Australian Supercars
The Australian Supercars endurance races take centre stage down-under in October, with both the Bathurst 1000km and the Gold Coast 600 coming in quick succession. Teams will be fighting it out for the fifth Pirtek Enduro Cup on two of the most iconic Australian circuits, Mount Panorama and the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit. 2016 Endurance Cup winners Shane van Gisbergen and Alexandre Premat both return, but as part of different teams, with van Gisbergen being joined by European-based Porsche racer Matt Campbell, while the Frenchman joins Scott McLaughlin for 2017. Other star names added for the longer races include Prodrive’s Richie Stanaway, Australian GT front-runner Ash Walsh, and double Pirtek Enduro Cup winner Warren Luff. The racing is sure to be feisty, as fierce manufacturer rivals Holden and Ford share two Bathurst wins apiece in the last four years, but expect competition from Nissan who are looking for their first Supercars win at The Mountain since 1992. Be sure to tune in LIVE for the two biggest races on the Australian motorsport calendar!
• LIVE Rd 11, Bathurst 1000 – Sunday 8 October at 00:40 BST
• LIVE Rd 12, Gold Coast 600 Race One – Saturday 21 October at 05:10 BST
• LIVE Rd 12, Gold Coast 600 Race Two –Sunday 22 October at 05:10 BST
FIA World Rallycross Championship
The penultimate round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship sees the series head to the German Estering for the fourth time. The track in Buxtehude was the scene of Kevin Eriksson’s incredible around-the-outside-pass in 2016’s final, giving the Swede his first supercars win. It’s Eriksson’s countryman Johan Kristoffersson who leads the title charge for Petter Solberg’s Volkswagen squad, ahead of the team-owner, the former building up his lead courtesy of consecutive wins in Norway, Sweden and Canada. The Lower Saxony track has yet to see a repeat winner, giving confidence to both Mattias Ekstrom and Sebastien Loeb who are mathematically still in the championship hunt ahead of the German round. Find out who will be leading when the series heads down to South Africa by turning into our delayed-as-live coverage.
• Delayed-as-Live Rd 11, Germany – Sunday 1 October at 17:00 BST
FIA World Endurance Championship
Mount Fuji is the location for the seventh round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, where the battle for the LMP1 championship will be raging on. The top-class title fight is between the #2 Porsche crew, and the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing squad, who lost ground with mechanical woes at Le Mans and the Nurburgring. With similar track characteristics to Le Mans, the #8 team will be confident heading into their home race, at the Toyota-owned Mount Fuji circuit, where they have been beaten just once since the start of the championship in 2012. In the production-based GTE-Pro class, all four manufacturers are still in the hunt for the first GT World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship, with Porsche now looking stronger having adapted more to their new mid-engined 911. With 18 hours of racing still to go, the battles in all four classes are still up for grabs, and with last years Fuji race providing the closest finish ever in the series, just 1.439 seconds, you won’t want to miss an minute.
• LIVE Rd 7, 6 Hours of Fuji – Sunday 15 October at 02:45 BST
FIA World Rally Championship
You would struggle to find two more different rallies for the antepenultimate and penultimate rounds of the 2017 World Rally Championship as the title race looks to go down to the wire. After more than a month since the previous event, championship rivals Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville will be keen get back down to business, firstly in Catalunya, on a mix of gravel and tarmac stages meaning driving styles and car setups need to be at a compromise. Wales Rally GB is very much a gravel rally, with quick, technical stages through tight forest roads providing a strict challenge for drivers. In the formbooks, Ogier will be quietly confident, having won three of the last four Spanish rallies, and all of the UK events since 2013, the Frenchman will be hoping to put himself in a strong position ahead of the season finale in Australia.
• Daily Highlights – Rally Spain – 6/7/8 October at 22:35 BST
• Daily Highlights – Wales Rally GB – 27/28/29 October at 22:35 BST
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup
The final round of the Blancpain GT Series for 2017 comes from Barcelona where a three-hour endurance race will decide the Blancpain GT Series and Endurance Cup titles. Following the Spa 24 hours, Bentley Team M-Sport lead the standings, with Andy Soucek, Maxime Soulet and Vincent Abril looking to give the Continental GT3 its first endurance title. The only other team that can stop that feat is the Grasser Racing Lamborghini crews of Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Calderelli and Christian Engelhart, who sit less than 10 points behind in both the drivers’ and teams’ rankings. In the overall GT Series championship, Grasser and M-Sport face competition from defending champions HTP Motorsport, which following Jimmy Eriksson’s crash as Spa, will see Maxi Buhk and Franck Perera face an uphill task to defend their crown.
• Delayed-as-Live Rd 5, Barcelona – Sunday 1 October at 19:00 BST
European Le Mans Series
Portimao is the location for the final round of the 2017 European Le Mans Series, which sees a finely poised championship battle between United Autosports with their Ligier, and G-Drive Racing by Dragonspeed running the Oreca chassis. The new for 2017, faster LMP2 cars have provided close racing through the season, and are sure to excite on the ELMS’ return to Portimao for the first time since 2010. Nicolas Lapierre was part of the driving squad in Team Oreca Matmut’s Peugeot 908 TDI which took the win that day and the Frenchman will hope to turn around the second Dragonspeed entry’s luck, which has shown the speed to be fighting for the championship, but suffered with mechanical gremlins. Two other drivers who took part in the 2010 Le Mans Series race are also in their respective title hunts, with Matthieu Lahaye, in LMP3 for Ultimate, and Darren Turner, in GTE for Beechdean AMR, hoping to put their previous experience at the Algarve circuit to good use.
• LIVE Rd 6, Portimao – Sunday 22 October at 12:45 BST
TCR International Series
The new 3.2km Zhejiang International Circuit plays host to the penultimate round of the 2017 TCR International Series, marking its return to mainland China for the first time since 2015. With only one round to follow Zhejiang, the four-way title battle is still all to play for, with Jean-Karl Vernay currently leading the way. Future touring-car star Attila Tassi, 1990 Italian Formula Three champion Roberto Colciago, and the so-far undefeated TCR champion Stefano Comini all remain within striking distance of Vernay. A single mistake now could prove to be the deciding factor in the race for the title, and a new track for all of the drivers to learn adds more pressure. The last driver to win at a TCR International race in China, Gianni Morbidelli took a double win at Oschersleben recently and the veteran Italian could throw a spanner into the works.
• LIVE China Rd 9, Zheijang Circuit – Sunday 8 October at 08:20 BST
Italian Road Racing
The Italian Road Racing Championship (CIV) is the pinnacle of motorcycle racing in the southern European nation, which has produced the likes of Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and the late Marco Simoncelli. Taking on some of the best tracks in Italy, the final stop on the 2017 calendar takes the series to Vallelunga, near Rome. MotoGP regular Michele Pirro, who has not finished any lower than first in a CIV race since 2015, has dominated the 2017 season, and can finish no lower than second in the championship. The racing is always close, as was seen in Mugello when first through to fifth at the finish-line was covered by 1.1 seconds.
• LIVE Rd 11, Vallelunga – Saturday 7 October at 12:50 BST
• Delayed-as-Live Rd 12, Vallelunga – Sunday 8 October at 14:45 BST
MXoN: Great Britain
Following the conclusion of the MXGP season in France last month, the runners and riders are back for one last event to round off the season, the Motocross of Nations 2017. First held in 1947, this years competition is being held at the Matterley Basin circuit for the second time, as Great Britain looks for it’s first MXoN win since 1994. In recent years, the meeting has been dominated by the French Team, with Gautier Paulin, Benoit Paturel and Romain Febvre looking to win it for the fourth consecutive year.
• LIVE MXoN, Matterly Basin: Moto 1- Sunday 1 October at 13:00 BST
• LIVE MXoN, Matterly Basin: Moto 2- Sunday 1 October at 14:30 BST
• LIVE MXoN, Matterly Basin: Moto 3- Sunday 1 October at 16:00 BST
