Just the one big event this week, but perversely the biggest chunk of motorsport action in 2010 to date - the Sebring 12 Hours enduro from the airfield circuit in Florida.
After some time rather in the wilderness, Motors TV returns to showing some live, mainstream action, providing coverage of all twelve hours (allegedly) from 2pm on Saturday afternoon.
The race is regarded as one of the toughest events in sportscar racing, with twelve hours at the bumpy, dusty Sebring considered more challenging on reliability than the twenty-four hours of Le Mans. The big manufacturers used Sebring as their first test of the season for many years for this reason, and some exceptional battles ensued - not least last season when the lead Audis and Peugeots ran nose-to-tail throughout, victory only going to the German marque after the #8 Pug suffered a puncture.
Sadly budget constraints mean Audi are not present this season, so Peugeot are strong favourites (well, nailed-on) for victory, the #7 car pedalled by Marc Gene, Alex Wurz and F1 refugee Anthony Davidson, while the #8 car is driven by Pedro Lamy, Sebastien Bourdais and Nicolas Minassian. Aston Martin Racing are taking a solitary Lola and will probably lead the "challenge" to the Peugeots, though the driver lineup of Stefan Mucke, Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez is of variable quality.
The focus will almost certainly be on the battle in the GT class, and rightly so, as Corvette, Porsche 911, Ford GT, Ferrari 430, Jaguar XKR and BMW M3 go head-to-head. Chevy's home team are slight favourites but have qualified fifth and sixth in class, behind a Ferrari, two Porsches and the David Letterman/Bobby Rahal-owned polesitter BMW M3. Times are so close that no-one will be able to afford a problem of any sort throughout the twelve hours.
After some time rather in the wilderness, Motors TV returns to showing some live, mainstream action, providing coverage of all twelve hours (allegedly) from 2pm on Saturday afternoon.
The race is regarded as one of the toughest events in sportscar racing, with twelve hours at the bumpy, dusty Sebring considered more challenging on reliability than the twenty-four hours of Le Mans. The big manufacturers used Sebring as their first test of the season for many years for this reason, and some exceptional battles ensued - not least last season when the lead Audis and Peugeots ran nose-to-tail throughout, victory only going to the German marque after the #8 Pug suffered a puncture.
Sadly budget constraints mean Audi are not present this season, so Peugeot are strong favourites (well, nailed-on) for victory, the #7 car pedalled by Marc Gene, Alex Wurz and F1 refugee Anthony Davidson, while the #8 car is driven by Pedro Lamy, Sebastien Bourdais and Nicolas Minassian. Aston Martin Racing are taking a solitary Lola and will probably lead the "challenge" to the Peugeots, though the driver lineup of Stefan Mucke, Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez is of variable quality.
The focus will almost certainly be on the battle in the GT class, and rightly so, as Corvette, Porsche 911, Ford GT, Ferrari 430, Jaguar XKR and BMW M3 go head-to-head. Chevy's home team are slight favourites but have qualified fifth and sixth in class, behind a Ferrari, two Porsches and the David Letterman/Bobby Rahal-owned polesitter BMW M3. Times are so close that no-one will be able to afford a problem of any sort throughout the twelve hours.
