Weekend Motorsport Preview

Aug 30, 2024

It's yet another busy weekend in the United States for our drivers, with INDYCAR, Indy NXT, NASCAR and the World Endurance Championship taking place across the country. In the United Kingdom, Hayden Paddon enters the tail end of the European Rally Championship in a tight championship battle.

INDYCAR

It’s the penultimate weekend of the INDYCAR championship and Kiwi championship hopefuls Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin are separated by just 13 points in the championship.

McLaughlin jumped ahead of Dixon to P4 in the standings last weekend in Portland after the six-time champion was crashed out of the race through no fault of his own.

It’d be a tough ask for either driver to claim top-honours, with Alex Palou sitting 88-points ahead of McLaughlin, but with this weekend’s double header meaning there are three rounds to go, it’s too early to count the Kiwis out.

Session Times

Qualifying - Sunday - 6:15am
Race 1 - Sunday - 9:40am
Race 2 - Monday - 6:30am

Indy NXT

Callum Hedge will be looking to put a difficult weekend in Portland behind him as Indy NXT heads to Milwaukee for the final oval race of the season.

The championship title is mathematically out-of-reach for the 20-year-old, so the focus has shifted to securing fourth place in the standings as one of the top-placed rookies.

Session Times

Qualifying - Sunday - 5:00am
Race - Sunday - 7:50am

NASCAR

Fresh off the announcement of his full-time Cup Series campaign with Trackhouse Racing in 2025, Shane van Gisbergen will be back in Kaulig Racing’s Cup car this weekend at Darlington Raceway, as the Kiwi tackles both the Cup and Xfinity Series.

SVG was last at Darlington in May, placing P15 in the Xfinity race.

Session Times

Xfinity Qualifying - Sunday - 3:10am
Cup Qualifying - Sunday - 5:20am
Xfinity Race - Sunday 7:30am
Cup Race - Monday - 10:00am

World Endurance Championship

The World Endurance Championship is heading to the United States this weekend for a 6 hour race around the Circuit of the Americas.

After a slow season for the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing car piloted by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastian Buemi, the win last time out in Brazil jumped the crew up to P5 in the championship standings.

Earl Bamber will be jumping back in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R alongside Alex Lynn, with the pairing having shown moments of brilliance throughout the season, but have only scored points in two races this year.

Session Times

Qualifying - Sunday - 8:00am
Race - Monday - 6:00am