This weekend’s offering on the High Speed Television Channel is jam-packed with celebrity cameos, with more star names on show than your average viral Mannequin Challenge video. Don’t believe us? Just you wait and see.Are you sitting comfortably Valentino Rossi fans? Good. ‘The Doctor’ is of course best known for his exploits on two-wheels, where among other things, he’s won nine world championships including four successive Moto GP titles between 2002 and 2005. But the Italian also has a penchant for going sideways on four wheels at the cathedral of speed that is Monza. Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the live coverage of the Monza Rally Show, your one chance this year to watch regulars from the World Rally Championship in pukka 4WD beasts taking on Rossi in his own back yard. Previous winners include Sebastien Loeb, Robert Kubica and Dani Sordo, so expect plenty more familiar faces to make an appearance…
As we approach the end of the racing season, drivers and teams swap the branded kit for dinner jackets and bow-ties as the awards season gets underway, but none come bigger or grander than the Autosport Awards. Held since 1982, the great and good of world motorsport, past and present, gather at Grosvenor House in London to recognise the outstanding achievements by International racing and rally drivers, the best National and Club drivers, as well as the Gregor Grant Award for the best technical achievements. Let the best man or woman win!
Legendary NASCAR racer Rusty Wallace will be making his comeback for the first time since he officially retired in 2005, as the Ferrari Finali Mondiali comes to Daytona for the first time. Wallace may be 60, but he’s a long way from your average pensioner interested mainly in car boot sales and doing the weekly crossword. The 1989 Cup champion will be relishing the opportunity to climb aboard the 458 Challenge amid the final rounds of the Troffeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell championships, and could be an outside bet for a popular win.
Nothing can beat the romanticism of night racing. The halcyon days of BTCC Super Tourers charging around Silverstone and Snetterton in the dark are enough to go dizzy with nostalgia, but thankfully we’re not the only ones. The Britcar Endurance Championship has its own night-racing extravaganza to round off the season at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit and naturally there’s plenty riding on the outcome, with Tockwith Audi and Century Ginetta going head-to-head for the title. With Mosler, Ferrari, BMW and Aston also represented on the grid for the three-hour enduro, it promised entertainment in spades…
The Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship was a popular addition to the UK national motorsport scene over the 2015-2016 winter off-season, as the country’s top racing circuits were transformed into miniature rally stages using parts of the track, service roads, as well as the pitlane and paddock. Round 2 of the new season from Cadwell Park promised to bring more of the same, including the unusual sight of cars heading the ‘wrong way’ through Coppice…
To finish off, it’s another trio of season reviews, starting with the European Le Mans Series, which saw a thrilling season-long battle between TDS by Thiriet Racing and the Jota Sport-run G-Drive squad for LMP2 honours. After a DNF at Silverstone, the French team had the upper-hand for much of the year, only to let the title slip through their fingers in a dramatic Estoril finale, which also saw Beechdean upset the bookies by overturning an 18-point deficit to JMW Motorsport in GTE.
Last but by no means least, the International GT Open for Pro-Am teams and EuroFormula Open championship for up-and-coming single-seater drivers not only tour Europe together, but go hand-in-hand as some of the best racing you’ll see all year. Our pick is the all-time slipstreaming classic from EuroFormula race two at Monza, which saw more outside overtaking moves at the Parabolica than is healthy…
Friday 2nd December
19:25 – Britcar Endurance Championship, Rd 8, Brands Hatch21:30 – Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship, Rd 2, Cadwell Park
Saturday 3rd December
10:35 – International GT Open, Best-Of20:00 – European Le Mans Series, Best-Of
Sunday 4th December
10:35 – EuroFormula Open, Best-Of14:00 – LIVE Monza Rally Show16:50 – LIVE Ferrari Finali Mondiale, Troffeo Pirelli17:55 – Delayed-As-Live, Ferrari Finali Mondiale, Coppa Shell21:50 – LIVE Autosport Awards
