Friday Four: Homebush, Fuji, Thunderhill, Laguna Seca

We have entered the final month of 2016 but the motorsport season is still kicking. A championship ends, another reaches the halfway point and an endurance race is held in Northern California. Plus, a young driver will become $200,000 richer at Laguna Seca.

Homebush Street Circuit
The final round of the 2016 Supercars season is the Sydney 500 from the Homebush Street Circuit, which will be hosting the Supercars for the final time. The round has been the season finale every year on the calendar since the inaugural running in 2009.

The championship will come down to one of two drivers and both drive for Red Bull Racing Australia. Shane Van Gisbergen enters with the championship lead on 3,089 points, 191 points ahead of Jamie Whincup. Van Gisbergen heads to the finale with seven victories and has eight consecutive podium finishes. Whincup has six victories this season, including three victories and five podium finishes in the last six races.

Van Gisbergen could become the third New Zealander to win the Supercars championship and be the first to do it since Jim Richards won his fourth title in 1991. The other New Zealander to take top honors was Robbie Francevic in 1986. Whincup is looking for his record extending seventh championship. Van Gisbergen and Whincup have combined to win the last eight races on the Homebush Street Circuit with Whincup holding the advantage of five victories to Van Gisbergen's three.

Craig Lowndes is trying to make it a clean sweep of the top three of the championship for Red Bull Racing Australia but Lowndes has not finished in the top five in the last eight races. He holds a 21-point advantage over Volvo's Scott McLaughlin, who has four podium finishes in the last six races. Will Davison rounds out the top five in the championship with 2,403 points, 19 points ahead of his former teammate and defending champion Mark Winterbottom.

Chaz Mostert is seventh in the championship on 2,235 point and is the top driver without a victory. Michael Caruso is the top Nissan driver in the championship in eighth on 2,110 points, 27 points ahead of Tim Slade. Garth Tander rounds out the top ten in the championship with 1,976, 12 points ahead of Fabian Coulthard and 27 points ahead of James Courtney.

The first race of the weekend will take place at 11:45 p.m. ET on Friday December 2nd. The season finale will take place at 11:40 p.m. ET on Saturday December 3rd.

Fuji Speedway
The second round of the 2016-17 Asian Le Mans Series season takes place at Fuji Speedway.

The #35 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca-Nissan of Gustavo Menezes and Ho-Pin Tung won the season opener at Zhuhai and will be joined by Thomas Laurent this weekend. Korean driver Tacksung Kim finished second at Zhuhai in the #24 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier-Judd and he will be joined by Jonathan Hirschi and Mark Patterson this weekend. The #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier-Nissan finished third at Zhuhai but the only returning driver is Michael Munemann, who will be joined by Andrea Roda and Andrea Pizzitola. The final LMP2 entry is the #8 Race Performance Oreca-Judd of Giorio Maggi, Struan Moore and Fabien Schiller.

Nine cars are entered in LMP3. The #1 Jackie Chan DC Racing Ligier-Nissan of David Cheng, James Winslow and Pu Jun Jin won the season opener by over two laps in class over the #26 Tockwith Motorsports Ligier of Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson. The #85 G-Print by Triple 1 Racing Ligier of Hanss Lin and Julio Acosta finished third in the season opener but only Lin is on the entry list for Fuji. The ARC Bratislava Ginettas finished fourth and fifth in class with the #4 Ginetta of Miro Konopka, Darren Burke and Mike Simpson ahead of the #7 Ginetta of Neale Muston and Konstantins Calko.

Fifteen cars are entered in the GT class. The #38 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Rui Águas, Marco Cioci and Nasrat Muzayyin won the season opener ahead of the #61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari of Mok Weng Sun, Keita Sawa and Matt Griffen. Key Cozzolino and Corey Lewis finished third at Zhuhai and they will be joined by Super GT driver Yuhi Sekiguchi in the #6 VS Racing Lamborghini. The #5 DH Racing Ferrari finished fourth in Zhuhai and Michele Rugolo will be joined by Matthieu Vaxivière and Stéphane Lémeret. The #2 Absolute Racing Audi of Cheng Congfu, Stephen Lin and Alessio Picariello finished fifth in class at Zhuhai.

The 4 Hours of Fuji will start at 10:45 p.m. ET on Saturday December 3rd.

25 Hours of Thunderhill
This weekend marks the 15th running of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

Flying Lizard Motorsports won last year's race and returns with two cars. The #45 Audi has Darren Law, Johannes van Overbeek, Dion von Moltke and Mike Hedlund as the line-up with Thomas Sadler III, Andy Wilzoch, Will Owen and Charlie Hayes in the #74 Porsche.

Bryan Herta returns to competition for the first time since 2008 in the #5 Ryno Racing Team Ginetta LMP3 car. His son Colton joins him as well as Colin Braun, Parker Chase and Ryan Carpenter. Herta isn't the only former IndyCar race winner in the event. Al Unser, Jr. returns for another year in the #52 JFC Racing Wolf with Ryan Eversley, Miles Jackson and Todd Harris as his co-drivers.

Le Mans winner and runner-up in the 1996 Indianapolis 500 Davy Jones drives the #19 Patent It! Panoz GTS with Paul Edwards, Anthony Lisa, Steven Lisa and Chuck Hemmingson. Indy Lights race winner Sean Rayhall leads the #67 One Motorsports/Desert West Radical with John Falb, Todd Sluher and Jesse Menczer.

Mazda has entered three Global MX-5 Cup cars. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher C.J. Wilson is entered in the #55 Mazda with Taz Harvey, Richard Fisher and Scott Clark. Michael Brockman, Ben Robertaccio, Camden Jones and Thomas Bogar make up the #56 Mazda. Liam Dyer, Spencer Brockman, Mark Abouzeid and Steve McAleer are in the #70 Mazda.

The 25 Hours of Thunderhill starts at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturyda December 3rd.

Mazda Road to Indy Shootout
While not occurring this weekend but in the middle of next week, one driver will win a $200,000 scholarship to compete in U.S. F2000 in 2017. Eighteen drivers from eight countries head to Laguna Seca for the two-day Mazda Road to Indy Shootout.

Team USA Scholarship winners Oliver Askew and Kyle Kirkwood lead the driver line-up heading to Laguna Seca. Peter Portante, who made 30 U.S. F2000 starts from 2013-15 and has four career podiums, will participate after finishing runner-up in the F1600 championship to Neil Verhagen, who also won the Formula F1600 championship at the SCCA Runoffs but Verhagen will not be participating in the Shootout. Texan Trenton Estep won the Toyo Tires F1600 championship in Canada. Another Texan in the Shootout will be Skip Barber Racing Series champion Timo Reger. Oklahoman Nigel Saurian qualifies after winning the Formula Continental championship at the SCCA Runoffs.

Pacific F2000 champion Tim de Silva and Formula Car Challenge representative Jonathan Sugianto both hail from California. Pittsburgh's Matthew Machiko qualified after winning the Formula Mazda championship at the SCCA Runoffs and at 25 years old, he is the oldest driver in the competition. Austin Garrison rounds out the Americans in the competition after winning the Rotax MAX Challenge.

There are eight international drivers coming to the United States to compete in the Shootout. Scottish Formula Ford 1600 champion Neil MacLennan, Mountney Formula Ford Super Series champion Oliver White and BRSCC F1600 champion Niall Murray all come from across the Atlantic. New Zealander Michael Scott earned a spot after winning the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, the same series Scott Dixon won almost twenty years ago. Australia's Will Brown finished second in Australia Formula Ford and won the Australia Formula Four championship.

MMSC MRF F1600 India Championship sends championship runner-up Karthik Tharani to the Shootout. Mexican Axel Matus won the Formula Panam Championship and the final driver in the Shootout is Mazda Road to Indy Brazil champion Marcel Coletta, the youngest driver in the competitions at 14 years of age.

Unlike a traditional race weekend, the drivers will be split into four groups and each group will get three-30 minutes sessions on Tuesday December 6th. On Wednesday December 7th, the drivers will be split into four groups again and each group will have another 30-minute session. In the afternoon, the 18 drivers will be split into two groups and each group will have a 30-minute qualifying session before the 30-minute simulation race, which will be held at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The winner of the Mazda Road to Indy Scholarship will be announced at 6:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday December 7th.

Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 162.5 points scored this weekend by Michael Caruso at Homebush?
2. Over or Under: 1.5 LMP3 cars on the lead lap in class at Fuji?
3. Over or Under: 10.5 cars completing 600 laps in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill?
4. Over or Under: 7.5 American drivers mentioned in the Racer.com Mazda Road to Indy Shootout recap?

Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: Nine cars finished within a minute of Lewis Hamilton at Abu Dhabi.
2. Over: There were six retirements during the GP2 weekend.
3. Under: Santino Ferrucci scored two points at Abu Dhabi.
4. Under: José María López ended the 2016 WTCC season with 381 points.

Predictions
1. Someone other than Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup will win at Homebush.
2. There will be at least four European drivers represented in the three class winners.
3. The Ryno Racing Ginetta finishes in the top five overall.
4. A driver between the ages of 18 and 19 win the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout.

Last Week's Predictions 
1. One of the top six in the championship retire from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Wrong. The top six all finished).
2. At least one GP2 race features two drivers from the same country on the podium (Wrong. Six podium places, five nationalities but Sergey Sirotkin and Artem Markelov finished on the podium in separate races).
3. Charles Leclerc wins one of the GP3 races this weekend (Wrong. Leclerc's best finish was ninth).
4. Citroën puts two cars on the podium in each race from Qatar (Half right. There were two Citroën's on the podium for the second race).
Last Week: 0.5/5 Overall: 25.5/49

Friday Finales: Homebush and Thunderhill

It might be the first weekend of December but the motorsport season is not over and there are two events taking place and a championship to be decided. One driver goes for his first title while another is looking for his first championship in 16 years. Meanwhile, a slew of stars get together for an endurance race in Southern California.

Homebush
Two drivers enter the V8 Supercars season finale from Homebush Street Circuit in Sydney Olympic Park with a shot at the 2015 championship.

Mark Winterbottom enters with the title within his grasp. The Prodrive Racing Australia Ford driver leads Red Bull Racing Australia Holden's Craig Lowndes by 179 points with 300 points left on the table. Winterbottom has nine victories and 15 podiums from the first 33 races but has not stood on the podium since finishing second to Lowndes in the Bathurst 1000. Lowndes has six victories; including two at the most recent round at Phillip Island. Lowndes has finished on the podium in the last four races and has 16 podiums total.

Since Bathurst, Winterbottom has finished outside the top ten in three of eight races, while Lowndes has finished in the top four in seven of eight races with a retirement in the second race from Pukekhohe Park Raceway being the lone blemish on his résumé in the last six weeks.

Winterbottom has finished in the top five of the championship every year since he joined what was Ford Performance Racing in 2006. He finished second to Jamie Whincup in the 2006 championship and has finished third in the championship five times, including last year. Lowndes is a three-time championship but his last title came in 1999. Since his last title, Lowndes has finished runner-up in the championship five times, three times to his teammate Whincup. Lowndes' first championship in 1996 is the only time he has won the title and the Bathurst 1000 in the same year.

Both drivers have won on the Homebush Street Circuit. Lowndes has two victories and Winterbottom has one. The two drivers split the 2011 races with Lowndes winning race one of the Sydney 500 weekend in 2012. Holden has won the last five races on the Homebush Street Circuit and nine of 13 races. Ford has won the other four races.

25 Hours of Thunderhill
The final major endurance race of the year in the United States takes place this weekend. The 14th running of 25 Hours of Thunderhill features an Indianapolis 500 winner, a NASCAR Cup champion and some of the best from American sports car racing. This race will feature a new edition to the grid: LMP3 machinery.

The #17 Davidson Racing Norma BMW won last year's race and Brian Frisselle, Kyle Marcelli and Randy Pobst are entered in the #17 Norma. However, standing in the team's way of another win in the event will be three Ginetta LMP3s of Ryno Racing. The #5 Ginetta will have Randy Carpenter, Ryan Carpenter and George Kurtz behind the wheel. Those three are also entered in the #8 Ginetta alongside Colin Braun and Ethan Stone. Randy Carpenter and Stone are also entered the #20 Ginetta.

Al Unser, Jr. will return in the #52 JFC Racing Wolf-GB08MJ-K20 alongside Miles Jackson, Todd Harris and Ryan Eversley. ONE Motorsports has entered two Radical SR3s. John Shafer and John Falb are entered in both the #63 and #67 Radicals with Todd Slusher entered in the #63 and Sean Rayhall entered in the #67. All the entries above are entered in the ESR class.

Davidson Racing has a car entered in the ES class. The #16 DR Eagle will be driven by Alex Lloyd, Brad Frisselle, Dion von Moltke and Brandon Kraus. The #3 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC will feature Mike Skeen, Darrell Anderson, Chris Durbin and Kurt Rezzetano. Other ES class entries to keep an eye on are the #06 Stammer, Inc./Bavarian Performance BMW M3 of Jeffrey Stammer, Derek Welch, Eddie Nakato and Matt Crandall and Flying Lizard Motorsports has entered an Audi R8 LMS for Johannes van Overbeek, Guy Cosmo, Darren Law and Tomonobu Fujii.

Mazda has entered four Global MX-5 Cup cars in the E0 class. The #07 Mazda will be shared by Ken Saward, John Stott, Jeronimo Esteve and Stevan McAllen. In the #55 Mazda will be Taz Harvey, Richard Fisher and Randy Miller. Camden Jones, Mike Allen, Ben Robertaccio and Michael Brockman will drive the #56 Mazda and Robert DeVaux, Liam Dwyer and Nathan Edmonds will be in the #70 Mazda. CA Sport has entered two Nissan 370Zs. The #15 will be shared by Ric Shaw, Philip Alexander, Stephan Borness and Dave Cox and the #33 will be driven by Ray Mason, Lara Tallamn, Carl Rydqvist, Vesko Kozarov and Byron Smith. Another E0 class to keep an eye on is the #61 RoadShagger Racing BMW M3 of Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley, Thomas Merrill and Kurt Busch.

Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 100.5 points separating the V8 Supercars champion and second?
2. Over or Under: 1.5 Ginetta finishing at least 75% of the race winner's lap total?

Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: Eight points separated the top two in the GP3 championship.
2. Under: One South American scored points in Abu Dhabi. Felipe Massa finished eighth.
3. Over: One victory for Stoffel Vandoorne in Abu Dhabi.
4. Over: Two podiums for not Citroën drivers. Hugo Valente in a Chevrolet and Nobert Michelisz in a Honda.

Predictions
1. A manufacture that isn't Holden or Ford wins at least one race at Homebush.
2. Rain will prevent the winner of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill from completing 700 laps.

Last Week's Predictions
1. Esteban Ocon takes the GP3 championship and wins a race this weekend (Correct and Wrong. Ocon won the title but did not win a race).
2. There are at least two changes in championship position after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Wrong. One change. Kimi Räikkönen jumped Valtteri Bottas).
3. Stoffel Vandoorne leaves Bahrain as the sole all-time leader in GP2 victories (Correct. He won race one).
4. Mehdi Bennani finishes in the top ten of the WTCC standings (Correct. He finished eighth).
Overall: 2.5/4 Running Tally: 35.5/67

Davidson Racing Wins 25 Hours of Thunderhill

The #17 Davidson Racing Norma M20F BMW of Alex Lloyd, Kyle Marcelli, Randy Pobst, Brian Frisselle and Bob Davidson dominated the 2014 25 Hours of Thunderhill winning the race comfortable with 21 laps between them and their nearest competitor. The #17 Norma completed 682 laps.

The ESR entry started on pole position and held the overall lead at the 6-hour, 12-hour and 19-hour marks of the race. The #00 Award Motorsport/Ehret Family Winery Porsche GT3 Cup of Anthony Ward, Pierre Ehret, Kelly Collins, Tom Hacker, Spencer Trennery and Tommy Sadler finished second overall and won the ES class. Third place overall and second in the ES class was the #6 Stammer Inc./Bavarian Performance BMW E46 M3 of Derek Welch, Eddie Nakato, Jefferey Stammer and Matt Crandall. The #6 BMW finished sixteen laps back of the #00 Porsche.

Fourth overall and rounding out the ES podium was the #03 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC of Mike Skeen, Ryan Eversley, Chris Durbin and Darrell Anderson having completed 628 laps.

The E1 class winning #67 Sparta Evo Brakes/Maxxis Tires/Bullet Performance BMW 328i finished fifth overall, completing 612 laps with drivers Brett Strom, Mickey Miller, Ralph Warren and Robert Green. Second in E1, three laps behind the #67 was the #95 Grip Racing BMW 330i of Charles Hurley, David Wheaton, Jason Vein, Mark Drennan and Richard Cohn-Lee.

The E0 class winning #31 Hankook Tires/El Diablo Motorsports BMW M3 of Dale Sievwright, Lance Boicelli, Scott Smith and William Brinkop finished seventh overall completing 607 laps. Two laps behind them was the #25 Honda Racing Acura ILX of Michael Tsay, Corey Taguchi, Derek Ferretti and Lawrence Hwang in eighth overall.

Ninth overall, second in the E0 class after completing 602 laps was the #32 CA Sport BMW M3 of Bruce Trenery, Byron Smith, Kristian Boodoosingh, Marc Miller and Ray Mason. Rounding out the top ten overall, third in E0 was the #33 CA Sport/Skullcandy Team Nissan 370Z of Vesko Kozarov, Lara Tallman, Bryan Heitkotter and Aaron Pfadt.

The #23 RJ Racing Mazda Miata of Gary Brown, John Gibson, Rob Gibson and Roger Eagleton won the E3 class having completed 587 laps and finishing 12th overall. The E2 class was won by the #34 Team RDR Mazada RX8 of Dennis Holloway, Joel Miller and Lee Papageorge after completing 576 laps and finishing 20th overall.

Other notable entries:
The #61 BF Goodrich Road Shagger Racing BMW M3 of Kurt Busch, Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley and Robbie Montinola completed 564 laps and finished fourth in the E0 class.

The #62 Team Vegas/DiscTech/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Sean Rayhall, Jesse Menzcer, John Falb and Todd Slusher finished second in ESR, 100 laps back of the overall winning Davidson Racing entry.

The #48 Crowd Strike/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Colin Braun, Dave House, George Kurtz and Gerhard Watzinger finished third in ESR, four laps behind their teammate.

The #54 Motorsport Services Seat León SuperCopa of Clint Harvey, Daniel Stutterd, Malcolm Niall and Mark Pilatti finished sixth in ES after completing 547 laps.

Less Than Five Hours To Go From Thunderhill

Night has become day at Thunderill Raceway Park and the 25 Hours of Thunderhill is entering the home stretch as less than five hours remain.

The #17 Davidson Racing Norma M20F BMW of Brian Frisselle, Alex Lloyd, Randy Pobst and Kyle Marcelli continues to lead as they have completed 554 laps and hold a 12-lap lead over the #00 Award Motorsport/Ehret Family Winery Porsche GT3 Cup of Pierre Ehret, Kelly Collins, Tom Hacker, Spencer Trennery and Tommy Sadler. The #17 is the top ESR class entry and the #00  leads the ES class. Third overall and second in ES is the #6 Stammer Inc./Bavarian Performance BMW E46 M3 of Derek Welch, Eddie Nakato, Jeffery Stammer and Matt Crandall. They are 25 laps behind the overall leader.

In fourth place is the #03 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC of Mike Skeen, Ryan Eversley, Chris Durbin and Darrell Anderson. The #03 Superlite is third in the ES class. Rounding out the top five is the top E1 class entry, the #67 Sparta Evo Brakes/Maxxis Tire/Bullett Performance BMW 328i being driven by Brett Strom, Mickey Miller, Ralph Warren and Robert Green. They have completed 496 laps as has the #25 Honda Racing Acura ILX of Michael Tsay, Corey Taguchi, Derek Ferretti and Lawrence Hwang. Second in the E1 class, seventh overall and a lap back of the #67 BMW is the #95 Grip Racing BMW 330i of Charles Hurley, David Wheaton, Jason Vein, Mark Drennan and Richard Cohn-Lee.

Eighth overall is the top E0 entry, the CA Sport/Skullcandy Team Nissan 370Z of Vesko Kozarov, Lara Tallman, Bryan Heitkotter and Aaron Pfadt. Two laps behind the Nissan, ninth overall is second in the E0 class, the #31 Hankook Tires/El Diablo Motorsports BMW M3 of Dale Sievwright, Lance Boicelli, Scott Smith and William Brinkop. The #14 Technik/HQ Autosport BMW 330Ci of Joey Jordan, Neil Daly, Paul Quattrocchi, Peter Hopelain and Shawn Simpson round out the top ten and are third in the E1 class.

Other notable entries:

The #61 BF Goodrich Road Shagger Racing BMW M3 of Kurt Busch, Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley and Robbie Montinola are 12th overall, fourth in the E0 class having completed 483 laps.

The #48 Crowd Strike/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Colin Braun, Dave House, George Kurtz and Gerhard Watzinger are 23rd overall with 455 laps completed.

The #54 Motorsport Services Seat León SuperCopa is 34th with 428 laps completed. Their drivers are Clint Harvey, Daniel Stutterd, Malcolm Niall and Mark Pilatti.

Almost a Quarter of the Way Home at Thunderhill

Six of 25 hours have been completed from Thunderhill Raceway Park in Southern California.

The pole-sitting #17 Davidson Racing Norma M20F BMW of Alex Lloyd, Brian Frisselle, Kyle Marcelli, Randy Pobst, Dominic Ciero and Bob Davidson lead the #48 Crowd Strike/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Colin Braun, Dave House, George Kurtz and Gerhard Watzinger. Both cars are apart of the ESR class and have completed 159 laps. In third is the #00 Porsche GT3 Cup of Award Motorsport/Ehret Family Winery. The Porsche is the top ES class entry and the final car on the lead lap.

The #03 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC of Mike Skeen, Ryan Aversely, Chris Durbin and Darrell Anderson is second in the ES class and fourth overall, two laps down. Rounding out the top five is the ES class #6 Stammer, Inc/Bavarian Performance BMW E46 M3 of Derek Welch, Eddie Nakato, Jefferey Stammer and Matt Crandall. The Stammer BMW is five laps down.

The top E0 class entry is the #31 Hankook Tires/El Diablo Motorsports BMW M3 of Dale Sievwright, Lance Boicelli, Scott Smith and William Brinkop in sixth position. Running seventh is the ES class #27 Acura ILX of Honda Racing of Lee Niffenegger, Sage Marie, Scott Nicol and Matthew Staal. Both are 11 laps back.

Second in the E0 class is the #61 BF Goodrich Road Shagger Racing BMW M3 of Kurt Busch, Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley and Robbie Montinola. They are running eighth overall. The #52 JFC Racing Wolf GB08-ASR is ninth overall, third in the ESR class with drivers Al Unser, Jr., Ivan Bellarosa, Miles Jackson and Phil Fogg, Jr. The #52 Wolf was leading overall earlier in the race but are now down 12 laps. Rounding out the top ten is the ES class #66 Coldcock Whiskey Silverado of Donald Powell, Randy Blaylock and Troy Lindstrom, also 12 laps down.

Other notable entries:
The #62 One Motorsport Radical of Sean Rayhall, Jesse Menzcer, John Falb and Todd Slusher is 11th, down 15 laps.

The #54 Motorsport Services Seat León SuperCopa of Clint Harvey, Daniel Stutterd, Malcolm Niall and Mark Pilatti is 42nd, over 40 laps back of the leading Davidson Racing entry.

The #16 Davidson Racing DR Eagle of Anthony Lazzaro, Burt Frisselle, Kyle Marcelli, Brandon Klaus, Dion von Moltke and Chris Lock has had clutch issues and are behind the wheel in 48th position, having completed only 97 laps.

Friday Finales: Homebush, Sepang, Thunderhill

Despite being in the final month of the year, a few races are still on the docket. While championships are already decided, the show must go on and schedule run to their completion. Two series wrap up their 2014 seasons while the final American endurance race of the year takes place in Southern California. There are some interesting storylines as a former champion returns home and a who's who of drivers from sports cars, NASCAR and IndyCar compete in the longest races in the United States.

Homebush

The final round of the 2014 V8 Supercars takes place on the streets of Sydney Olympic Park but the title has already been locked up. Jaime Whincup clinched a record-setting sixth V8 Supercars championship at Phillip Island three weeks ago when the Red Bull Racing Holden driver finished third, first and fourth. Whincup leads Mark Winterbottom by 452 points with 300 points left on the table at Sydney. Winterbottom finished third in the final two races of the Phillip Island weekend. Those were his first podiums since victory at Hidden Valley in the middle of June. 

Trailing Winterbottom by 95 points is Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes with the Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen 39 points back of Lowndes. Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin jumped into the top five after winning two of three at Phillip Island. Fabian Coulthard makes it tic-tac-toe, three Kiwis in a row as he is sixth in the championship, fifteen behind McLaughlin. Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert is seven points behind Coulthard with James Courtney eight points back of Mostest in eighth. Courtney's Holden Racing teammate Garth Tander is a point behind him. Nissan driver Michael Caruso rounds out the top ten, 189 points back of Tander. 

For the first time since November 27, 2005, Marcos Ambrose will run a V8 Supercars race. The two-time champion returns after nine seasons in NASCAR. Ambrose will return to full-time V8SC competition in 2015 driving for a partnership between Dick Johnson Racing and Team Penske. Ambrose won the last two V8SC races he competed in, both at Phillip Island. This will be his first time driving the Homebush Street Circuit. Ambrose will drive the #66 Ford this weekend.

This is the sixth year V8SC will run the Homebush circuit. Lowndes is the only driver to have multiple victories on the circuit with two. Last year, Whincup and Van Gisbergen won at Homebush. Other winners at the track include Tander, Courtney, Jonathon Webb, Lee Holdsworth, Winterbottom and Will Davison. Holden has won six of ten races at the track with Ford taking the other four. This will be Volvo's first race at Homebush. Nissan and Mercedes-Benz made their debuts last year with Caruso scoring Nissan's best finish in seventh and Tim Slade scoring Mercedes' best finish in eighth, both coming in race one. 

Asian Le Mans Series

The fourth and final round of the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series season will take place at Sepang International Circuit with eight cars entered for the 3 Hours of Sepang.

OAK Racing already clinched the title with the #1 Morgan-Judd and drivers David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung. They have won all three races entering the season finale and will be joined by Yuan Bo at Sepang. The only other car entered in LMP2 is the #27 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca-Judd of John Hartshorne, Pu Jun Jin and James Winslow. 

Two cars are entered in the CN class as the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier of Samson Chan and Kevin Tse have won all three races and have already clinched the title. Chan and Tse will be joined by Jonathan Venter for Sepang. The other car in class is the #21 Team Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 with drivers Denis Lian and Sean Hudspeth. 

GT features four cars and the title is still up for grabs. The #91 Team AAI BMW Z4 GT3 of Jun San Chen and Tatsuya Tanigawa lead their teammates, the #92 Team AAI BMW Z4 GT3 of Morris Chen and Marco Seefried by three points. Morris Chen and Seefried won the opening round at Inje, South Korea while Jun San Chen and Tanigawa won the second round at Fuji. Ollie Millroy will be the third driver in the #91 and Ryohei Sakaguchi will be the third in the #92. The third Team AAI entry, the #90 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Yu Lam, Takeshi Tsuchiya and Takamitsu Matsui still have a shot at the title. They sit 22 points back with 26 left on the table. To win the title, they will need to win and have their two teammates to retire from the race. 

The final GT entry is the #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Matt Griffin, Richard Wee and Mok Weng Sun. Griffin and Sun won at Shanghai with Keita Sawa as the third driver. Clearwater Racing won last year at Sepang.

25 Hours of Thunderhill

The race isn't as commonly known as the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500 but the 25 Hours of Thunderhill provides a plethora of automobiles and experienced drivers. 

Names such as Kurt Busch, Al Unser, Jr., Colin Braun, Alex Lloyd, Mike Skeen, Sean Rayhall, Davy Jones and MLB all-star pitcher C.J. Wilson are just a few of the names entered for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. 

Two cars to keep an eye on belong to Davidson Racing. The #16 DR Eagle features former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Anthony Lazzaro, 24 Hours of Daytona GT-class winner Dion von Moltke, IMSA veteran Burt Frisselle and Chris Lock. Davidson's #17 Norma M20F BMW will feature Brian Frisselle, former Indy Lights champion and IndyCar Rookie of the Year Alex Lloyd, four-time Pirelli World Challenge champion Randy Pobst, Kyle Marcelli, Dominic Cicero and Bob Davidson. The #16 is in the ES class with the #17 in the ESR class. 

ESR also features two Radicals entered by One Motorsports with Prototype Challenge regulars. Colin Braun leads the #48 Crowd Strike/One Motorsports Radical SR3 with Dave House, George Kurtz and Gerhard Watzinger rounding out the lineup. Sean Rayhall will be in the #62 Team Vegas/Disk Tech/One Motorsports SR3 with Jesse Menacer, John Falb and Todd Slusher.

Another ESR class entry to keep an eye on is the #52 JFC Racing Wolf GB08-ASR led by two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, Jr. He will be joined by Ivan Bellarosa, Miles Jackson and Phil Fogg, Jr.

Duncan Ende leads the ESR class #88 Green Alternative Motorsports Norma M20F with James Paul, Robert Calisi and Stephan Zadig as his fellow co-driver.

Davy Jones, winner of the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans leads the #4 Prototype Development Group Factory 5 GTM with Paul Edwards, Mike Holland and Steven Lisa rounding out the driver line-up. They will compete in the ES class.

Pirelli World Challenge runner-up Mike Skeen will be in the ES class #O3 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC with Ryan Eversely, Darrell Anderson and Chris Durbin.

Kurt Busch will compete in the #61 BF Goodrich Road Shagger Racing BMW M3 in the E0 class. His co-drivers are Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley and Robbie Montinola. PWC driver Vesko Kozarov will lead E0 class #33 CA Sport/Skullcandy Team Nissan with his co-drivers being Lara Tallman, Aaron Pfadt and Bryan Heitkotter.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitchers C.J. Wilson will compete in the #55 Mazdaspeed Dealers A Mazda 6 Diesel. His co-drivers are Joel Weinberger, Richard Fisher and Taz Harvey in the E1 class entry.

Possibly my favorite entry is the #54 Motorsports Services Seat León Supercopa from Hamilton, New Zealand. The ES class entry will be driven by Clint Harvey, Daniel Stutterd, Malcolm Niall and Mark Pilatti.

The race begins at 11:00 a.m. PT (2:00 p.m. ET) Saturday and will end at noon (3:00 p.m. ET) Sunday.

Over/Unders

1. Over or Under: 1.5 podiums for an international manufactures at Homebush?

2. Over or Under: 5.5 laps between the overall winner and the GT class winner at Sepang?

3. Over or Under: 1.5 cars running over 700 laps at Thunderhill?

Last Week's Over/Unders

1. Under: Zero Russian drivers won in LMP2 as KCMG won with two Brits and a Swiss driver.

2. Over: Five cars finished on the lead lap.

3. Over: The winning GTE-Pro Aston Martin ran 221 laps.

4. Over: Two Aston Martins finished in the top two of GTE-Am.
5. Over: Nine Chevrolets finished in the top ten at Curitiba.

Predictions

1. Craig Lowndes finishes ahead of Mark Winterbottom in the final championship standings.
2. OAK Racing completes the perfect season.
3. One of the 12 teams I featured above wins at least their class at Thunderhill.

Last Week's Predictions

1. The G-Drive trio of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov hold off Sergey Zlobin for the LMP2 crown (Wrong. G-Drive retired, handing the title to Zlobin).

2. Tom Kristensen ends his career on the top step of the podium (Wrong but Kristensen did finish 3rd).

3. Aston Martin wins pole position in GTE-Pro (Correct).

4. Emerson Fittipaldi does not finish on the GTE-Am podium (Correct).
5. Rubens Barrichello wins the Stock Car Brasil title (Correct). 

Overall: 3/5. Running Tally: 34.5/62