Weekend Preview: from Nürnberg to Houston - 25 Canadians in competition this weekend

From the streets of Nürnberg, Germany to the streets of Houston, Texas with a couple of road courses in between, this weekend – which marks the halfway point on the calendar – and of the season for a lot of series, there are a total of twenty-five Canadian drivers and teams in international competition this weekend. There will also be plenty of Canadian competitors of all ages on track this weekend from Glory Days Celebration of Speed at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park to the Eastern Canadian Karting Championships at Goodwood Kartways (Stouffville, ON)

DTM
We'll start in Nürnberg, Germany where DTM picks up after a four week break to stage round four (of its ten race series) at The Norisring, a 2.3 km (1.4 mi) 8-turn temporary street circuit. This weekend, Bruno Spengler (BMW) and Robert Wickens (Mercedes Benz AMG) will be looking for some satisfaction from a circuit where they have both done well. This is a track that seems to favour Mercedes which has taken the victory every year since 2003 – one exception being the 20123 race which had no declared winner after Mattias Ekström was disqualified. Robert Wickens scored his best result to date of the 2013 season that day placing second, but the series did not elevate everyone for podium positions. (Mercedes took 2nd, 3rd and 4th) Race stats show no recorded winner. Bruno Spengler won this race three times - also in a Mercedes, in 2006, 2007 and 2011.

Mercedes Benz AMG have had a terrible season so far this year – despite some great runs by Wickens, and the team will be looking for some redemption leading into the second half of the season.

Going into this weekend, Spengler sits seventh in points with 23 points (27 back of Wittman in first). Wickens has yet to score a point.

Action gets underway on Friday (27th) with practice at 17:20 CST – 11:30 AM ET with free practice sessions on Saturday (28th) at 2:30 AM ET, 5:30 AM ET and official practice at 6:30 AM ET. Qualifying takes place at 8:50 AM ET on Saturday and the race is on Sunday (29th) at 7:30 AM ET.

With the recent broadcast rights announcement for DTM in North America (races to be broadcast on CBS Sports) we are unsure as to which sessions might be available via live streaming – except to note that the race will definitely NOT be available online for Canadian and US fans. It is likely that qualifying might also be blocked. (NOTE: The races are usually available the next day on the series' YouTube channel)

Live Streaming:
http://www.dtm.com/en/tv/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/user/DTMinternational

Timing & Scoring:
http://live.dtm.com/timing/dtm

IMSA
Watkins Glen International will see the most action this weekend with a total of five IMSA-sanctioned series on track at this historic track located near Seneca Lake in New York. This weekend the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship will compete for the first time under this banner – but it is the 33rd running of a six hour race at the circuit. The Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen will see all four classes (P, PC, GTLM and GTD) competing on the 11 turn, 5.43 km (3.40 mi) on Sunday (29th) starting at 11:10 AM ET. This is the first time all four classes have been on track together since the 12 Hours of Sebring back in March. The race will see a full grid of fifty-five cars with 13 Prototype (P), 10 Prototype Challenge (PC), 11 GT Le Mans (GTLM) and 21 GT Daytona (GTD).

There are Canadian drivers in each of P, PC and GTLM classes (highlighted in yellow) along with one Canadian team in GTD – Woodbridge, Ontario-based AIM Autosport which currently leads both TUDOR and the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) team and driver championships. The six hour race at The Glen is round three of the NAEC which culminates with the final race of the season at Road Atlanta.

Also on track this weekend at The Glen, Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) with a substantial field of Canadian entries – thirteen drivers and four teams (highlighted in yellow). CTSCC continues to have the largest fields in competition – this weekend with sixty entries (26 GS / 34 ST), and always has some great battles throughout the field. IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites is also on hand with twenty-five entries, including two Canadians with North Vancouver native Mikhail Goikhberg looking to build on his 10-point lead in the series championship. Montreal's Jesse Lazzare will be competing in the Porsche GT3 Cup USA presented by Yokohama. There are a total of thirty-five entries for this race. IMSA's Lamorghini Super Trofeo series is also on hand this weekend

Action gets underway at Watkins Glen International on Thursday 26th with open practice. A complete race weekend schedule can be found at http://www.imsa.com/races/sahlens-six-hours-glen1

Broadcast Notes: Qualifying for the Sahlen's Six Hours will be available via live streaming at www.imsa.com on Saturday at 3:55 PM ET. Television broadcast is on FOX Sports in the US and will be available on SPEED in Canada for any subscribers whose service provider still carries this channel. There will be no live streaming of this race.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race WILL be available via live streaming at www.imsa.com. The race starts at 11:35 AM ET on Saturday

Timing & Scoring links
TUDOR: http://scoring.imsa.com/
Continental: http://scoring.imsa.com/sportscar-challenge/
GT3 Cup: http://scoring.imsa.com/gt3-challenge-usa/
Lites: http://scoring.imsa.com/prototype-lites/

TUDOR Entries
P
90 Spirit of Daytona visitflorida.com and GoPro Corvette DP Chevrolet
Richard Westbrook / London, England
Michael Valiante / Burnaby, BC, Canada

PC
38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09 Chevrolet
David Ostella / Toronto, ON, Canada
Mike Hedlund / Woodside, CA

08 RSR Racing AutomaxUSA.com ORECA FLM09 Chevrolet
Chris Cumming / Vancouver, BC, Canada
Alex Tagliani / Lachenai, Quebec, Canada

GTLM
93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R Viper V10 Michelin IMSA
Jonathan Bomarito / Monterey, CA SRT Motorsports
Kuno Wittmer / Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Marc Goossens / Geel, Belgium

GTD
555 AIM Autosport REVO/Robert Graham/Royal Purple/Motegi Ferrari 458 Italia Ferrari
Bill Sweedler / Wesport, CT
Townsend Bell / San Francisco, CA

Continental Tire Entries
GS
8 Mantella Autosport Powered by Spyder/ Gulf Lubricants Aston Martin
Anthony Mantella, Toronto, ON, Canada
Mark Wilkins, Palgrave, ON, Canada

15 Multimatic Motorsports Multimatic Motorsports/ Ford Racing Mustang Boss 302R
Jade Buford, Brentwood, TN
Scott Maxwell, Toronto, ON, Canada

41 Tower Motorsports Tower Events Nissan 370Z
John Farano, Toronto, ON, Canada
Dave Empringham, Toronto, ON, Canada

76 Compass360 Racing Touge Tuning/ Ligon Industries Subaru WRX STI
Ray Mason, Columbus, OH
Ryan Winchester, Mason City, IA

00 CKS Autosport Carego/ Golden Gate Maragine Camaro Z/28.R
Ashley McCalmont, Ancaster, ON, Canada
Bob Michaelian, Seal Beach, CA

07 TRG-AMR Aston Martin
Max Riddle, Vancouver, Canada
Kris Wilson, Monument, CO

08 Rebel Rock/MBPR Racing K&N/ The Sports Lab/ Vitargo/ The Garage/Jackson Transportation Systems/ All Ontario Recycling Porsche 997
Martin Barkey, Huntsville, ON, Canada
Kyle Marcelli, Barrie, ON, Canada

ST
74 Compass360 Racing Bionic Enviorments/ LoudBasstard/ Be The Match/ Expo Systems Honda Civic
James Vance, Stouffville, ON, Canada
Jon Miller, San Francisco, CA

75 Compass360 Racing Cure NF with Jack/ CTF/ HPD Honda Civic
Kyle Gimple, Minden, NV
Ryan Eversley, Lithonia, GA

93 Honda Racing HPD/ Honda of America Mfg. Honda Civic
Chad Gilsinger, Marysville, OH HART
Michael Valiante, Burnaby, BC, Canada

04 Autometrics Motorsports BBA Accounting/ DE Labs Porsche Cayman
Remo Ruscitti, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Adam Isman, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Cooper Lites
10 Mikhail Goikhberg, North Vancouver, Canada JDC Motorsports JDC Motorsports Elan DP-02

31 Michal Chlumecky, Windsor, Canada (M) Eurosport Racing Contractglaziers.com Elan DP-02

GT3 Cup
31 Jesse Lazare, Montreal, Canada Door Doctor/Moorespeed garage

IndyCar & ProMazda
Next we have the Verizon IndyCar Series and Pro Mazda Championship on the 2.72 km (1.69-mi), 10-turn temporary street circuit at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. The Shell Penzoil Grand Prix of Houston is another double-header for IndyCar with races on Saturday and Sunday, both starting at 3:45 PM ET.

Oakville, Ontario's James Hinchcliffe driving the Andretti Autosport #27 United Fiber & Data Dallara will be looking to improve on his third-place finish in race two last year (he was out after one lap in race one). "Hinch" is currently 11th in the championship (one point behind Wilson, one point ahead of Bourdais) and hoping to break into the top ten this weekend.

Broadcast Notes: All practice sessions for the Verizon IndyCar Series WILL be streamed live on www.indycar.com

Both races will be broadcast live in Canada on SportsNet One. The broadcast starts at 3:00 PM ET. Saturday's race will be preceded by a tape-delayed broadcast of the qualifying session starting to 2:00 PM ET

Timing & Scoring:  http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

Meanwhile, the Pro Mazda division of the Road to Indy series will also have a double-header in the Allied Products Grand Prix of Houston. After seven races in the series, there is a tight battle for the championship between Spencer Pigot (180 pts. 4 wins, 1 third) and Surrey, BC's Scott Hargrove (177 pts. 2 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third). The pair has a 50-point lead on Kaiser and Alberico (tied for third) and we look forward to another great race on a tough street circuit.

Grimbsy, Ontario native Garett Grist is currently sixth in the championship (101 pts.) and coming of a very strong win on the oval at Lucas Oil Raceway last month.

3 Scott Hargrove (R) Vancouver, BC - Cape Motorsports w/ WTR MAZDASPEED/Analytic Systems/RaceEnergy/Metal Action Machining

27 Garett Grist (R) Grimsby, ON - Andretti Autosport - DaVinci Foods/Lander Property Management

80 Dalton Kellett (R) Toronto, ON - Team Pelfrey K-Line Insulators USA, Inc.

Timing and Scoring: http://www.promazdachampionship.com/results/live-timing

Weekend Schedule:
Friday
10:15 AM-10:45 AM Practice 1
2:15 PM-2:45 PM Practice 2
Saturday
10:15 AM-10:45 AM Qualifying
2:05 PM-2:45 PM Race 1
Sunday
2:00 PM-2:45 PM Race 2
(NOTE: ALL times are ET)

And while all this is going on, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is hosting Glory Days Celebration of Speed (we'll be there) and Goodwood Kartways is hosting the Eastern Canadian Karting Championships (we'll be there too).

Have a great weekend at the races! cj

*Canadian entries highlighted in yellow