Barring some highly abnormal circumstances, the Pirelli World Challenge GT class will have a new driver’s champion this year, in what figures to be a highly entertaining one-race season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend.
Alvaro Parente holds a nine-point edge, 1554-1545, over Patrick Long. The Portuguese ace of the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 is in search of his first World Challenge title and Long will look for his second in the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, his first since 2011.
Long’s title five years ago was the last not won by Johnny O’Connell of Cadillac Racing, who makes his likely final bow as defending champion this weekend. “Johnny Red” - and teammate Michael Cooper - retain an outside mathematical chance at the title on 1451 points. But only one of the Cadillac ATS-V.R teammates could win it if either driver wins the race, and neither Parente nor Long finishes and doesn’t score points.
Long also looks to help Porsche repeat as GT Manufacturer’s Champions in 2016 – Porsche comes into the weekend only one point behind McLaren, 131–130.
Here’s a look at the points tables for the weekend. If Long can finish ahead of Parente by two to three positions, he would be good to go to overtake him for the title. The task for Parente is simpler - so long as he finishes ahead of Long, the title is his.
Here's the PWC points table per its rulebook and who gets what points. pic.twitter.com/jb0iPJ0NCq
— Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) September 18, 2016
A combined 30 cars are set between GT (16) GTA (10) and GT Cup (4), with Martin Fuentes (GTA) and Alec Udell (GT Cup) having already clinched their titles at Sonoma Raceway a couple weeks ago. Udell’s place at GMG Racing is taken this weekend by Chris Thompson.
Within GT, Austin Cindric looks for a first career win that got away in Sonoma (No. 6 McLaren), Spencer Pumpelly returns to the No. 34 RealTime Racing Acura TLX-GT in that car’s final run, Jonathan Summerton makes another start in DIME’s No. 66 Mercedes and Swiss driver Fabian Hemprecht is entered in the No. 88 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3, replacing Adderly Fong.
Jorge de la Torre makes his comeback to the driver’s seat in GTA, an interesting storyline following his accident at Lime Rock Park in May. He’s in the No. 4 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 in that class.
GTS sees Brett Sandberg with a 111-point lead (1473 to 1362) over Lawson Aschenbach, with the ANSA Motorsports KTM X-BOW GT4 driver looking to defeat Aschenbach, a four-time series champion, in his Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.
Toby Grahovec (TC), Elivan Goulart (TCA) and P.J. Groenke (TCB) lead the Touring Car classes going into the final rounds of the season.
Sprint-X also returns for its third weekend of the year, but easily with its biggest grid yet. After running with only single-digit entries at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Utah Motorsports Campus, some 23 cars are entered in the new division, and it features a mix of GT, GTS and GT Cup entries.
The full entry list for the weekend is here, and the full schedule is linked here. Races start on Sat., Oct. 8, after testing, practice and qualifying Thursday and Friday.