Welcome to your Thursday look ahead to the weekend in racing. It’s a big weekend, as usual. IndyCar wraps up their season in California with heavy hearts while Europe hosts two raging championships. It’s also the weekend where American stock cars go completely bonkers on road courses for the final time this season. Follow the jump for more.
Pro tip: Keep this page open all weekend or bookmark so you have all the resources handy. Want more information on a series mentioned below? Click here for Hooniverse’s Massively Oversized Guide to Motorsports 2015, which will tell you all you need to know (and then some).

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MW1F5TpoRc[/youtube]

IndyCar: Go Pro Grand Prix of Sonoma (Sonoma Raceway)

It feels strange to even talk about a race in the wake of Justin Wilson’s death following an accident at Pocono Raceway during the last race. Wilson finally seemed to be coming into his own this season in a part-time ride with Andretti and his energy and understated racing prowess are a huge loss not only to IndyCar, but to the racing world at large. If you haven’t yet, go back and listen to Hooniverse’s podcast with Justin, who was gracious and happy to give an hour of his time to our small corner of the automotive web here. And if you’d like to help out Wilson’s family (Justin, like many racecar drivers, not a rich man but someone who worked hard to put a roof over his family’s head), you can buy some #BadassWilson merchandise from IndyCar here with all proceeds going to the Wilsons or you can donate directly to a fund the series set up here. If you need any other reason to understand why he’ll be missed, watch his genuine humbleness and enthusiasm during the post-race interview after his win in Texas in 2012.
Like it or not, the racing season goes on and in this case, it’s the final round of the year at the roller coaster of Sonoma Raceway. Double points are at stake in this final round, meaning that Juan Montoya’s 34-point lead over Graham Rahal can be overcome and that Scott Dixon or even Will Power could be in the hunt as they trail by 47 and 61 points, respectively (Here’s how points are awarded). While those four drivers will all be trying hard to win, expect a fairly subdued and somber finale with the loss of their friend weighing heavily on their minds.
In the supporting Pirelli World Challenge race, the championship leader in the GT class, Ryan Dalziel, will actually miss this round due to his obligations in the World Endurance Championship. With only a seven point lead over three-time defending champion Johnny O’Connell, Dalziel will almost certainly cede the title lead to O’Connell and his first-year Cadillac ATS-V GT3 with just two race weekends remaining.
Links: IndyCar site. Sonoma site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List with season Points. Live Timing.
Support race(s): Pirelli World Challenge. Formula Car Challenge.
Coverage:  Sunday @ 4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. PWC – Streaming live on World-ChallengeTV.com. See event schedule for race times.
 

World Endurance Championship: 6 Hours of Nurburgring

The FIA’s world sports car racing championship returns to action for the first time since the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This round is the WEC’s first visit to Germany, using the Nurburgring’s Grand Prix Circuit rather than the sprawling Nordschleife. The #7 Audi with the already-legendary driver lineup of Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer, and Marcel Fassler has looked darn-near unbeatable in the season’s two six-hour races thus far, both of which have been extremely exciting (See above). Porsche’s will certainly hope to beat their stablemates at both companies’ home race and with Toyota looking mostly off the pace, it’s unlikely that a non-German team prevails in the top LMP1 class.
The GT classes are not particularly exciting, actually, in the WEC, but the LMP2 class features a close championship battle between Le Mans winners KCMG and the #28 G-Drive car racing an Oreca and a Ligier, respectively. The new Oreca has looked very strong so it will be interesting to see how the class shakes out. If you want a home team to root for, American racing team Extreme Speed Motorsports will look to build on their first half-decent result of the season at Le Mans with their HPD-powered Ligier with the aforementioned Dalziel onboard one of them.
Links: WEC site. Nurburging site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points. Live Timing.
Support race(s): Porsche Super Sports Cup. Nurburgring Legends.
Coverage: Sunday @ 7 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 2 switching to FOX Sports 1 @ 9 a.m. ET. Live audio on Radio Le Mans.
 

MotoGP: British Grand Prix (Silverstone Circuit)

The British Grand Prix moved back to its originally scheduled circuit after initially being slotted to run at Donington Park. I’m not terribly interested in the myriad of politics behind that, primarily because MotoGP is primed to deliver another kickass round of a white-knuckle season. Yamaha’s factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi head to Silverstone tied for the championship lead. With next-best Marc Marquez 52 points arrears on his Repsol Honda and running out of time to make up that gap, this is an interteam rivalry brewing over the seven remaining rounds.
Silverstone has not been kind to Rossi, who has yet to win at the venerable British circuit, while Lorenzo has racked up three wins in the five years the former RAF base has held the grand prix. That’s a solid advantage to the Spaniard, but don’t be surprised if Rossi—who really has no business leading an international motorcycle racing championship at age 37—turns up and gives Lorenzo all he can handle, much as he has all season.
Links: MotoGP site. Silverstone site. Event page with schedule. Entry List. Season Points.
Support race(s): Moto2. Moto3.
Coverage: Sunday @ 7:30 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Replay on Sunday @ 6 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2. Moto 2 – Sunday @ 5 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2 (Replay). Moto3 – Sunday @ 4 p.m. ET on FS2.
 
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville 
The second-tier series’ visit to America’s National Park of Speed last year was the first NASCAR rain race in a long time and Alex Tagliani had it in the bag until a green-white-checker finish that made dropped him back to 26th place. The Canadian managed to still storm back to the P2 in just three laps, but Tagliani won’t have that concern this weekend, as he’ll be running the doubleheader in Ontario instead. Road racing these big stock cars looks like a hell of a lot of fun, especially at a place like Road America with a plethora of high-speed straights into heavy braking zones. Whoa-ing one 3,400 pounds of racecars down sufficiently from 180 miles per hour makes for a lot of hairy moments and damn does it look fun/terrifying to sit behind the wheel mashing the middle pedal on the way into Turn 5 at Road America.
Links: Xfinity Series site. Road America site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points. Live Timing.
Support race(s): Trans-Am Series. Mazda MX-5 Cup.
Coverage: Saturday @ 3:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. Trans Am – Delayed broadcast on CBS Sports Network, September 12 @ 10 a.m. ET.
 
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Chevrolet Silverado 250 (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park)
Round two of three in the NASCAR road racing weekend is north of the border with the NASCAR Trucks’ only road race of the year at the track formerly known as Mosport. Mosport is an incredibly flowing track and the trucks will be running as much downforce as they possibly can to carry mid-corner speed. The last two years have produced incredible results in the truck race and look for more of the same this year. Also on the docket is NASCAR’s Canadian series, which makes two stops a year to CTMP, with many drivers serving double duty. Notable among these is Alex Tagliani, who has a very a real chance at a double victory.
Links: CWTS site. Mosport site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points. Live Timing.
Support race(s): NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada. Canadian Touring Car Championship.
Coverage: Sunday @ 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Canadian Tire Series – September 5 @ Noon on TSN (Delayed).
 
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East: Biscuitville 125 (VIRginia International Raceway)
Rounding out the big stock-car road racing weekend is the K&N East’s visit to VIR, a spectacular track for NASCAR. While Mosport is a downforce track and Road America rewards straightline speed, VIR requires a bit of balance when approaching car setup. Scott Heckert sits second in the championship and has won the last three road races in the series, making him a heavy favorite. That said, Cole Custer looked great at Watkins Glen before driving the tires off his Toyota and the whole field of K&N racers are generally well-rounded kids who grasp new racing paradigms quickly. Whatever else happens, NASCAR at VIR should be adequately entertaining.
Links: K&N East site. VIR site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points.
Support race(s): Cooper Prototype Lites.
Coverage: September 3 @ 7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (Delayed).
 
DTM: Moscow
The German “touring car” series rolls on with the season’s successful dual-race weekend format and to date, Mattias Ekstrom is proving the maxim that consistency wins championships. The Audi driver has scored Top 5 finishes in six of 10 races to give a solid 13-point advantage over Edoardo Mortara. Jamie Green started the season red-hot with three wins in the opening four races, but he’s failed to score points in his last five outings. Moscow’s layout is reasonably similar to Lausitzring, a track where Mercedes swept this year’s race weekend so perhaps Gary Paffety or Pascal Wehrlein might have something for the Audis, which have been strong so far.
Links: DTM site. Moscow site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points. Live Timing.
Support race(s): Porsche Sport Challenge
Coverage: Sunday @ 4 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network (Delay). Livestreaming here Sunday morning, though it may be geoblocked in the U.S. The races are Saturday @ 8:15 a.m. ET & Sunday @ 7:55 a.m. ET.
 
Super GT: Suzuka 1000 kilometers
The 1000-kilometer race at Suzuka is the big one on the Super GT calendar, a very long endurance race for the two-class series. The top GT500 class—which uses the same chassis as DTM, albeit with turbocharged four-cylinder engines instead of V8s—has provided fascinating championship scenarios. The teams that have won has essentially done nothing else in the other three rounds, meaning that the current championship leaders (Calsonic Impul Nissan GT-R drivers Hironobu Yasuda and Joao Paulo Lime de Oliveira) have not actually won a race but are the only team to have scored significant points in all four rounds so far. Fascinating, but the gaps are small enough that basically the whole GT500 field remains in the championship battle. The GT300 class has been hard-fought, as well, but Andre Couto will be teamed up in a three-car team with the bombastic Katsumasa Chiyo in a Nissan GT-R GT3, which is a formidable match for the mid-engined Toyota Prii and GT3 machinery in the field.
Links: Super GT site. Suzuka site. Event page. Entry List. Season Points.
Coverage: Early Sunday morning, usually around midnight, on Nismo.tv.
 
FFSA GT Tour: Magny-Cours
The French GT series heads to the old long-lost site of the French Grand Prix, now a thing of the past. With lots of world-class sports car racing going on around the world, the occasional turning up of big-time drivers like Benoit Treluyer won’t happen, but you should get a healthy dose of up-and-coming drivers and if you’ve got the time in the mornings to squeeze in some Transatlantic viewing, you can bone up on your French while watching the race stream for free.
Links: FFSA site. Magny Cours site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season points.
Coverage: Live streaming this weekend on the FFSA site. Races are Saturday @ 11:10 a.m. & Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. ET.
 
ADAC GT Masters: Sachsenring
Similarly, you can (I think) watch the German GT series live from the serpentine Sachsenring.The ADAC series draws some heavier hitters compared to their neighboring country’s GT Tour with the world’s only GT3-spec Corvettes from Callaway and concerted efforts from most of the major German manufacturers. In the championship, the Zakspeed Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 with Sebastien Asch and Luca Ludwig lead by a stout 30-point gap over Porsche specialist Klaus Bachlerin the Team Schutz Porsche. Again, a number of the series regulars will be racing just down the road (figuratively) at the ‘ring, but expect a solid battle among the myriad of battle-proven GT pilots.
Links: GT Masters site. Sachsenring site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points. Live Timing.
Support race(s): ADAC Formula 4, Touring Car Trophy, ADAC Procar, Volkswagen Golf Cup
Coverage: Livestream on GT Masters site. Races are Saturday @ 7:15 a.m. ET and Sunday @ 7:15 a.m. ET.
 
Stock Car Brasil: Cascavel
If you don’t have enough stock car road-racing on your plate this weekend, the Brazilian stock-car series is also in action at Cascavel, a fairly straightforward (and therefore usually great for door-banging racing) circuit. At the top of the championship standings sits Marco Gomes, who leads over Red Bull-sponsored Daniel Serra. Neither Gomes nor Serra has won a SCB title, but the man in third, Caca Bueno, is a multiple champion and a wily old veteran who knows how to rack up championship points as well as anyone.
Links: Stock Car Brasil site. Event page. Entry List. Season Points.
Coverage: None, suckah!
 
European Truck Racing Championship: Czech Truck Prix (Autodrome Most)
The Czech Truck Prix is one of the highlights of my racing calendar, if only because the race is called the “Czech Truck Prix” and it’s held at a place called “Most.” This is easily the highlight of the Most calendar this year (and most years) and the fairly technical circuit requires a lot of finesse, which is a funny sentence to type when talking about five-ton trucks. Defending champion Norbert Kiss leads big in the championship battle this year with no signs of slowing down.
Links: ETRC site. Most site. Event page.  Entry List. Season Points.
Coverage: No live coverage in the U.S. Highlights on TruckRace.org.
 
FIA European Hill Climb Championship: Petrol Ilirska Bistrica
Like all of the EHCC events, this one is best told through video of the race that blasts through the idyllic Slovenian scenery before heading into a series of rapidly ascending switchbacks. Enjoy:

Links: EHCC site. Ilirska Bistrica site. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points.
Coverage: No live coverage. Videos on YouTube usually by later in the week.
 
European Rally Championship: Barum Czech Rally
The ERC also visits the Czech Republic for the championship’s tarmac rally through the countryside. The championship at this point is close between Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Craig Breen with the former leading by just five points. However, Breen has shown strongly on tarmac rallies and should have a huge advantage in this one.
Links: ERC site. Czech Rally site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points.
Coverage: No live coverage. Daily highlights on ERC YouTube channel.
 
Rally America: Ojibwe Forest Rally
Meanwhile in Minnesota, American rally heads into action in the Ojibwe. The gravel rally will almost certainly be won overall by Subaru-backed David Higgins, who remains undefeated this season. In the Super Production class, however, just nine points separate the top three in the points: Nickk Roberts (69), Lauchlin O’Sullinva (67), and Garry Gil (60). As usual, there will be a number of privateers driving uncharacteristic rally cars and in this case, all hail Daniel Little in his Mazda MX-3.
Links: Rally America site. Ojibwe site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points. Stage Results.
Coverage: Audio updates on Rally America radio.
 
British Rallycross Championship: Lydden Hill
Easy like Sunday morning. If you’re around, grab a laptop and stream this racing from the House That Rallycross Build on Monday morning over coffee at work.
Links: BRX site. Lydden Hill site. Event page. Season Points. Live timing.
Coverage: Live streaming on AMG TV.
 
Ultra4: Miller Motorsports Park
The off-roading series heads to Miller, fresh off a reprieve with new ownership. Big changes are planned for the world-class racing facility in Utah, but hopefully the great off-road track on the grounds remains intact to host a bevy of off-road series in addition to the Ultra4 series.
Links: ULTRA4 site. MMP site. Event page. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points.
Coverage: Live streaming coverage (See schedule) on Ultra4 site.
 
Atlantics Championship: New Jersey Motorsports Park
The Atlantics Series and its support series roll into Jersey this weekend for the season’s penultimate round. Keith Grant leads the championship handily over Connor Kearby, a young driver who also races vintage races with his father, Gaston, who has run some IMSA races, too. Neat.
Links: Atlantics site. NJMP site. Schedule. Entry List. Season Points.
Support race(s): NARRA. F2000 Championship. F1600 Championship.
Coverage: Live timing on Race Monitor app.
 
ChumpCar World Series: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
ChumpCar visits Vegas for a pretty daunting race: 13 hours on the LVMS “roval,” a course that actually uses almost the entire oval plus an infield course. Expect high speeds and a lot of sore engines throughout the single-session race. With daytime temperatures expected to hover in the 106 degree ballpark, this is going to be a grueling race.
Links: CCWS site. LVMS site. Event supplemental documents with schedule.
Coverage: Live timing on CCWS site or on Race Monitor.
 
World Racing League: Gingerman
Closer to home, the WRL visits Gingerman Raceway this season with promises of not-as-hot temperatures and probably some nice cool breeze off Lake Michigan, actually. The weekend features a pair of races with nine hours Saturday and seven hours Sunday.
Links: WRL site. Gingerman site. Event information with schedule.
Coverage: Live timing on WRL site or on Race Monitor.
 
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[Lead image copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Eric Rood | Other sources: IndyCar, FIA WEC, MotoGP, aecgvideo]