This weekend features a slew of races over Saturday night into Sunday morning and three of those five races could be won by Team Penske. One season ends with an endurance race though all the championship are pretty much signed, sealed and delivered. Formula One heads to one of its best racetracks. NASCAR has a homecoming weekend. Super GT makes its one international trip and then there is one of the greatest races in the world.
Petit Le Mans
The finale of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be the 20th Petit Le Mans and all four class championships are pretty much locked up.
All Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor have to do to clinch the Prototype championship is start the race. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac won the first five races of the season and has finished on the podium in the last two races. The Taylor brothers won the 2014 Petit Le Mans with Max Angelelli as the third driver. Ryan Hunter-Reay joins the duo and this is Hunter-Reay's third time racing with Wayne Taylor Racing. He drove with Wayne Taylor and Angelelli at Miller Motorsports Park in 2006 and he finished second with Jordan Taylor and Angelelli in the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona.
While the Taylor brothers have the Prototype championship in their grasps, the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac of João Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Filipe Albuquerque lead he North American Endurance Cup with 38 points, two over the #10 Cadillac. The #5 Cadillac finished runner-up in both Florida endurance races at the start of the year and won the 6 Hours of the Glen.
The #90 VisitFlorida Racing Ligier of Marc Goossens and Renger van der Zande are third in the NAEC with 22 points, tied with the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca of Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Chris Miller.
This race sees the return of Team Penske to sports car racing and the team will run the #6 Oreca for Juan Pablo Montoya, Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud. Rebellion Racing comes across the pond with the #13 Oreca for Mathias Beche, Nick Heidfeld and Gustavo Menezes. Rebellion Racing won two consecutive Petit Le Mans in 2012 and 2013. Mike Conway joins Dane Cameron and Eric Curran in the #31 Cadillac. Brendon Hartley is back in the #2 Nissan with Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel with Bruno Senna back in the #22 Nissan alongside Johannes van Overbeek and Pipo Derani. Jose Gutiérrez, Olivier Pla and Julien Canal will drive the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier.
This race marks the final appearance for the Prototype Challenge class in IMSA's top series. The #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca of James French and Pato O'Ward has won all seven races this season and has already locked up the PC championship. French, O'Ward and Kyle Masson, who returns for Petit Le Mans have also locked up the PC title in the NAEC. BAR1 Motorsports has entered two cars with Don Yount, Buddy Rice and Daniel Burkett in the #20 Oreca and Garret Grist and Tomy Drissi in the #26 Oreca.
The #3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Antonio García have to start the 20th Petit Le Mans to clinch the pair's second championship in the GTLM class. The Danish-Spanish duo has scored 302 points this year and Mike Rockenfeller joins the duo for this race. Second in the championship is the #67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, who are 19 points back. Briscoe and Westbrook have yet to win this year and Scott Dixon will be their third driver. The #66 Ford of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller are a point behind its teammate and Hand, Müller and Sébastien Bourdais are second in the NAEC on 30 points.
Bill Auberlen makes his 400th BMW start this weekend. He and Alexander Sims are fourth in the championship on 381 points in the #24 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMW. Despite being fifth in the championship, Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner lead the NAEC standings with 32 points despite having finished seventh at both Sebring and Watkins Glen after finishing second at Daytona. Nick Tandy joins Pilet and Werner in the #911 Porsche this weekend. The #3 Corvette, #67 Ford and #24 BMW all have 24 points in the NAEC standings. The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari won last year's Petit Le Mans. Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander return with Alessandro Pier Guidi as the third driver.
Like the Prototype and GTLM championships, the GTD championship will be clinched once the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan take the green flag. This will be the duo's second consecutive GTD title. Nielsen, Balzan and Matteo Cressoni lead the NAEC standings with 30 points. Jeroen Bleekemolen is second in the GTD championship and second in the NAEC standings. The Dutchman, Ben Keating and Mario Farnbacher all have 29 points in the NAEC standings and all three will be in the #33 Mercedes-AMG. Bleekemolen and Keating won Petit Le Mans last year with Marc Miller.
Despite not having a podium finish all season, the #86 Acura of Oswaldo Negri, Jr. and Jeff Segal are third in the NAEC standings with 27 points. Tom Dyer will be the third driver in the #86 Acura. The #93 Acura of Andy Lally and Katherine Legge has two victories this season and Mark Wilkins is back in that car for Petit Le Mans. Jens Klingmann, Justin Marks and Jesse Krohn will be in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW. Park Place Motorsports won Petit Le Mans in GTD two years ago and the team has finished on the podium in three of the last four races. Patrick Lindsey is the only holdover from that victorious team in 2015 and he is joined by Jörg Bergmeister and Matthew McMurry.
The 20th Petit Le Mans begins at 10:00 a.m. ET on Saturday October 7th.
Bathurst 1000
This year marks the 60th Bathurst 1000 and it is the 20th round of the 2017 Supercars Championships.
DJR Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin leads the championship with 2,334 points and he has six victories and 12 podium finishes from the first 19 races. Alexandre Prémat is McLaughlin's co-drver on the #17 Ford. Prémat finished second in last year's Bathurst 1000 while McLaughlin's best Bathurst 1000 finish is fifth. Jamie Whincup trails McLaughlin by 84 points and the six-time champion is looking for his fifth Bathurst 1000 victory. He was the first driver to take the checkered flag in last year's race but a 15-second penalty for causing an accident dropped him to 11th. Paul Drumbell is back as Whincup's co-driver in the #88 Holden for the sixth consecutive year at Bathurst. Whincup won the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year with Craig Lowndes and Toni Vilander.
Fabian Coulthard makes it two DJR Team Penske drivers in the top three. His best finish was fourth in 2015. He pairs with Tony D'Alberto in the #12 Ford, 12 years after the two paired in what was D'Alberto's Bathurst debut. Chaz Mostert has four podium finishes in the last five races and the 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner will drive the #55 Rod Nash Racing Ford with Steve Owen, who has twice finished runner-up in The Great Race. Last year's Bathurst runner Shane van Gisbergen has defending Australia Carrera Cup champion and runner-up in this year's Bathurst 12 Hour runner-up Matt Campbell join him in he #97 Holden.
Mark Winterbottom won the Bathurst 1000 four years ago and the driver of the #5 Prodrive Ford has not won in almost a year and he has only two podium finishes this year. Winterbottom's co-driver Dean Canto makes his 19th Bathurst 1000 start and his best finish was second in 2012. It has been six years since Garth Tander's most recent Bathurst 1000 victory and he shares the #33 Gary Rogers Motorsports Holden with James Golding. Craig Lowndes has not stood on the podium since last August at Sydney Motorsports Park. Lowndes could tie Jim Richards for second-most Bathurst victories at seven. His co-driver Steven Richards has four Bathurst victories including two of the last four.
Cameron Waters and Richie Stanaway won the Sandown 500 three weeks ago. The last time a driver won the Sundown 500 and the Bathurst 1000 in the same year was 2013 when Whincup and Dumbrell took both races. Will Davison and Jonathon Webb won last year's Bathurst 1000 and they are back in the #19 Tekno Autosport Holden. Davison and Webb could become the first pair to win consecutive Bathurst 1000s since Lowndes and Whincup won three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008. Davison's best finish this season is fifth.
Ford and Holden have each won 22 Bathurst 1000s while Nissan has three Bathurst victories.
The 60th Bathurst 1000 will start at 6:10 p.m. ET on Saturday October 7th.
Japanese Grand Prix
One week after Max Verstappen won the Malaysian Grand Prix, Formula One heads to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton finished second in Sepang and he extended his championship lead to 281 points and 34 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes has won the last three Japanese Grands Prix and Hamilton is responsible for two of those victories. Vettel leads all active drivers with fourth Japanese Grand Prix victories with Hamilton on three and Fernando Alonso has won this race twice. Kimi Räikkönen is the only other active driver on the grid to win in Japan with his victory coming in 2005.
Valtteri Bottas sits 59 points behind his teammate, third in the championship. Bottas has scored points in his last three trips to Japan but his best finish is fifth. With 125 points left on the table, Daniel Ricciardo is the final driver with a mathematical shot at the championship. The Australian has 177 points meaning he will have to outscore Hamilton by four points this weekend to keep his championship hopes alive heading to the United States. Ricciardo has never finished on the podium in Japan.
Räikkönen rounds out the top five on 138 points. Verstappen is next in the championship on 93 points. His Sepang victory was only his second podium of the season and first since he finished third in the second round of the season in Shanghai. Verstappen opened the gap to Sergio Pérez to 17 points. Esteban Ocon finished in the points again at Sepang in tenth and he has 57 points. Neither Carlos Sainz, Jr. nor Nico Hülkenberg picked up points and they remain on 48 points and 34 points respectively.
Felipa Massa finds himself one point outside the top ten and his Williams teammate Lance Stroll is two points outside of the top ten. Romain Grosjean is still on 26 points while Stoffel Vandoorne's seventh place finish in Malaysia nearly doubled his points total as the Belgian is now on 13 points. Kevin Magnussen sits on 11 points with Alonso on ten points. Jolyon Palmer has eight points, Pascal Wehrlein sits on five points and the still sidelined Daniil Kvyat has four points.
The Japanese Grand Prix takes place at 1:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 8th.
Charlotte
The second round of the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series begins this weekend at Charlotte. Twelve drivers are alive for the championship.
After the reset, Martin Truex, Jr. leads the championship with 3,059 points. Truex, Jr. was one of two drivers to score three top five finishes in the first round. Eighteen points behind Truex, Jr. is Kyle Busch, the winner of the last two races. The only time Busch has won three consecutive races was in July 2015 when he won at Kentucky, Loudon and Indianapolis. Kyle Larson sits third on 3,034 points. Larson was the other driver with three top five finishes in round one. Brad Keselowski is fourth on 3,020 points.
Three points behind Keselowski is Jimmie Johnson, who finished third at Dover last week, his first top five finish since he won at Dover in June. Two points behind Johnson is Kevin Harvick, who has only one top five finish in the eight seven races while having five finishes outside the top ten in that span. Denny Hamlin has 3,013 points. Hamlin's 35th-place finish at Dover is his second-worst finish of the season. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. sits on 3,010 and he has not had a top ten finish since his victory at Daytona in July.
Ryan Blaney starts round two in the drop zone, two points behind Stenhouse, Jr. Blaney's best finish in round one was ninth at Loudon. Chase Elliott finished second at Chicagoland and Dover but he is tenth at the start of round one on 3,006 points. Despite having eight top ten finishes from the last 11 races, Matt Kenseth starts round two in 11th on 3,003 points. Jamie McMurray rounds out the dozen drivers on 3,003 points. McMurray finished ninth at Dover and he has alternated finishes in the top ten since Watkins Glen.
Last year, Johnson won this race and it was his fourth time winning the autumn Charlotte race. No driver has won this race more than Johnson. Toyota has won this race only once and that was with Clint Bowyer in 2013. McMurray is the only other active driver to have won the autumn Charlotte race multiple times. His 2002 victory came in his second career start and he won this race in 2010. Of the 765 laps Truex, Jr. has led at Charlotte, only four have come in the autumn race.
The NASCAR Cup race from Charlotte will be at 2:16 p.m. ET on Sunday October 8th.
Buriram
Super GT heads to the penultimate round of the season at Chang International Raceway in Buriram, Thailand. Both GT500 and GT300 have seen six different winners through the first six races.
While there have been six different winners from the first six races, the GT500 leading #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli have not won a race this season but they have finished second in the last two races and sit on 59 points. The #37 KeePer TOM'S Lexus of Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy won the first race of the season and are tied for second in the championship with the winless #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus of Andrea Calderelli and Kazuya Oshima, who have three podium finishes this season.
James Rossiter sits on 47 points in the #36 Lexus Team au TOM's Lexus. Rossiter and Kazuki Nakajima won at Autopolis in May. The Fuji 500km winners Hiroaki Ishiura and Yuji Tachikawa round out the top five on 43 points in the #38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus. The defending champions Heikki Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate sit on 36 points and won at Sportsland SUGO.
In GT300, Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou took the championship lead after winning the Suzuka 1000km in the #65 LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG with 52 points. The #4 Goodsmile Racing Mercedes-AMG of Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka won the season opener at Okayama and are two points back in the championship. Defending champion Takamitsu Matsui and Kenta Yamashita are third in the championship in the #25 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Toyota 86 MC on 42 points.
Björn Wirdheim and Katsuyuki Hiranaka make it three Mercedes-AMGs in the top four as the #11 Gainer Mercedes-AMG drivers have 38 points, tied with the #55 ARTA BMW of Shinichi Takagi and Sean Walkinshaw. Both teams have a win but the #11 Mercedes-AMG holds the tiebreaker with a second place finish at Fuji topping the #55 BMW's next best finish of third. The #51 LM Corsa Lexus of Yuichi Nakayama and Sho Tsuboi is sixth on 36 points.
The 300km race from Buriram will take place at 4:00 a.m. ET on Sunday October 8th.
Over or Under?
1. Over or Under: 1.5 Global LMP2 cars on the overall Petit Le Mans podium?
2. Over or Under: 2.5 New Zealanders on the Bathurst 1000 podium?
3. Over or Under: 10.5 seconds between the winner of the Japanese Grand Prix and second place?
4. Over or Under: 145.5 MPH average speed of the NASCAR Cup race at Charlotte?
5. Over or Under: 4.5 cars eligible for the title in GT300 after the Buriram race?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Under: British riders scored 125 points in World Superbike at Magny-Cours.
2. Under: Zero French riders finished on the World Supersport podium.
3. Under: Five Italians scored points at Barcelona in the Blancpain Endurance Series finale.
4. Over: Sebastian Vettel's fastest lap was 2.344 seconds quicker than Nico Rosberg's fastest lap in last year's race.
5. Under: The only "accident" was Jeffrey Earnhardt's spin entering the pit lane.
Predictions
1. Team Penske finishes on the podium.
2. Both winning drivers in the Bathurst 1000 are first-time Bathurst 1000 winners.
3. Fernando Alonso finishes ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and in the points.
4. At least four top ten finishes from the May Charlotte race don't finish in the top ten this weekend.
5. There will be repeat winners in both GT500 and GT300 this weekend.
Last Week's Predictions
1. Jonathan Rea clinches the World Superbike title this weekend but does not sweep the weekend (Correct! Rea clinched the title, won race one and retired in race two).
2. P.J. Jacobsen finishes ahead of at least two of the four riders ahead of him in the championship (Correct! Jacobsen finished ahead of all four of the top four at Magny-Cours).
3. One of the overall Barcelona winners will have won at Barcelona before but in another series (Correct! Tristan Vautier won at Barcelona in the Blancpain Sprint Series last year).
4. Lewis Hamilton wins his fourth consecutive race (Wrong! Hamilton finished second).
5. The biggest story after the Cup race will be what happens on the racetrack (Correct? We aren't talking about anything off the racetrack).
Last Week: 4/5 Overall: 5/10
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