Weekend Motorsports Preview: The WEC Season Begins

It is another great weekend for auto racing around the world. The two biggest races this weekend are the first WEC race of the season and the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. If you are a rally fan, there is the Rally Portugal that runs until Sunday. 

FIA World Endurance Challenge and European Le Mans Series

There are two big races at Silverstone this weekend. The European Le Mans Series is holding its first race of the season on Saturday, April 13, from 3pm GMT (11am EDT) to 6pm GMT (2pm EDT). The big thing to watch for in the race will be the debut of the Signatech-Alpine team and their Alpine A450Alpine A450France, 2013 > 20134 photos
. 

On Sunday, the WEC cars will hold the Six Hours of Silverstone from 12pm (8am EDT) to 6pm (2pm EDT). It will be the racing debut for the 2013 Toyota TS030Toyota TS030 HYBRIDJapan, 2012 > present5 photos
2 videos
, and the first time that it will race against the 2013 Audi R18 e-tron QuattroAudi R18 e-tron quattroGermany, 2012 > present8 photos
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, which debuted at the 12 Hours of Sebring. In the GTE-Pro class, it will also be the debut for the Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 911 RSRGermany, 2013 > present6 photos
. 

The race will also be live streamed in English at Audi Live Racing 

Formula 1

After taking a few weeks off since the Malaysian Grand Prix, the Formula 1 teams go to the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. The big stories ahead of the race are whether there will be any conflicts between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, and the other trending topic is if the updates McLarenMcLarenUnited Kingdom, 1963 > present92 models
1883 photos
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has ready for its carMcLaren MP4-28United Kingdom, 2013 > 20136 photos
will be enough to turnaround its disappointing season. 

During Friday's two practice sessions, Mercedes led the first session with Nico Rosberg as the fastest man on track and Lewis Hamilton just behind him. The Red Bull team was in third and fourth place with Mark Webber ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Jenson Button had the fastest McLaren, and it was two seconds slower than the leading Mercedes. It appears McLaren's upgrades are not helping as much as they would like. 

Felipe Massa was the fastest driver on track in the second practice session. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were in second and third place respectively. Button improved the McLaren's lap time by two seconds but was sixth fastest during the session.

Qualifying starts at 2pm local time (2am EDT or 6am GMT) on Saturday, and the race starts at 3pm local time (3am EDT or 7am GMT) on Sunday. 

NASCAR

NASCAR heads to the Texas Motor Speedway for 334 laps around the 1.5-mile oval on Saturday, April 13, at 7:30pm EDT (11:30pm GMT). Jimmie Johnson is currently leading the championship with 231 points, six ahead of Brad Kaselowski in second.  

WRC Rally Portugal

The Rally Portugal runs from April 11-14, so it has actually already begun. Sebastian Ogier is leading the series championship in his Volkswagen Polo R WRCVolkswagen Polo R-WRCGermany, 2012 > present6 photos
. He has scored the maximum 28 points in the last two WRC rounds and has 74 points overall. Behind him in the standings is Sebastien Loeb who will not be competing in Portugal. Therefore, his major competition will be Mikko Hirvonen who has 30 points in the championship.

V8 Supercars

The V8 Supercars series goes from Tasmania last weekend to Auckland, New Zealand, this weekend. This weekend's race is at the Pukekohe circuit. It will be the first time since 2007 that the V8 Supercars return to Pukekohe, which has just received some major updates and a new layout. Like last weekend, there will be four sprint races, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.