There’s plenty to get excited about this week on the High Speed Television Channel, as we recap some of the year’s best high-jinks action across the UK and Europe. Whether your tastes are attuned to Formula 3 or Mini racing, we’ve got you covered!
But before all that, we’ll be bringing you live coverage of the finale stage of the indoor SX Tour from the coastal city of Montpellier. Held over two days on Friday and Saturday, 40 of the finest riders in France will scramble to end the season on a high in two separate categories – SX1 and SX2 – and delight in making a cacophony of noise in the former home of the French junior gymnastics championship. Guest rider Marvin Musquin was the man to beat last time in Lille, but with the two-time FIM MX2 champion not returning for Montpellier, who will take up the mantle?
There are plenty more two-wheeled capers where that came from too, with coverage of the adrenaline-pumping British Minibikes from Whilton Mill and the fourth Sucker Punch Extreme Enduro, where the prized boxing glove trophy is up for grabs.
The mud-covered Enduro battlers couldn’t be any further away from the high-tech world of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which caps off a rollercoaster 2016 season with the 6 Hours of Bahrain. Could Audi bow out on a high after 18 years in top-flight endurance racing, or would Mark Webber steal their thunder in his final race outing? There were titles on the line too, with Porsche hoping to repel the challenge of Toyota in LMP1, while Aston Martin and Ferrari faced off in GTE-Pro. At stake was Aston Martin’s first GT Manufacturers crown – could they deliver, or would the wheels fall off their challenge?
In a completely unscientific poll, Surfers Paradise rated in the top 1% of street courses in the world, and there are few more exciting series to do it justice than the V8 Ute Racing Series. With only two rounds remaining, David Sieders’ unparalleled consistency means the Holden driver is sitting pretty atop the standings, but will have to be wary of getting too comfortable with Nathan Pretty’s Ford right on his tail.
Next up, it’s the first of four season reviews showing this weekend, looking back on a vintage year for the FIA European F3 Championship. The season was largely dominated by Prema Powerteam’s Lance Stroll, who had the title and a Williams F1 deal for next year in his back pocket with a round to spare, but there was plenty of cut-and-thrust racing up and down the field, with 11 different winners including five rookies. Among the supporting cast, include two drivers being lined up for DTM futures in Maximillian Gunther and Joel Eriksson, while talented Britons George Russell, Calum Illot and Ben Barnicoat could be the long term successors to Lewis Hamilton. Remember, you heard it here first.
That’s followed by a triple bill of clubbie action reviews, fronted by the madcap Mini Challenge. When Paddy Hopkirk won the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini Cooper S, it spawned a motorsport legacy that has given us the 255 BHP flame-spitting JCW class, a cost-effective alternative to touring car racing with all the thrills and plenty of spills. Follow the epic title battle between David Grady and Charlie Butler-Henderson, the monster accident which threatened to curtail CB-H’s season at Oulton Park and the tense finale at a foggy Snetterton.
If it’s bang for your buck that you’re looking for, then look no further than Caterham Racing UK for the best slipstreaming anywhere outside of Monza, while German-built machines of all shapes and sizes (including Caddy vans!) go hell for leather in the VW Racing Cup UK.
And because we’re good to you, to finish we’ll bring you coverage of the treacherous Asia-Pacific Rally Championship Malaysia Rally, followed by the high-stakes Manx Rally Championship Pokerstars Rally. We’re in – how about you?
Friday 25th November
19:00 – LIVE SX Tour Montpellier, Day 122:35 – Manx Rally Championship, Pokerstars Rally
Saturday 26th November
00:40 – Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Rd 5, Rally Malaysia09:00 – British Minibikes, Rd 11-12, Whilton Mill10:35 – The Sucker Punch Enduro12:10 – FIA F3 European Championship, Best-Of16:20 – V8 Utes Racing Series, Rd 7, Surfers Paradise 17:50 – FIA World Endurance Championship, Rd 9, 6 Hours of Bahrain19:00 – LIVE SX Tour Montpellier, Day 2
Sunday 27th November
09:10 – Caterham UK Racing, Best-Of12:10 – VW Racing Cup UK, Best-Of15:15 – Mini Challenge, Best-Of
