The roll call of top-dollar motorsport on the High Speed Television Channel shows no signs of slowing down just yet, with another packed bill of two and four-wheeled action to get your teeth into this weekend.
We get the ball rolling with the penultimate round of the European Le Mans Series from Spa Francorchamps. All eyes will be on the LMP2 title battle between TDS by Thiriet Racing and G-Drive Racing, whose lead driver Harry Tincknell has already stood on the podium at Spa this year in the WEC. Another man who is no stranger to success at Spa is Laurens Vanthoor, who joins the series with crack GT squad WRT. With Vanthoor’s younger brother Dries and ex-F1 driver Will Stevens completing the line-up, this first foray into prototype racing has all the right ingredients to be successful. Before any withdrawal symptoms from the FIM MXGP championship start to set in, make sure you tune in for the MX of Nations from Maggoria, Italy. Romain Febvre followed up his MXGP title by leading France to the crown last year, so can a Slovenia team led by Tim Gajser repeat the feat this time around? An injury for Febvre meant it was only a question of time when Gajser’s name would be engraved on the MXGP trophy, but he didn’t dominate the end of the season as many expected, with Germany’s Max Nagl, American Eli Tomac and Tony Cairoli of Italy all taking multiple wins. Shorn of the pressure of winning the title, can Gajser recapture his best form?Next we head over to Sandown for highlights of the Supercars Championship season of endurance curtain-raiser and the series’ inaugural retro-themed weekend. Following in the footsteps of NASCAR’s popular throwback celebration at Darlington, teams embraced the retro spirit by adopting retro liveries and kitting their crews out in heritage clothing. But once out on track, it was business as usual – these rough and tumble racers give no quarters!There’s nothing retro about the state-of-the-art kit in the Japanese Super Formula championship, where Stoffel Vandoorne is completing his education in a Honda-powered Dallara SF14 capable of lapping only a few seconds off the Formula 1 machinery he’ll be racing next year. The reigning GP2 champion has impressed against the championship’s seasoned veterans and took a debut podium at Suzuka, but could he become the fifth different winner this season at Okayama?All four classes are back in action as the IMSA Sportscar Championship begins to hot up at the penultimate round in Texas. The ‘Lone Star Le Mans’ from COTA has grown to become a popular event on the calendar, not least with local man Ben Keating and his iconic Viper, set to bow out at the end of the year, taking the victory in GTD last year. Could he and Jeroen Bleekemolen make it two from two and pitch themselves back into title contention, or would Danish speed Queen Christina Nielsen extend her advantage heading into the all-important Petit Le Mans? This fantastic line-up wouldn’t be complete without the HSCC Gold Cup meeting from Oulton Park. The late 90’s Super Touring era was one of the most popular in BTCC history, so the sight of an ex-John Cleland Vauxhall doing battle with a former David Leslie Nissan Primera is sure to be warmly received. Then turn up the volume and revel in the 70s nostalgia as the thundering Formula 5000s hit the track for the Derek Bell Trophy, celebrating the legendary Le Mans champion.Saturday 24th September
09:00 – FIM Supermoto World Championship, Rd 6, Castelleto di Branduzzo12:40 – Historic Sportscar Club 50th Anniversary, Oulton Park Gold Cup16:20 – Supercar Challenge, Rd 6, Snetterton18:55 – Supercars Championship, Rd 10, Sandown20:00 – Super Formula, Rd 5-6, Okayama21:00 – IMSA Sportscar Championship, Rd 11, COTA
Sunday 25th September
12:00 – LIVE MX of Nations, Maggoria (Race 1)13:30 – LIVE MX of Nations, Maggoria (Race 2)15:00 – LIVE MX of Nations, Maggoria (Race 3)16:00 – Delayed-as-Live, European Le Mans Series, Rd 5, Spa-Francorchamps
