from the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix after an accident in turn seven. Last year, Vettel finished fourth on road but was elevated to third after Max Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for cutting a corner. However, Vettel would be handed a ten-second penalty for dangerous driving, relegating him from third to fifth in the final results. Nico Rosberg is the only German to win the Mexican Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas is 21 points behind Vettel in the championship. Daniel Ricciardo remains on 192 points after his retirement from the United States Grand Prix. Kimi Räikkönen is 29 points behind the Australian. Max Verstappen is 40 points behind Räikkönen. Force India teammates Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon sit on 86 points and 73 points respectively. Carlos Sainz, Jr. finished seventh on his Renault debut last week and he has 54 points. Felipe Massa jumped into the top ten with 36 points after he finished ninth at Austin.
The Mexican Grand Prix will take place at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday October 29th.
Malaysian Grand Prix
MotoGP has reached the penultimate of the season and like Formula One, the title will likely be wrapped up this weekend.
Marc Márquez's victory at Australia gave him six victories on the season and he has 269 points. The Spaniard has a 33-point lead over Andrea Dovizioso and Márquez would clinch the championship with a finish in the top two on Sunday. Dovizioso won last year's Malaysian Grand Prix in the wet while Márquez won the 2014 race from Sepang. Dovizioso's victory ended a four-year winning streak for Honda at Sepang and it was Ducati's first victory at the track since Casey Stoner in 2009. The Spaniard Márquez has retired and finished 11th the last two years at Malaysia.
Maverick Viñales finished third at Phillip Island and he is third in the championship on 219 points. Valentino Rossi jumped up to fourth in the championship after finishing second last week on 188 points. Yamaha has not won at Sepang since 2010. Rossi leads all riders with seven Malaysian Grand Prix victories with six coming in the premier class. His 125cc victory in 1997 came at the Shah Alam Circuit. Viñales won in Moto2 at Sepang in 2014 and he won in 125cc in 2011.
Dani Pedrosa is tied with Mick Doohan and Max Biaggi for second most Malaysian Grand Prix victories at five. Pedrosa has won at the track three of the last five years. He is fifth in the championship on 174 points. Johann Zarco sits in 138 points and he won the last two years at Sepang in Moto2. Jorge Lorenzo has finished on the podium in the last six contested Sepang races but he has not won at the track since he won in the 250cc class in 2006.
This weekend will see Michael van der Mark make his debut with Tech3 Yamaha. The World Superbikes regular was on standby to race for Valentino Rossi at Aragón after the Italian broke his leg in a training accident. Van der Mark is currently sixth in the World Superbike championship and he won the Suzuka 8 Hours earlier this year for Yamaha.
The Malaysian Grand Prix will take place at 3:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 29th.
NASCAR at Martinsville
Martinsville marks the start of the semifinal round in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase and eight drivers remain and those eight compete for four spots in the final race at Homestead.
Martin Truex, Jr. enters as the championship leader with 4,069 points and he is 27 points clear of Kyle Busch. Brad Keselowski is 43 points back in third. Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are tied on 4,017 points with Denny Hamlin three points behind Johnson and Harvick in sixth. Ryan Blaney is seventh on 4,009 points and Chase Elliott rounds out the field on 4,006 points.
Johnson leads all active driver with nine Martinsville victories and the other seven Chase drivers have won nine Martinsville races combined, five of those are at the hands of Hamlin. Keselowski picked up his first Martinsville victory in the spring. Busch won last year's spring race at Martinsville. Harvick's lone Martinsville victory was in April 2011.
Truex, Jr.'s best finish at Martinsville was fifth in the spring of 2010 and in the spring of 2012. He started on pole position for this race last year and led 147 laps before he finished seventh. He started third in the spring but finished 16th after leading 42 laps. Elliott finished third in the spring race and led 20 laps. It was his first top ten finish in his fourth Martinsville start. Blaney's three finishes from his only three Martinsville starts 19th, 19th and 25th.
Keselowski is attempting to become the first driver to sweep the Martinsville races since Hamlin in 2010. Ford has not swept the Martinsville races since Dale Jarrett and Ricky Craven split the races in 2001. Craven is also the most recent driver to get his first career victory at Martinsville. Prior to Keselowski's victory in April, Ford's most recent Martinsville victory was Kurt Busch in October 2002. Seven different drivers have won the last seven Martinsville races.
The NASCAR Cup race from Martinsville will take place at 3:13 p.m. ET on Sunday October 29th.
Wales Rally GB
This third penultimate round this weekend will take place in Great Britain with the World Rally Championship contesting the 73rd Wales Rally GB.
Sébastien Ogier leads the championship with 198 points and he is 37 points clear of his M-Sport World Rally Team Ford teammate Ott Tänak with Hyundai's Thierry Neuville 38 points behind Ogier with 60 points left on the table. Ogier has only won two rallies this season and he has not won since Portugal in May. The Frenchman has stood on the podium after eight of 11 races with ten top five finishes and his lone retirement coming at Rally Finland. Tänak has also won twice this season and has stood on the podium six times. Neuville leads all drivers with three victories this season and he has six podium finishes but he had failed to finish in points paying positions in four races including the last two.
Ogier can clinch his fifth consecutive championship by scoring 23 points this weekend, which can be done by winning the race or by finishing second and winning the Power Stage, which pays five points. Ogier has not won a Power Stage this season but he has scored points from the Power Stage nine times this season. Ogier has won the last four Wales Rally GBs and he is tied for most victories in the event with Hannu Mikkola and Petter Solberg. Ford leads all manufactures with 12 Wales Rally GB victories with the most recent coming in 2012. M-Sport has never won Wales Rally GB.
The most recent Wales Rally GB victory by a British driver was in 2000 when Richard Burns won for Subaru. Welshman Elfyn Evans has yet to win a WRC rally and he has finished runner-up twice this year for M-Sport Ford. Northern Ireland's Kris Meeke has won twice this season for Citroën, including the most recent round in Catalunya.
Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala has won Wales Rally GB twice but the Finn's best finish is seventh in the last four races. Latvala is fourth in the championship on 123 points with Hyundai's Dani Sordo on 93 points, one ahead of Evans.
Ogier won stage one on Thursday by 0.4 seconds over Latvala with Neuville a half-second back in third. Tänak is another tenth back in fourth with Evans and Andreas Mikkelsen, who joins Hyundai for this round, both 1.1 seconds back. Rally Finland winner, Toyota's Esapekka Lappi and Sordo are 1.2 seconds back with Irishman Craig Breen and Jüho Hanninen rounding out the top ten, both 1.3 seconds back. Meeke finished 14th on the day, 2.5 seconds off Ogier.
Six stages will take place on Friday with nine stages on Saturday and five stages on Sunday.
4 Hours of Zhuhai
While many seasons are coming to an end, one season starts this weekend and the Asian Le Mans Series is back for the first round of the 2017-18 season. Sixteen cars are entered across the three classes.
LMP2 has six entries and Algarve Pro Racing is back to defend its championship. The #25 Ligier-Nissan will be driven by Ate de Jong, Tack Sung Kim and John Graham. Jackie Chan DC Racing has two cars entered with defending World Endurance Championship Endurance Trophy for LMP2 champion Stéphane Richelmi sharing the #7 Oreca-Nissan with current Endurance Trophy for LMP2 championship leader Thomas Laurent and Harrison Newey, the son of Adrian Newey. David Cheng, Ho-Pin Tung and James Winslow will drive the #8 Oreca-Nissan.
ARC Bratislava steps up from LMP3 with Miro Konopka, Konstantīns Calko and Rik Breukers in the #4 Ligier-Nissan. Eurasia Motorsport has Alex Au and Keiko Ihara paired in the #33 Ligier-Nissan. Team BBT steps up from GT racing with Pipo Derani teaming with Anthony Liu and Davide Rizzo in the #37 Ligier-Nissan.
In LMP3, Jackie Chan DC Racing fields the #6 Ligier for Guy Cosmo and Patrick Byrne. WIN Motorsport has entered the #1 Ligier for Richard Bradley, William Lok and Philippe Descombes. Taiwan Beer GH Motorsports will have Hanss Lin and Shaun Thong in the #11 Ligier. Josh Burdon, Louis Prette and Neric Wei will drive the #18 Ligier for KCMG. Viper Niza Racing has an all-Malaysian lineup with Douglas Khoo and Dominic Ang in the #65 Ligier.
There are five GT entries this weekend. Ferrari won the championship last year and the lone Ferrari belongs to Spirit of Race. Rui Águas and Nasrat Muzayyin will drive the #38 Ferrari. FIST-Team AAI has entered two cars. Rafaelle Marciello will drive the #90 Mercedes with Ollie Millroy and Lam Yu. Supercars regular Chaz Mostert will be in the #91 BMW with Jesse Krohn and Jun-Sun Chen. TianShi Racing Team has entered the #66 Audi for Peng Liu, Weian Chen and Max Wiser. Team NZ has entered the only GTC car for Zhuhai with John Curran and Graeme Dowsett in the #66 Porsche.
The 4 Hours of Zhuhai will begin at 1:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 29th.
Over or Under?
1. Over or Under: 4.5 cars handed grid penalties for the Mexican Grand Prix?
2. Over or Under: 75.5 points for Álvaro Bautista after Sepang?
3. Over or Under: 2.5 Fords in the top ten at Martinsville?
4. Over or Under: 4.5 different drivers winning stages in Wales Rally GB?
5. Over or Under: 5.5 European winners across the three classes in the 4 Hours of Zhuhai?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Under: Sebastian Vettel set fastest lap on lap 51.
2. Under: There were no Super Formula races therefore zero podium finishes came from Non-Japanese drivers.
3. Under: Three cars were within 20 seconds of the race one winner from Surfers Paradise.
4. Under: Two LMP3 cars finished on the lead lap of the class winner.
5. Over: It took 40.829 minutes to complete the Australian Grand Prix.
6. Under: 0.049 separated pole-sitter Federico Caricasulo and Jules Cluzel.
7. Over: Four Chase drivers finished outside the top twenty at Kansas.
Predictions
1. Red Bull puts both cars on the podium.
2. Michael van der Mark finishes in the top ten.
3. There is at least one red flag at Martinsville.
4. Sébastien Ogier wins the Power Stage.
5. At least two classes are decided by more than a lap.
Last Week's Predictions
1. Brendon Hartley qualifies at least three positions behind Daniil Kvyat prior to grid penalties (Correct! Kvyat qualified 12th and Hartley qualified 18th before grid penalties).
2. Hiroaki Ishiura scores points in both Suzuka races but does not win the championship (Uh... there were no races from Suzuka but Ishiura did win the championship so... correct?).
3. The Enduro Cup winners win one of the two Gold Coast 600km races (Correct! Chaz Mostert and Steve Owen won race one from Surfers Paradise).
4. G-Drive Racing does not finish on the podium but does take the LMP2 championship (Correct! The #22 G-Drive Racing Oreca finished fourth and took the LMP2 championship).
5. There will be three manufactures on the podium at Phillip Island (Wrong! Two Yamahas finished on the podium).
6. A manufacture other than Kawasaki or Yamaha wins the World Supersport race (Wrong. Yamaha's Federico Caricasulo won the race).
7. Three of the four drivers that don't advance from round two don't finish in the top ten in Kansas (Correct! All four drivers that did not advance finished outside the top ten).
Last Week: 5/7 Overall: 18/27
