< Previousautobabes.com.au MOTORSPORT GT Asia Series and Asian Le Mans form significant alliance for 2017 2016 GT Asia Series On the eve of the opening round of the 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series at Zhuhai in China comes news of a strong alliance between the ACO-supported and managed championship, and Asia’s leading GT competition, the GT Asia Series. As a natural progression to the relationship which first began in 2015, both Series will strengthen their co-operation to provide a raft of opportunities for competitors over the coming 18-months. “Since 2015 we’ve had an agreement with the ACO to ensure that we worked alongside the Asian Le Mans Series to support their program with ours by avoiding calendar clashes and promoting the involvement of our teams looking for an endurance challenge over the winter period,” Motorsport Asia Limited CEO David Sonenscher confirmed. “With the renewed push the ACO has had with Asian Le Mans this year, it was only natural that we formalized and extended our relationship to look towards the future, and I think now, Asian teams that have been competing in this market have themselves a fantastic program for the year ahead.” As part of the new agreement, the winner of the 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series GT class will get a free entry into the 2017 GT Asia Series, whilst the winner of the 2017 GT Asia Series will receive a free entry into the 2017/2018 Asian Le Mans Series (GT class). Significantly, the winner on combined points of the 2016/2017 Asian le Mans Series and the 2017 GT Asia Series, will receive an invitation to the 2018 Le Mans 24H in the LMGTE Am class. They will also collect points towards the new Michelin Asia GT Challenge which will consist of the combination of the GT Asia and Asian Le Mans Series GT3 classifications. The top three [full season entrants] teams in this outright classification will receive significant prize money from Michelin, with the winner of the 12-events (19 races) receiving the ultimate GT accolade - entry into the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. “This will provide a fantastic platform for drivers and teams to compete in both championships, and provides a great business case for teams looking to compete at the highest level in Asia,” Sonenscher added. “Just this year we saw Clearwater Racing - a three-time winner of the GT Asia Series compete in the 2016 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, placing fourth in LMGTE Am on debut, proving just how competitive our local teams are. It’s almost impossible to be granted entry into this iconic event, but thanks to our new relationship with Asian Le Mans, it becomes a very real opportunity!” The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s leading GT Championship. It is solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Singha, Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul, Race Room, Panta, YOFC and Tunewear. Keep in touch with http://www. facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries for news and updates, and get involved in the conversation on http://www.twitter. com/GTAsiaSeries autobabes.com.auautobabes.com.au GT ASIA ATTRACTS MILLIONS OF ONLINE VIEWERS IN CHINA 2016 has been a watershed year for the GT Asia Series with record media figures across the season, buoyed by the introduction of live broadcasts through Asia on FOX Sports and through China on Star Sports, but just recently, the internet provided another indication that the Series reach has grown exponentially this year. “At the most recent round of the GT Asia Series in Shanghai, we were able to provide the live program to 27 different online media platforms in China, with a recorded viewing audience of more than 6.3-million people,” David Sonenscher, the CEO of Motorsport Asia Limited confirmed. “From the opening round in South Korea we were able to see significant jumps in our media numbers, thanks to the FOX Sports and Star Sports live figures, but China was always an audience we were focused on with our social media platforms, and we were able to get a glimpse of the size of that market with the Shanghai event. “Overall our media figures have been up significantly, from online, to television and importantly, these numbers are global. GT Asia has also appeared in all the major motorsport media around the world this year, it has achieved significant print exposure through the efforts and successes of our drivers both within the Series and internationally, and our social media figures are regularly in the millions.” With just one event remaining on the 2016 calendar and with 13 drivers in with a mathematical chance of championship victory, there is really no surprise that the profile of the GT Asia Series has taken a big step forward this year, the competition has been immense, with almost any car in the field capable of making the podium. “Shanghai was a prime example of how close things have been,” Sonenscher added. “We had eleven cars within a second in qualifying - that was five different marques - and the opening race saw three cars cross the line after 60-minutes of intense racing covered by just two tenths of a second. That has to make us one of the most competitive GT categories racing anywhere in the world!” The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s leading GT Championship. It is solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Singha, Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul, Race Room, Panta, YOFC and Tunewear. GT ASIA SERIES FORCED INTO DATE CHANGE FOR FINAL After the most competitive season in the six-year history of the GT Asia Series the championship has come down to the final round with 13 drivers in with a mathematical chance of victory. And whilst Shanghai International Circuit had been slated as the replacement for the unfinished Zhejiang venue for the 21-23 October event, a last-minute change of direction by the local promoter has forced one more change for the region’s leading GT championship. “It’s frustrating to think that we’ve had the most competitive season ever in GT Asia, yet we’re forced to battle for a venue for the final round,” Motorsport Asia CEO David Sonenscher admitted. “After it became clear that Zhejiang would let us down despite assurances all year from the parties involved in its construction, we went looking for an alternative venue, however we were limited by dates and obviously choice of venues. We also had to avoid clashes with other championships that some of our teams were involved in. “The best bet was to stay in Shanghai, and we agreed terms to run there and in fact made financial deposits to ensure that happened, but just last week the promoter changed their mind for no obvious reason. It was always going to be challenging to fit into someone else’s program, but we made it work and were preparing to finalise the program when this happened.” Despite the setback, Shanghai International Circuit made a date available on Wednesday, 19 October and Thursday 20 October with the full F1-layout available to GT Asia for the season final. “It’s frustrating when these things happen, but sadly it has been very much outside of our control,” Sonenscher explained. “Perhaps you could point at the decision to work with the new Zhejiang committee as a catalyst for all of this, however despite concerns from some parties mid-year, all the way through to August we had assurances from the circuit that it would be completed. “Sometimes showing faith doesn’t autobabes.com.au work out for you, and unfortunately for us, that has put us into a position where we have had to make a tough decision. “This just highlights again the challenges of operating in a part of the world where motorsport is still very much in its infancy - these things happen. “Despite the setback, the date change provides us with a number of positives that will ultimately ensure a better event. We now control the whole program as the event is ours, so it allows us a lot more freedom and opportunity to focus our attentions than an event in which we are scheduled amongst other categories. Practice (2x 90-minute sessions) and qualifying will run on Wednesday, 19 October, whilst the final two rounds of the season will run on Thursday 20 October. “2016 has been an incredible season for us despite some of the challenges. From the live coverage we’ve achieved around the world which saw an incredible 6.3-million viewers in China alone for the Shanghai round (a figure that doesn’t include the LIVE Star Sports Chinese audience), to the millions of viewers through FOX Sports LIVE throughout Asia, it’s been a real watershed year and we want it to end on a high to complete the season. “Setbacks like this are things as a promoter you have to expect, we just didn’t expect a double hit for the final round, but it is-what-it-is and we have to deal with it the best way possible and focus on continuing to evolve the championship. “Plans are already in place for 2017, and we look forward to announcing the calendar for next year very soon, although competitors and fans can expect to visit some of Asia’s leading circuits once more with a focus on GT Asia being one of the primary categories.”PREDICTING WHO WILL ADVANCE IN CHASE’S ROUND OF 8 By George Winkler | NASCAR.com Surprised to see Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. ousted from the Round of 12 and no longer in contention for the championship? So were we, but that’s the nature of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, where teams that were good all season can be undone by one bad race. Is that fair? Yes, in the sense that NASCAR’s playoffs are a lot like other sports’ postseasons: Teams need to perform well in order to get there, then turn their game up a notch to be able to close the deal. (Right, Cubs or Indians fans?) And sometimes that’s not even good enough if another competitor is at the top of their game and happens to be performing at a notch just above. (Right, Buffalo Bills fans?) Not fair in the sense that the racing gods weren’t in favor of Keselowski and Truex Jr. at Talladega. For example, it must have been difficult for Keselowski’s playoffs to end mostly because of some trash that got stuck to his grille and contributed to rising engine temperatures. (Hey, was that a smashed up Bojangles’ cup latched onto the front of his car?) Whatever the case, it’s time to move on and discuss the drivers who are still left in the Round of 8. It’s an elite group that includes five former champions and drivers who all have recorded at least one win this season. Like the previous two rounds, this one will be tough to predict, so we’ll roll up our sleeves and get to work trying to sort out the razor-thin differences within this group. A reminder on our numbers: We’ve looked at average finish and laps led in the following categories for each Chase driver: 1. Season stats, 2. Last five races and 3. History at Round of 8 tracks. This way, we feel like we’ve accounted for who has done consistently well this season versus who is hot now versus who has some good experience under his belt. Let’s look at results for average finish, then we’ll move on to laps led before unveiling the final prediction: How we got the numbers: We assigned a point value to each Chase driver relative to how he finished in each of the following categories: average finish this season, average finish in the last five races and average finish at the Round of 8 tracks. For example, if a driver was tops in average finish this season, he got 8 points; second place got 7 points and so on down to last place, which got one point. Then, we added up the point values each driver earned in the three categories to arrive at the above list. Here are the top two drivers and bottom two drivers in each category: Average finish this season: Leaders: 1. Kevin Harvick (10.1), 2. Joey Logano (11.3). Followers: 7. Jimmie Johnson (14.1), 8. Matt Kenseth (14.2). Average finish last five races: Leaders: 1. Jimmie Johnson (8.6), 2. Kurt Busch (9.0). Followers: 7. Denny Hamlin (14.4), 8. Kevin Harvick (16.8). Average finish at Round of 8 tracks: Leaders: 1. Jimmie Johnson (7.9), 2. Denny Hamlin (10.9). Followers: 7. Joey Logano (15.4), 8. Kurt Busch (16.6). Analysis: ‘Six-Time’ is primed for a run at No. 7 (and we don’t mean Regan Smith). ... Kurt Busch is quietly taking care of business (well, at least until his scrape with teammate Kevin Harvick last weekend). Busch is ranked third in average finish this season, in addition to placing second in average finish for the past five races. But in order to advance he’ll need to overcome his history at the Round of 8 tracks, which is the worst out of the remaining Chase drivers. ... A handful of the Round of 8 drivers have had a bad race in the past five weeks, but Harvick has been the most up-and-down with wins at Loudon and Kansas sandwiched around 37th- and 38th-place finishes at Dover and Charlotte -- and a seventh-place showing at Talladega. Now, let’s take a look at how the drivers fared in laps led. autobabes.com.auautobabes.com.au How we got the numbers: Same as with average finish, we assigned a point value to each Chase driver relative to how he finished in each of the following categories: laps led this season, laps led in the last five races and laps led at the Round of 8 tracks. Then, we added up the point values to arrive at the above list. Here are the top two drivers and bottom two drivers in each category: Laps led this season: Leaders: 1. Kyle Busch, 2. Kevin Harvick. Followers: 7. Joey Logano, 8. Kurt Busch. Laps led last five races: Leaders: 1. Matt Kenseth, 2. Jimmie Johnson. Followers: 7. Joey Logano, 8. Kurt Busch. Laps led at Round of 8 tracks: Leaders: 1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Kevin Harvick. Followers: 7. Carl Edwards, 8. Joey Logano. Analysis: Jimmie Johnson has led the most laps at Martinsville and Texas among the Round of 8 drivers. Kevin Harvick, of course, is the king of Phoenix. ... In the past five races, Matt Kenseth twice has led the most laps among Round of 8 drivers (Loudon, Kansas), but he didn’t get the victory in either case. ... It might surprise you to know that Carl Edwards is third in laps led for the season at 835. Most of that work came early in the season when he led 551 laps in a three-race span (Texas, Bristol, Richmond) when he also collected his two victories for the year. Final prediction: What a Championship 4 group this would be with the past two champions (Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick) matching up against the six-time champ (Jimmie Johnson). Plus, Matt Kenseth would be trying to capture his first tile since 2003, before the Chase era. Let’s see how it all plays out starting this weekend at Martinsville Speedway (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Continue Online >>Rookie Lance Stroll set to partner with Valtteri Bottas at Williams in 2017 - formula1.com Williams have announced that Canadian teenager Lance Stroll will partner Valtteri Bottas in their 2017 driver line-up. autobabes.com.au Stroll, 18, has spent 2016 as one of the Grove-based team’s development drivers, combining the role with a title-winning campaign in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. He replaces Felipe Massa, who is retiring at the end of the current campaign. Bottas, meanwhile, will stay on at Williams for a fifth successive season, the Finn having made his debut with the team in 2013. Williams’ announcement brings the number of unconfirmed seats for 2017 down to eight. Three teams - Haas, Sauber and Manor - are yet to confirm either driver, while Force India and Renault both have one vacancy. Stroll, who is set to become the first Canadian to compete in F1 in over a decade, admitted 2017 will be a steep challenge - but one he feels ready for. “2017 is going to be a big learning curve for me, but I believe contesting the FIA European Formula 3 Championship for the past two years has prepared me well for the step up,” he said. “I’ve been experiencing a 2014- spec Williams FW36 since August, which has gone very well. “The power is incredible. I’m learning about the car, the incredible downforce, DRS and tyre management, finding a rhythm and finding the limit. I’m becoming more comfortable and confident with each run. “I’m eager to absorb everything Williams can share with me so that I improve. I’ll be taking things on a race-by-race, lap-by-lap basis and hopefully progress with experience like I did when I entered Formula 4 and then Formula 3. “I’ve enjoyed success in karting, F4, Toyota Racing Series and most recently F3 - winning every category I’ve competed in -so I believe I have earned a shot in F1.” Bottas, meanwhile, said he has unfinished business with Williams - and believes the 2017 regulation changes offer a perfect opportunity for the team to surge up the competitive order once more. “It’s going to be an exciting year with all the regulation changes and a great opportunity for the team to get closer to the front,” said the Finn, who has scored nine podiums over the last three seasons with Williams. “I’ll be giving 100 percent as always to the team. “Thank you to Frank, Claire and the whole Williams Board for their continued trust in me. Also, thank you to everyone at Williams, as it will be nice to continue working together with everyone both at the factory and the track. I’d also like to extend a very warm welcome from myself to Lance on joining the team. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together. “Williams is like my family. Going into next season, it will be eight years in total since I joined at the start of 2010, so it really does feel like home here. “However, I still believe we haven’t yet achieved what we should, and can do together.” Deputy team principal Claire Williams hailed Williams’ ‘fresh’ new line-up, adding: “I’m delighted to confirm that Valtteri will be racing for Williams once again next year, and be joined by Lance Stroll. “Valtteri is a much-loved member autobabes.com.auNext >