Weekend Motorsports Preview: A Weekend of Finales

This weekend does not have the exciting endurance and sports car races like last weekend, but with the various seasons coming to a close, competition is getting tight to win the series’ championships.

In regional races this weekend, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series will be at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut on Saturday, September 28, and will hold its final race ever. Next year, the series joins with the American Le Mans Series to become the United SportsCar Championship.

The British Touring Car Championship holds its second-to-last race of the season at Silverstone on Sunday, September 29.

MotoGP will have a race at Aragón in Spain on Sunday, September 29.

DTM

The DTM heads to its penultimate race of the season at Zandvoort on Sunday, September 29. The race will cover 44 laps of the 4.307km of the 13-corner Dutch circuit. The race will begin at 1:30pm local time on the 29th. Qualifying will be on Saturday, September 28, from 2:40pm to 3:50pm local time.

In the championship standings, Mike Rockenfeller leads in the standings with 124 points, and Augusto Farfus is in second place with 91 points. The points are close among the manufacturers with BMWBMWGermany, 1918 > present87 models
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in first with 276 points, AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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in second with 267 points and Mercedes-BenzMercedes-BenzGermany, 1924 > present197 models
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in third with 237 points.

European Le Mans Series

The ELMS finishes its season at Circuit Paul Ricard for the 3 Hours of Le Castellet. Paul Ricard is 5.791m long with 14 corners.

The green flag falls at 4:30pm on Saturday, September 28. Qualifying is from 10:20am to 11:10am on Saturday as well.

There are 26 cars entered into the race with eight in LMP2, two in LMP Challenge, eight in GTE and eight in GT Challenge.

In the series championship, there is a tie in first going into the final race with the Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 03 - NissanOreca Oreca 03 NissanFrance, 2011 > present2 photos
and the Signatech Alpine Alpine A450 - NissanAlpine A450France, 2013 > 20134 photos
both having 73 points. Jota Sport’s Zytek Z11SN - NissanZytek Z11SNUnited Kingdom, 2012 > present1 photo
has 55 points, enough to take the class championship if the two cars above it are knocked out. In the LMP Challenge class, the #49 Team Endurance Challenge car has 96 points, and the #48 Team Endurance Challenge has 73 points. In GTE, the #52 RAM Racing Ferrari F458 ItaliaFerrari 458 Italia GTCItaly, 2011 > present5 photos
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has 88 points, and the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSRPorsche 911 GT3 RSRGermany, 2012 > present6 photos
has 65 points. In GTC, the #69 SMP Racing Ferrari F458 Italia GT3Ferrari 458 Italia GT3Italy, 2011 > present4 photos
has 75 points, and the AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 has 70 points.

NASCAR

NASCAR heads to Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware, for a 400-lap race around the 1-mile oval circuit. The race begins at 1:00pm local time on Sunday, September 29.

Matt Kenseth currently leads in the championship standings with 2,111 points; Kyle Busch is in second with 2,097 points, and Jimmie Johnson is in third with 2,093 points.

There are eight races left in the NASCAR season.