It’s Thursday and that means a look ahead to the weekend in racing all around the world here on Hooniverse. One of my absolute favorite races is this weekend at a tiny, oft-forgotten Welsh racing circuit while the big-dollar series both here in the U.S. and abroad will be racing (much, much) faster cars at more profoundly famous tracks. After a couple of relative duds the last two weekends, the next few days are packed full of open-wheel, stock car, sports car, vintage, off-road, stage rally, drag, and sideways racing. Follow the yump for all the details on who, what, where, when, and how (to follow).
Pro tip: Keep this page open all weekend or bookmark so you have all the resources handy. Want more information on a series mentioned below? Click here for Hooniverse’s Massively Oversized Guide to Motorsports 2015, which will tell you all you need to know (and then some).

2CV Racing Club 24 Hours (Anglesey Circuit)

Someday, I will get to the Welsh circuit perched on the coast of the Irish Sea to see this race of all races. It is exactly what the name suggests: 24 straight hours of racing in Citroen 2CVs. As an avid follower of the 24 Hours of LeMons, I have a soft spot for when people take cars intended as basic transportation and cane them on a racetrack. The 2CV Racing Club does this in the United Kingdom with two 20-minute races per race meeting, except for a two-hour race at Croft Circuit and this weekend’s finale.
Until I can plan a coincidental August trip to Wales some year when visiting the Roods’ ancestral home in Herefordshire, I will have to watch the live stream of the race. Last year was problematic in that Anglesey is effectively in the middle of nowhere so Internet, being the thing that all racetracks find impossible, was scarce for the streaming video. Hopefully, that’s ironed out so I can get my fix of rollcaged French country cars leaning on each other to the backdrop of the Irish Sea.
Links: 2CV site. Anglesey site. Event page. Schedule.
Coverage: Streaming live on Saturday @ 8:30 a.m. ET on the 2CV Racing Club site.

 

Formula 1: Belgian Grand Prix

F1 heads to the penultimate round of its five-race European swing with a race at the famed and sprawling Spa Francorchamps circuit. Spa includes some incredible elevation changes and the dauntingEau Rouge-Raidillon climbing turn complex—and don’t let the legendary Eau Rouge name fool you; the left-hander Raidillon is the tricky part, as Fernando Alonso illustrates above—leading to the long Kemmel Straight is one of the highlights of the F1 calendar. With 4.352 miles of track and great passing zones into Les Combes, the Chicane, and La Source corners, this may be another shocker of a race like the Hungarian Grand Prix, where points leaders Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both finished off the podium for the first time this year.
Hamilton still leads by 21 points over Rosberg, who in turn leads by 21 points over Sebastien Vettel in an obvious three-way battle for the championship, though Hamilton still has the upper hand in defending his championship. Vettel is a two-time winner on the grid and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen has four wins, though none since 2009. Daniel Ricciardo stole a win last year for Red Bull Racing, so this could be quite the race. Or Mercedes will regain their early-season form and storm off when the starting lights go out.
Links: F1 site. Spa site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list with season points. Live timing.
Support race(s): GP2. GP3. Porsche SuperCup
Coverage: Sunday @ 7:30 a.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

 

IndyCar: ABC Supply 500 (Pocono Raceway)

With only two races left on the IndyCar calendar, the plot has thickened. Team Penske’s Juan Montoya has led the championship from the first race at St. Petersburg, but Graham Rahal, driving for his father Bobby’s team Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing, has chipped away at the title lead race-by-race, narrowing the gap to just nine points. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon is a longshot at third in the championship, but as this season has shown, anything can happen.
The series races at Pocono’s Tricky Triangle, a unique three-turn “oval” that races a bit like a speedway and a bit like a road course. The track has only been on the IndyCar schedule for the last two years so it’s actually Montoya with an advantage, having logged 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts at Pocono. That paid off last year with a win for him. Rahal has been less-than-stellar at Pocono in the past, but comparing past performance to his approach this year is moot. Expect him to be in the mix with Montoya.
Links: IndyCar site. Pocono site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list with season points. Live timing.
Support race(s): SVRA.
Coverage: Sunday @ 2 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. IndyCar Radio.

 

ARCA Racing Series: SuperChevyStore.com Allen Crowe 100 (Illinois State Fairgrounds)

NASCAR’s Camping World Trucks Series has the Mudsummer Classic, a race in its third incarnation this year on the half-mile of dirt at Eldora Speedway, but this year marks the 30th anniversary of ARCA racing on the one-mile dirt oval at the Illinois County Fairgrounds. ARCA legend Frank Kimmel has won eight of the 30 previous races, although he has hung up his helmet for the most part this year. Grant Enfinger has won four times this year and leads the points by a wide margin over Austin Wayne Self. Unlike Eldora, the bigger track means a little less drifting, although the racing surface is really only about 2-1/2 cars wide, meaning the racing is tight and side-by-side racing through a corner takes some serious gumption.
Links: ARCA site. Event page with entry list. Schedule. Season points.
Support act(s): USAC Silver Crown Series, Demolition Derby, Hank Williams Jr., and Miniature Horses. Bad tattoos aren’t on the schedule but will be found in abundance.
Coverage: Sunday @ 2:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Irwin Tools Race Night (Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, TN)

With three races left before The Chase and only 11 race winners in Sprint Cup this year, drivers outside of qualifying based on points will be scrambling for a win this weekend at the Tennessee half-mile oval. Kyle Busch missed 11 races this year with a broken leg, but he’s come back in force with four wins. To qualify for the Chase, he still must finish in the Top 30 in points and he currently sits 29th. That said, he has racked up a remarkable 15 wins at Bristol across the three top NASCAR series, including five in Sprint Cup. His brother Kurt also has five wins, but with two wins, he has already punched his Chase ticket. The other five-time winner in the field is Jeff Gordon, who is clinging on to the 15th of 16 Chase spots, putting him precariously on the bubble for elimination. He’d still surely like a win to get one last chance at a title before he hangs up his helmet. Both the Xfinity and Sprint Cup races are under the lights this weekend; the Camping World Truck Series race was actually last night on a rare Wednesday race.
Links: Sprint Cup site. Bristol site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points. Live timing.
Support race(s): Food City 300 (Xfinity Series).
Coverage: Saturday @ 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. Xfinity Series  – Friday @ 7 p.m. ET on NBC SN.

 

Tudor United Sportscar Championship: Virginia International Raceway

IMSA’s sports car series heads to epic VIR and with only 19 cars from the GTLM and GTD classes, there should be plenty of room for a no-holds-barred battle. In GTLM, the Corvette Racing duo of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner from Rahal Letterman Lanigan trailing by just four points in their BMW Z4 while Porsche driver Patrick Pilet trails the RLL duo by just one point. It’s close, in other words, heading into the season’s final two rounds. In GTD, Danish rising star Christina Nielsen leads Paul Miller Racing’s Christopher Haase and Dion Von Moltke by two points. Nielsen’s driver pairings in the TRG Aston Martin V12 Vantage have been great with defending GTLM champion Kuno Wittmer splitting the car with her. Also racing the weekend is the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, which might be some of the best racing in the country right now.
Links: TUSC site. VIR site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points. Live timing.
Support race(s): Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Porsche GT3 Cup USA. Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Maserati Trofeo
Coverage: Sunday @ 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 and IMSA.tv. CTSCC – Saturday @ 1:25 p.m. ET on IMSA.tv. IMSA Radio on Radio Le mans with streaming audio of all TUSC and CTSCC sessions.

 

Pirelli World Challenge: Miller Motorsports Park

As has been the sort-of story off and on throughout the year on various race weekends, this Pirelli World Challenge event is overshadowed by the news that a Chinese company is likely to (and possibly has by press time) swoop in to buy the otherwise-doomed pristine racing facility in Utah. You can read about that elsewhere, but the big PWC fields should continue to swarm around Miller’s expansive domain with good racing in spades. The championship battles are actually incredibly close in all of the classes except GT Cup, where young phenom Colin Thompson is quickly making a name for himself, but the GT battle between Scottish bulldog Ryan Dalziel and wily Olivier Beretta has persisted all season with Dalziel finally taking the championship lead with solid outings at Road America. Don’t expect Beretta to take it lying down and with that pair, you should see no quarter given on either side. If it stays close, the last three rounds in the GT class will be stupendous.
Links: PWC site. MMP site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points. Live timing.
Coverage: Streaming video of all races (See schedule) on World-Challenge.tv and/or on MotorTrendOnDemand.com. Delayed broadcasts on NBC Sports Network.

 

V8 Supercars: Sydney Motorsports Park

Australian’s totally rad touring/stock/whatever series rolls to the high-speed SMP (formerly Eastern Creek Raceway) for the final sprint races before the Pirtek Enduro Cup. Another solid weekend at the Ipswich 500 extended Ford driver Mark Winterbottom’s championship lead to 256 points over Holden rival Craig Lowndes. If he holds on, it would Winterbottom’s first-ever title in the Ford Falcon’s final year and you can bet he wants it badly. He needs a good showing this weekend to extend the lead as much as possible before the Pirtek Cup, where Lowndes has traditionally been so strong.
Links: V8S. Sydney site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points. Live timing.
Support race(s): Australian GT, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, Aussie Racing Cars, Formula 4.
Coverage: Live on V8 Superview (subscription service); races are Saturday @ 12:25 a.m. ET, Saturday @ 2:35 a.m. ET, Sunday @ midnight ET. Delayed broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

 

Formula Drift: Texas Motor Speedway

Ryan Tuerck’s championship lead in FD was short-lived after the New Jersey round when Tuerck and Odi Bakchis were bounced early in the Seattle round. Norwegian ace Fredric Aasbo capitalized on that opportunity with a win and he now leads by 76 points with just two rounds left. Aasbo has won three of the season’s five rounds and a fourth win at TMS would all but clinch the title headed to the finale at Irwindale. Tuerck or Bakchis will need a win of his own to get back into title fight. Like all FD rounds, you can watch it live to enjoy a series where 1,000 wheel horsepower is increasingly common among competitors. If the competition isn’t really your bag, the builds for top-level drift cars are simply mind-blowing.
Links: FD site. TMS site. Event page with schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: Streaming on DailyMotion starts Saturday @ 4 p.m. ET.

 

British Touring Car Championship: Knockhill

The last round at Croft proved disastrous for pre-event championship leader Matt Neal, who ceded the lead to his nemesis Jason Plato. The 48-year-old twice BTCC champion Plato now sits ahead of his Volkswagen CC teammate Colin Turkington, himself the series’ defending champion. The duo got off to a slow start at Brands Hatch this year but have come on strong with the new program, as drivers of their talent level are wont to do. They’ll all head to Scotland and the 1.2-mile Knockhill Circuit. Aside from the hairpin leading on the front straight, the short track is very flowing and rhythmic, producing sub-minute times and plenty of chances for characteristic BTCC door banging.
Links: BTCC site. Knockhill site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Support race(s): Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Ginetta Junior Championship, UK Clio Cup, MSA Formula Championship.
Coverage: None live in the U.S. Delayed on September 2 @ 10 p.m. ET CBS Sports Network.

 

NHRA: Lucas Oil Nationals (Brainerd International Raceway)

The NHRA’s penultimate round before the Countdown to the Championship takes place this weekend at Brainerd, a drag strip that still kind of makes up part of the facility’s road course, as well. Last year, BIR’s weekend grabbed auto blogs’ headlines with the crazy crash above, but more notably, the Eliminations round was rained out with the make-up rounds tacked onto the beginning of the following round, the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Several drivers have already clinched Countdown spots and may skip BIR, but the Funny Car points standings have changed rapidly in the last two rounds with record-breaking runs from Jack Beckman catapulting him to second, just five points behind Don Schumacher racing teammate Matt Hagan.
Links: NHRA site. BIR site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: Sunday @ Noon ET on ESPN3.com (live) and @ 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2 (Delayed).

 

European Drag Racing Championship: Scandinavian Internationals (Tierp Arena)

If that’s not enough quarter(ish)-mile action, the FIA’s drag racing series across the pond heads to Tierp Arena in Sweden this weekend. Finnish racer Anita Makela is chasing her millionth FIA Top Fuel championship, although the first-round winner trails Swede Mikael Kagered by 66 points in the Top Fuel title. Makela is an unsung legend in drag racing and she smashed the European Elapsed Time (ET) record in May with a 3.912-second run.
Links: EDRC site. Tierp site. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: Delayed coverage on MAVTV.

 

World Rally Championship: Rally Germany

Germany proved to be the most dramatic of all rallies on last year’s WRC calendar. Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville rolled during shakedown for a rally on juggernaut Volkswagen’s home turf, prompting Neuville’s crew to rebuild his car in short order to take the first stage. One by one, the Volkswagen drivers all fell while Neuville took Hyundai to a fairy tale first win, upsetting the rally apple cart for the only non-VW win last year in the brand’s home country. With Sebastien Ogier well on his way to a third championship, expect his VW bosses to keep him under their collective thumbs to prevent a repeat of last year. The entry list is pretty notable with Romain Dumas and Francois Delacour both racing Porsche 911s and rally-raid champion Nasser Al-Attiyah racing in an RC2-class Skoda alongside European Rally Championship factory driver Esapekka Lappi.
Links: WRC site. Rally Germany site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Support race(s): WRC2, WRC3.
Coverage: Sunday 6 a.m. ET on  MAVTV. Live stage timing and radio on WRC Live with the same plus live onboard video and stae tracking on WRC+ (subscription service).

 

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series: Wild West Motorsports Park (Reno, NV)

The Lucas Oil series features some of the heavy hitters of Pro4 and Trophy Truck racing in the world. Former champion Kyle Leduc leads the points this year over Rob McCachren and Bryce Menzies, all of whom have energy-drink sponsors because driving big-ass 800 horsepower trucks with two feet of suspension travel apparently doesn’t adequately stroke their adrenal glands. Wild West looks relatively simple on paper with just four hairpin turns, but that’s spiced up with elevation changes and big table-top with landing zones that strategically overlap with braking zones.
Links: LOORRS site. Wild West site. Event page with schedule. Entry list. Season points. Live timing.
Coverage: Delayed broadcast on CBS Sports Network and MAVTV. Full schedule here.
 

World RallyCross: Hell, Norway

Rallycross…in Hell! Yes, there is a place called Hell in Norway and, as I imagine is the case with most of the Scandinavia, people drive sideways there. OK, that’s overstating how Norway is, I’m sure, but expect a good rallycross on the mostly tarmac course carved into a central Norwegian hillside. This is also a home rally for popular and colorful points leader Petter Solberg. Second in the championship? That’s also a Norwegian, Andreas Bakkerud. Yay for Norge!
Links: WRX site. Hell site (Autoplays terrible music). Event page with schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Support race(s): WRX Lites.
Coverage: Streaming live on WRX site.
 

NASCAR K&N West: Colorado National Speedway

With only four races remaining on the NASCAR development series calendar this year, this should be the start of a nice shootout between Chris Eggleston and Noah Gragson. The pair enter the weekend tied for the points lead with young guns Ryan Partridge and Gracin Raz just six and eight points back, respectively. Eggleston is one of only two drivers with two wins this season and he’s also the defending champion on Colorado’s 3/8-mile oval so he likely comes in as the favorite, though Gragson’s win this year came on a similarly configured 3/8-mile oval.
Links: K&N West site. Colorado site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: Delayed broadcast on Fox Sports 1 @ 7 p.m. ET.
 

British Superbike Championship: Cadwell Park

BSBK championship leader Josh Brookes has been chasing a series championship for six seasons before this campaign and he brings with him to Cadwell Park a four-race winning streak. That run has propelled the Australian rider past four-time champion and presumptive favorite Shane Byrne in the championship with five more weekends (and 10 races) remaining. The super-twisty 18-turn, 2.1-mile circuit should provide a nice backdrop for the championship battle that, like the next couple of races, we can’t actually get in the U.S.
Links: BSBK site. Cadwell Park site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: Motors TV UK. None in the US.
 

Japanese Superformula: Twin Ring Motegi

On the back of his first ever Superformula win at Okayama and a podium at the last round at Fuji, Toyota driver Hiroaki Ishiura leads Portuguese ex-patriot Joao Paulo de Olivieria by two points. Four rounds still remain so you can’t really mathematically count out anyone when Ishiura has a just 21 points and a win plus pole nets a driver 11 points. The 2.98-mile road course features only 14 turns and includes several long straight into tight corners, which is the recipe for lots of passing. Expect an exciting race that you won’t actually be able to watch anywhere.
Links: Super Formula Site. Motegi site. Event page. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: None in the U.S., unfortunately.
 

Turismo Carretera: Olavarria

And here’s yet another series you won’t be able to see. The Argentine stock car series is currently enjoying a great title fight between two former champions. Omar Martinez leads Matias Rossi by just two points in a classic Ford vs. Chevy battle. Unlike most stock cars we’re used to, the TC cars run souped-up straight sixes with both car and engine based on the same technology used in the mid 1970s. It sounds and looks a bit antiquated, but the racing is generally great and draws big crowds. Olavarria is a typical course for the series with just nine turns over 3.14 miles that includes a front straight well over a half-mile long and corners that are all constant radius.
Links: TC site. Event page. Entry list. Season points.
Coverage: None in the U.S.
 

British GT: Snetterton

The GT3 and GT4 series of the United Kingdom heads to Norfolk and the twisting 2.9-mile Snetterton Circuit. The main event features a pair of one-hour races with driver changes. The Beechdean AMR Aston Marting GT3 squad of Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam trail the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 pair of Alexander Sims and Marco Attard, a veteran duo who are also the defending champs. With the Z4 likely on its way out, the Ecurie squad will want that last championship. Beechdean’s GT4-spec Aston Martins have romped to a 42-point lead in that class.
Links: British GT site. Snetterton site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Season points.
Support race(s): BRDC Formula 4, Ginetta GT5, Porsche Club Championshiop, Volkswagen Racing Cup.
Coverage: Motors TV live. None in the U.S.
 
 

SCCA Majors: Michigan International Speedway

This weekend marks the final stop on the SCCA Majors Tour before the national Runoffs at Daytona International Speedway next month. This makes it a last-chance qualifer for a few racers in the region, but for the most part, the entry list should be close to finalized for the Runoffs, held at Daytona for the first time ever before moving to Mid-Ohio next year.
Links: Majors site. MIS site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list.
Coverage: Live timing on SCCA Live and on Race Monitor.
 

ChumpCar World Series: Lime Rock Park

ChumpCar runs three race weekends in the coming days, including three race days at Connecticut’s picturesque and renovated Lime Rock Park.
Links: CCWS site. LRP site. Event supplemental rules with schedule.
Coverage: Live timing on CCWS site and via Race Monitor.
 

ChumpCar World Series: Barber Motorsports Park

Chump races at another world-class facility in Birmingham with a Double-7 weekend, feature a seven-hour race each on Saturday and Sunday.
Links: CCWS site. Barber site. Event supplemental rules with schedule.
Coverage: Live timing on CCWS site and via Race Monitor.
 

ChumpCar World Series: Gingerman Raceway

Add an extra hour to each race at Gingerman for this weekend with a pair of eight-hour races on the calendar for Saturday and Sunday.
Links: CCWS site. Gingerman site. Event supplemental rules with schedule.
Coverage: Live timing on CCWS site and via Race Monitor.
 
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[Lead image copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Eric Rood | Other sources: Motor Sport, Bono Huis, IndyCar, NHRA, World RallyCross Championship]