Motorsports Weekend Guide: July 10 to July 12

MWG_2015
Welcome to another edition of Hooniverse’s look ahead to the weekend in racing. We’ve got a nice variety of racing, although it’s heavy on sports cars and silhouette racers. IndyCar races on the world’s oldest racetrack while American sports cars go north and those chaps Down Under will show the rest of the world again how to turn public streets into a racetrack, as they so often do. Don’t miss the best 25-hour race you’ve never heard of. Follow the jump for the full scoop and how to keep track of the racing.
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).

IndyCar: Milwaukee Mile

After one of the most frenetic speedway races—possibly the most frenetic speedway race ever—in California two weeks ago with nearly 100 lead changes in 250 laps. This weekend brings another 250-lap oval race, but instead of a two-mile oval, IndyCar will race at Milwaukee’s mile-long oval, which also happens to be the oldest racetrack left standing in the entire world. It’s a different animal altogether where speeds are much lower than a speedway and passes can be harder to come by. The Turn 1/2 end is particularly tough with not enough grip for two cars to go through it side-by-side easily.
I went last year and enjoyed the heck out of it and will be there again this year as a fan. The race last year went without a huge wreck and with at least five drivers in the middle of the championship battle, the big names will be racing to hold onto precious points. Ryan Hunter-Reay won back-to-back years at Milwaukee and has had a rough year so far this season; he’ll be one to keep an eye on, hoping to win for Andretti Autosport at one of the team’s home races.
Links: IndyCar site. Milwaukee site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list with standings. Live timing.
Support race(s): Indy Lights.
Coverage: Sunday @ 5:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
 

United Sports Car Championship: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

The U.S.’s big sports car series heads to Canada for its only international round. Mosport remains one of the most daunting racing circuits on the continent with nine turns, many of which are taken at very high speeds. It’s a track that favors higher-downforce cars like the Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda in the Prototype class and it could be Shank Racing’s best chance to fend off the Daytona Prototype cars in the class.
The GT-Daytona class won’t be present, but the season points races in GT-Le Mans and Prototype Challenge have a lot at stake headed to Ontario. In PC, Core Autosport’s Jon Bennett and Colin Braun lead by a single point oer PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’s pair Tom Kimber-Smith and Mike Guasch. In GTLM, the #3 Corvette with Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia are tied with Dirk Werner and Bill Auberlen in one of the BMW Z4s.  Corvette have won three of the last four GT/GTLM races at the track formerly known as Mosport, but BMWs have proven to be excellent at tracks where downforce and mid-corner speed are at a premium.
Links: IMSA site. Mosport site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings. Live timing.
Support race(s): Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Cooper Tires Prototype Lites. Porsche GT3 Cup USA. Mazda MX-5 Cup.
Coverage: Sunday @ Noon ET on FOX Sports 1. CTSCC – Saturday @ 1:25 p.m. ET on IMSA.com and on FansChoice.tvOther support series: Check FansChoice.tv. All sessions have live audio on IMSA Radio via Radio Le Mans.
 

MotoGP: Grand Prix of Germany (Sachsenring)

The MotoGP season has, like last year, been a story of one manufacturer hanging out a cut above the rest of the field. Last it was Honda, but this year it’s been the Yamaha show. With his win at Assen (and then run up the hill at Goodwood in a Mazda 787b the next day), Valentino Rossi solidified a 10-point lead over his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who actually has one more win than Rossi. Rossi, however, has finished on the podium in each of the first eight rounds of the year.
The series now heads to Sachsenring, a track that much like Assen sees primarily motorcycle racing. Honda rider Marc Marquez won the last two German Grands Prix and his teammate Dani Pedrosa won  the three before that, but the Repsol Honda team have been on the back foot this year. Rossi himself has four Sachsenring wins, which is tied with Pedrosa for most at Sachsenring in the top motorcycle class.
Links: MotoGP site. Sachsenring site. Event page with schedule. Entry list. Standings. Live timing (Requires login).
Support race(s): Moto2. Moto3.
Coverage: Sunday @ 7:30 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
 

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts (Kentucky Speedway)

All three of NASCAR’s big series race around Kentucky’s 1.5-mile D-shaped oval this weekend. Sprint Cup has only raced at Kentucky for the past four years, but Kyle Busch—coming off a recent win on Somona’s road course—Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon all have Top 10 finishes in each race. Busch also has won twice in trucks while Penske driver Joey Logano won three consecutive races in the Xfinity (nee Nationwide nee Busch) Series. The Trucks get a rare Thursday night race so if you’re up to nothing tonight, throw on the trucks under the lights to see some quality young guns racing.
Links: Sprint Cup site. Kentucky site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings. Live timing.
Support race(s): Unsponsored Race at press time (Xfinity Series). UNOH225 (Camping Truck World Series)
Coverage: Saturday @ 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. Xfinity Series – Friday @ 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC SN. CWTS – Thursday @ 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Live audio – See Motor Racing Network or Performance Racing Network.
 

V8 Supercars: Townsville 400

Down Under, V8 Supercars continue their season with one of a string of just unbelievably good temporary street circuits. Townsville is essentially two different constituent parts. The circuit opens with an extremely fast first half with Turn 1 a slight bend taken at breakneck speed and a hairpin Turn 2 with lots of overtaking. After that, it’s a rhythm section where the focus is on minimizing mistakes. In the championship, Ford Peformance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom still leads the championship after a disastrous Hidden Valley round for his rival Red Bull Racing Australia drivers Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. Interestingly, Whincup has won seven of the 12 races held at Townsville in history to Winterbottom’s one with Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander pulling three wins there.
Links: V8S site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings. Live timing.
Support race(s): Australian GT. Porsche Carrera Cup Australia. Dunlop V8 Development Series. V8 Ute Series. Australian Formula 4.
Coverage: Live on V8 Superview (Subscription service). Races are Saturday @ 2:15 a.m. ET and Sunday @ 2:15 a.m. ET. CBS SN on delay
 

DTM: Zandvoort

The German silhouette car series head to the Netherlands this weekend for a run around the beachside circuits of Zandvoort, another circuit with some seriously fast corners and hard braking zones that produce lots of passing. A strong start from Audi and their newfound ace Jamie Green has given both he and the Four Rings the leads in their respective championships. Defending champions BMW and Marco Wittman have struggled this year with both failing to look even moderately competitive. Mercedes, who were in that position last year, look resurgent and have won the last two rounds.
Links: DTM site. Zandvoort site. Event page with schedule. Entry list. Standings.
Support race(s): FIA Formula 3 Championship. Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. Dutch Supercar Challenge.
Coverage: Possibly streaming live on MotorTrendOnDemand. Delayed broadcast Sunday on CBS Sports Network @ 4 p.m. ET on. Euro F3 – Streaming on series websiteSupercar Challenge – English language recaps on series YouTube channel.
 

Hankook 24H Series: 24 Hours of Paul Ricard

The sports car endurance-racing world has a big weekend ahead of it. The 24H Series is heavy on Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s at this point in the top class, which has 10 entries. There will also be 10 cars in the Porsche Cup class, including an American entry with familiar names Charles Putnam, Charles Espenlaub, and Joe Foster. The racing has been excellent with the aforementioned American squad stealing a late win at the Zandvoort 12 Hours. Paul Ricard is a renowned testing spot for Le Mans (even hosting the World Endurance Championship’s official testing), so this race will, in some aspects, test the cars similarly to Le Mans with its Mistral Straight and technical, twisting third sector.
Links: 24H site. Paul Ricard site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list/Spotter guide. Standings. Live timing.
Coverage: Live on 24H site starting Saturday @ 8:30 a.m. ET.
 

European Le Mans Series: 4 Hours of the Red Bull Ring

The ELMS is yet another series visiting the roller coaster Austrian circuit. The big three LMP2 teams of Thiriet by TDS, Greaves Motorsport, and JOTA Sport are all tightly packed at the top of the season standings, but keep an eye on new entry Algarve Pro Racing with a sky-blue Ligier-Nissan now in the fray. The new LMP3 class also gets four entries, all Ginetta-Nissans, and the #2 car features recent GT Academy winners Mark Shulzihitskiy and Gaetan Paletou, the latter of whom had never driven a racecar at all a year ago but who has shown incredible pace as he’s gotten proper seat time. If you’re at all interested in watching the race, check out Andy Blackmore’s excellent spotter guide, linked below.
Links: ELMS site. Red Bull Ring site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings. Spotter guide.
Support race(s): Formula Renault 3.5. TCR International.
Coverage: Sunday @ 7:30 a.m. ET on Dailymotion streamTCR International – Live on TCR TV (YouTube). Races are both Sunday @ 2:25 a.m. ET & 5:35 a.m. ET.
 

Volkswagen Fun Cup: 25 Hours of Spa Francorchamps

Of all of the races this weekend, however, this is the race you probably would want to attend. This is endurance racing with cheap cars (relatively, anyway, at ~$40K each) that all look like Volkswagen Beetles. They do run 1.8L VW inline-fours instead of the classic air-cooled engine, but huge fields and evenly capable cars mean it’s not hard to find someone in to race. With the exception of ace Belgian drivers like Laurens Vanthoor and Eric Van De Poele, the field is almost entirely amateur drivers out to have a good time and race hard.
Links: Fun Cup site.  Spa site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list.
Support race(s): British GT. Lotus Cup Europe & UK, VW Racing Cup, Ginetta GT5 Championship.
Coverage: Live coverage of some kind (timing or video) here. Race starts Saturday @ 10:45 a.m. ET. British GT – Live coverage in the UK on Motors TV. None in the U.S.
 

Italian GT: Mugello

Italy’s national GT series visits the serpentine 3.2-mile circuit in Tuscany to mark the season’s midway point. Like most of the best Mediterranean circuits, the backdrop is spectacular at Mugello and the track layout features a myriad of elevation changes. As is the case with most national GT series, the names near the top of the points standings aren’t internationally common, but you will hear them again at big GT races and possibly in the coming years: Niccolo Schirlo, Lorenzo Case, Mirko Bortolotti, and Mattero Beretta.
Links: Italian GT site. Mugello site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings.
Support race(s): Italian Formula 4 Championship. F.2 Italian Trophy. C.I. Prototypes. Abarth Trophy. Porsche Carrera Cup Italy. Mini Challenge.
Coverage: Live stream on Italian GT website. Races are Saturday @ 11:50 a.m. ET and Sunday @ 5:05 a.m. ET.
 

NHRA: Lucas Oil Nationals (Route 66 Raceway | Joliet, IL)

The July 4 weekend shuffled up the standings in the Mello Yello series. Greg Anderson’s win in Pro Stock swung him past defending chapion Erica Enders by 60 points. In Funny Car, Courtney Force’s runner-up finish put her just five points from the Countdown to the Championship positions. This weekend finds the series near Chicago, where rain is expected on Sunday that could thwart Eliminations.
Links: NHRA site. Route 66 site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings.
Coverage: Sunday @ noon ET on ESPN3.com and Sunday @ 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
 

IHRA: Nitro Jam Nationals (Spokane County Raceway)

The IHRA meanwhile rolls into Spokane County Raceway just outside of Washington’s state capital. The Raceway actually includes one each of a drag strip, oval, road course, and also has several off-road circuits with berms lining the drag strip and the road course.
Links: IHRA site. Spokane site. Event page with schedule. Standings.
Coverage: Replays and highlights MAVTV
 

NASCAR K&N West: NAPA Auto Parts 150 (Stateline Speedway | Post Falls, ID)

NASCAR’s development series only returned to Idaho last year after 30 years of NASCAR absence and since Stateline is a tight quarter-mile circuit, the racing is all about keeping the tires intact for 150 laps and staying out of trouble. I’m starting to develop an enjoyment for short-track pavement racing, which is a lot like road racing in a lot of ways with hitting your marks and conserving the car for late runs at the front. Sometimes these short-track races
Links: K&N West site. Stateline site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings.
Coverage: None live. Delayed broadcast July 16 @ 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
 

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series: Alberta Has Energy 300 (Edmonton International Raceway)

North of the border, NASCAR’s Canadian series is actually running two races in the next week. The first is a huge 300-lap race around Edmonton’s own quarter-mile oval. Albertan Erica Thiering is a rookie who has won several track championships at EIR, so expect her to challenge the big names in CTS like L.P. Dumoulin and Alex Tagliani.
Links: CTS site. EIR site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings.
Coverage: Delayed on TSN on July 18 @ 2:30 p.m. ET.
 

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series: Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 (Auto Clearing Motor Speedway)

CTS will then race next Wednesday in Saskatoon, chalking up 250 laps around Auto Clearing’s third-mile oval. There’s not much more information on this race, since NASCAR tend not to update their race information until the previous race is concluded.
Links: CTS site. Auto Clearing site. Standings.
Coverage: Delayed on TSN on July 25 @ 12:30 p.m. ET.
 

The Off-Road Championship: Charlotte Motor Speedway

TORC continues to improve their schedule from circuits out in the middle of the woods to rallycross-style tracks at established stadiums. They’ve visited Chicagoland Speedway and Gateway Motorsports Park already this year and will race CMS this weekend on a U-shaped course absolutely filled with tabletop jumps. Mid-air passing? Yeah, that’ll probably happen.
Links: TORC site. CMS site. Event page with schedule. Entry list with standings.
Coverage: Livestream on TORC YouTube channel. Delayed showing on September 10 and September 17 @ 10 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2.
 

Ultra4 Racing: Glen Helen Raceway (Glen Helen, CA)

Ultra4 visits Southern California this weekend, though not for its massive King of the Hammers event. Instead, the off-road series will race around Glen Helen Raceway, just outside of metro Los Angeles. The aforementioned Mediterranean road course elevation changes look like child’s play compared with the incredible climbing and swooping these buggies will have to undertake on the demanding off-road track.
Links: Ultra4 site. Glen Helen site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings.
Coverage: Livestream on Ultra4 site. See schedule for times.
 

World Touring Car Championship: Portugal (Circuito Vilareal)

The WTCC makes its inauguarl visit to Vilareal, a temporary street circuit being used for the first time. The track packs 24 turns into 4.6 kilometers and there aren’t a lot of passing zones. With Citroen already hard to catch on courses with passing zones, it’s hard to imagine a scenario Citroen’s magic trio Jose Maria Lopez, Yvan Muller, and Sebastian Loeb don’t take at least five of the six podiums in the two races.
Links: WTCC site. Vilareal site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list. Standings. Live timing.
Coverage: None in the U.S. Live on Eurosport elsewhere.
 

Scandinavian Touring Car Championship: Falkenborg

A bit north in Sweden, however, the STCC should have a bit more wide-open competition. I’ve mentioned it before and it bears repeating, however: The V8 ThunderCars series is at least as American—perhaps moreso—than any actually American racing series.
Links: STCC site. Falkenborg site. Event page with schedule. Entry list. .
Support race(s): Porsche Carrera Cup Sweden. V8 ThunderCars. Formula Renault 1.6. Renault Clio Cup.
Coverage: None in the U.S.
 

Turismo Carretera: Termas de Rio Honda

Speaking of very American race series, Argentina’s national stock-car series remains largely unchanged since the 1970s and the cars are largely the same, running highly tuned American straight-six engines. The series is huge in the country, drawing big crowds and 40-car fields. The newly built Termas de Rio circuit is the most modern in Argentina and should create some solid racing in the big field. Three-time winner this season Esteban Gini leads the championship in his IKA-Renault Torino, which runs an AMC-based six-holer (as does the Dodge Polara GTX).
Links: TC site. Termas Rio site. Event page.  Entry list. Standings.
Coverage: None in the U.S., but Spanish-language commentary/races are archived on the Pistas Argentinas YouTube Channel.
 

East Coast Timing Association: Ohio Half-Mile

The ECTA hosts a half-mile race at the Ohio Mile, so I guess that makes it the Ohio Half-Mile.
Links: ECTA site. Event page with schedule.
Coverage: No live coverage.
 

Soutern California Timing Association: El Mirage

The southern California desert hosts the SCTA’s land-speed racing this weekend as it does several times a year. This is many racers’ final tune-up before Bonneville Speed Week in a month, a race that’s definitely on our collective bucket lists.
Links: SCTA site. El Mirage site. Records.
Coverage: No live coverage, but there appears to be livestream scheduled for Bonneville next month.
 

SVRA: Portland Vintage Racing Festival (Portland International Raceway)

While the IHRA and LeMons are both in Washington, vintage racing will be on track south of the Columbia River. The entry list is full of the usual suspects like classic Porsches and vintage Trans Am muscle. A three-day pass if $30, which is about half of the SVRA’s price for their race at Sonoma.
Links: SVRA site. PIR site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list.
Coverage: Live timing on Race Monitor app.
 

SCCA Majors: Gingerman Raceway

The Majors Tour heads to southwest Michigan for a blast around Gingerman’s technical 1.9-mile road course. The field includes respectable Spec Miata and Spec Racer Ford turnouts, but the STL is also substantial with 17 entries.
Links: Majors site. Gingerman site. Event page. Schedule. Entry list.
Coverage: Live timing on SCCA Live and Race Monitor app.
 

24 Hours of LeMons: The Ridge Motorsports Park

LeMons represents the sole low-buck racing series in action this weekend, taking another crack at the Pacific Northwest and The Ridge’s playground that features a half-mile straight and some dramatic elevation changes. Look for a preview on Hooniverse very soon.
Links: LeMons site. The Ridge site. Event page with schedule. Entry list.
Coverage:  Live timing on Specialty Timing site and Race Monitor.
 
Did we miss something? Are you going to watch racing live or perhaps even to participate? Let us know in the comments so we can talk about racing.
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[Lead photo copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Eric Rood | Other Images/Videos from YouTube: IndyCar, TUDOR Championship, MotoGP]

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  1. Bret Avatar

    I’ll be at the Ridge LeMons event racing in King Henry V8th. Will any other Hoons be there?

    1. The Rusty Hub Avatar
      The Rusty Hub

      I suspect MDHarrell and the ZomBee Driver might be there, among others.

    1. The Rusty Hub Avatar
      The Rusty Hub

      Those Howe TA2 cars are something special. One of them went up Pikes Peak a couple weeks ago and the V8 Thunder Cars, I was told today, are all basically TA2 cars.
      http://hooniverse.info/2015/07/09/swedish-v8-thundercars-southern-rock-song-out-americas-nascar/