This weekend brings yet another live title showdown to the High Speed Television channel, as the four-hour epic conclusion to the 2016 European Le Mans Series plays out in Estoril. After a topsy-turvy race at Spa with even more drama than a week in the life of Ian Beale, the title hangs firmly in the balance heading into the final round. Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell, together with ex-F1 driver Giedo van der Garde, require a 14-point swing in their favour over TDS by Thiriet Racing if they are to give their fabled Gibson chassis a golden send-off, but the French squad are by no means infallible, as their abrupt exit from Silverstone demonstrates. The 2012 season champions will be hoping for a straight-forward weekend, but if last year’s monsoon is anything to go by, they will have to tough it out to the bitter end. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in mid-October?
Before the ELMS champion is crowned, we join the series’ bigger brother in Japan for highlights of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Fuji. Having come so agonizingly close at Le Mans, could Toyota end a victory drought stretching back to Bahrain 2014 on home turf, while in the GT category, after taking the championship lead with two wins in North America could Aston Martin hold the all-new Ford GT and Ferraris at bay?
There are few sights more spectacular in the modern age than watching rallying on public roads you use to go to the shops every day and few more skilful than the protagonists of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Marvel as two giants of Irish rallying, Keith Cronin and Alastair Fisher pit their skills against each other and the 14 tricky Special Stages of the Cork 20 rally to decide the championship. Neither will be leaving anything on the table, so it’s not one to miss.
There is no letting up in the action as we head to the sublime Spa-Francorchamps for round seven of the Dutch Supercar Challenge series. With a whopping 41 car grid – comprising a Ligier LMP3, Mosler, Renault RS01, Lamborghini Trofeo and flame-fitting Volvo, we challenge you to find a more varied mix of cars on the same grid fighting together for outright honours.
From Spa, it’s a short hop over the border to Hockenheim in Germany for a double-bill of one-make racing from the Audi Sport TT Cup and Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. Future stars of the DTM and GT racing will test their mettle here, including GP3 race-winner Nick Yelloly, talented Finn Joonas Lapelainen and German youngster Dennis Marschall – coached by Markus Winkelhock - all hoping that their performances will catch the eye of the eye of the ‘big three’.
If you’re beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms from the FIM MXGP and MX2 World Championships, then make sure to catch the first of our season review shows as we recap the best moments from Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings’ title-winning seasons. The two went about winning in very different ways, with rookie Gajser only managing to assert his authority on the MXGP standings after close rival Romain Febvre was ruled out through injury, while Herlings’ seemingly inevitable run to the championship was thrown into doubt when he suffered a knock of his own.
To cap it all off, there’s nothing like enthusiastic clubbie racers giving it their all in machinery of yesteryear, so why not tune in for sideways action from the MG Metro Cup at Snetterton, 2CV Fun Cup capers from Oulton Park and slipstreaming Caterham UK Racing from Donington Park to start the weekend with a smile plastered to your face?
Friday 21st October
17:20 – MG Metro Cup, Rd 6, Snetterton20:30 – Fun Cup Championship, Rd 7, Oulton Park21:35 – Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, Rd 7, Cork 20 International Rally
Saturday 22nd October
13:10 – TCR Asia Series, Rd 7-8, Sepang14:45 – Audi Sport TT Cup, Rd 7, Hockenheim15:15 – Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, Rd 8, Hockenheim15:45 – Caterham UK Racing, Donington Park16:50 – Supercar Challenge, Rd 7, Spa-Francorchamps18:25 – FIM MX2 Best-Of
Sunday 23rd October
12:10 – FIA World Endurance Championship Highlights, Rd 7, 6 Hours of Fuji13:10 – LIVE European Le Mans Series, Rd 6, Estoril18:25 – FIM MXGP Best-Of
