Porsche looks set to take up the extra entry for the Le Mans 24 Hours it gained for winning the IMSA SportsCar Championship crown at Road Atlanta last weekend. 

Thomas Laudenbach, boss of Porsche Motorsport, told Autosport/Motorsport.com that it “absolutely makes sense” for the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport squad to run a third 963 LMDh in the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship in addition to its two full-season entries. 

At the same time he stressed that no final decision has been made on the additional car.

Porsche successfully applied to have an extra factory 963 on the Le Mans grid in 2023 and ’24, but for next year it has the additional entry guaranteed after securing the IMSA GTP title with the #7 car driven by Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron at the Petit Le Mans 10-hour race that closed out the season last Saturday. 

“It is not decided yet, but it is more likely we will run the three, especially now we have the entry,” said Laudenbach. 

“You need budget for that, but we all know how quickly a car can be taken out of the race at Le Mans. 

“That is why we have done it with three for the past two years and why there is a good chance we will do it with three again.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

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Porsche looks set to go into the Le Mans WEC round next June with a reduced contingent of cars in the Hypercar class even if it decides that PPM will field a trio of cars for the third year in succession.

The customer Jota team, which is running two Porsches in Hypercar this year, will switch over to Cadillac in 2025 when it becomes the General Motors brand’s factory representative in place of Chip Ganassi Racing.

Even if Proton Competition, the second customer team running the 963 in WEC, expands to two cars, Porsche’s full-season representation in WEC looks certain to be reduced from five to four cars. 

Laudenbach confirmed that an announcement of PPM’s 2025 driver line-ups across its world championship and North American campaigns will be made before the conclusion of the WEC season.

“There will be an announcement before the race in Bahrain [on 2 November],” he said. 

With that news imminent, it appears unlikely that a decision on the third car at Le Mans will be made in time for its drivers to be included in the announcement.

IMSA is allowed to award three entries for the Le Mans WEC blue riband round in June by race organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. 

One of these so-called ‘at-large entries’ goes to the winning car in the GTP teams’ championship, which was won by the #7 PPM entry of drivers’ title winners Nasr and Cameron. 

The winners of the Jim Trueman and Bob Akin Awards gain the other two. 

These awards go to a bronze-ranked driver competing in LMP2 and GT Daytona respectively based on a separate classification to the main class championships. 

Nick Boulle, who also won the LMP2 title with Tom Dillmann at Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen, and Orey Fidani, who raced with Matt Bell at the AWA Chevrolet team, claimed the two awards and therefore an automatic Le Mans entry each.

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Max Verstappen will start the half-distance race on Saturday from pole position, having edged out George Russell in the sprint qualifying by just 0.012s.

His nearest title rival Lando Norris will start fourth, behind Charles Leclerc.

Four different teams managed to qualify a car on the first two rows on the grid.

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What time does the Sprint race for the United States Grand Prix start?

The Sprint will run to a distance of 19 laps or roughly 100km.

• Date: Saturday, 19 October, 2024
• Start time: 18:00 GMT / 19:00 BST / 20:00 CEST / 20:00 SAT / 21:00 EAT / 14:00 ET / 13:00 CT / 11:00 PT / 05:00 AEDT (Sunday) / 03:00 JST (Sunday) / 23:30 IST

Can’t find your country or region in the list? Check the schedule page for the broadcast times in your local timezone.

2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

How can I watch the US GP Sprint race?

Formula 1 is broadcast live in nearly every country around the world. 

Europe: 

• Austria – Servus TV / ORF
• Belgium – RTBF / Telenet / Play Sports
• Croatia – Sport Klub
• Czech Republic – AMC
• Denmark – TV3+ / TV3 Sport / Viaplay
• Estonia: Viaplay
• Finland – Viaplay 
• France – Canal+
• Germany – Sky 
• Greece – ANT1 / ANT1+
• Hungary – M4
• Italy – Sky
• Netherlands – Viaplay / Viaplay Xtra
• Norway – V sport 1 / V sport + / Viaplay
• Poland – Viaplay
• Portugal – Sport TV
• Spain – F1 DAZN
• Sweden – Viaplay / V sport motor / TV 10
• Switzerland – SRF / RSI / RTS
• UK – Sky Sports F1

Americas: 

• USA – ESPN Network
• Canada – RDS / RDS2 / TSN / Noovo
• Latin America – ESPN

Asia: 

• China – CCTV / Shanghai TV / Guangdong Television Channel / Tencent
• India – FanCode
• Japan – Fuji TV / DAZN
• Malaysia – beIN SPORTS
• Indonesia- beIN SPORTS
• Singapore – beIN SPORTS
• Thailand – beIN SPORTS
• Vietnam – K+

Oceania: 

• Australia – Fox Sports / Foxtel / Kayo / Network Ten
• New Zealand – Sky

Africa: 

Can I stream the US GP Sprint race?

Viewers from selected countries can subscribe to F1 TV to stream qualifying on a device of their choice. Some local broadcasters such as Sky TV (UK) and Movistar (Spain) also offer their own on-demand service. 

US GP Sprint – Starting grid:

Lando Norris labelled his sprint qualifying lap as “shocking” after claiming fourth on the grid for Saturday’s United States Grand Prix sprint race, 0.25 seconds shy of Max Verstappen’s pole time.

Norris split the two Ferraris with his sole flying lap of the session, as neither Charles Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz could capitalise on the early pace that they had shown.

The Briton had gone fourth and sixth fastest through SQ1 and SQ2, on both occasions over two tenths slower than the fastest time in each phase. Norris was again over two tenths away from making the front row in SQ3, and just 0.006s ahead of Sainz in the overall pecking order.

On the radio after the lap, a downbeat Norris told his team that he didn’t want updates on where his rivals landed in the timing order, exclaiming that his lap was “shit”.

Speaking after the session, Norris conceded: “[It was] not very good. P4, so not a great day. I’ve been struggling the whole day, honestly, with the balance and the set-up,” Norris said.

“In a way I’m happy with P4 because I felt like it could have been a lot worse, but my lap was shocking. Not a terrible day and it could have been worse, but could have been better. But I’ll take it.

Norris felt that the upgrades McLaren had brought to Austin, which ranged from the front wing and suspension to minor changes around the rear of the car, were “pretty much the same” as what McLaren had run with in recent races.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

He explained that he was unsure of where the McLaren stacked up in race pace with the other cars, but hoped that there was more in the car that would allow him to attack the cars ahead of him on the grid.

Asked if he had a sense of where the race pace was, he replied: “Not really. I hope to go forward, that’s my plan.

“But on pace, I think we are where we deserve to be today, so, my plan is to go forward, but I have no idea how much we can.”

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After a year of many ups and downs, the 2024 DTM season is set for an epic climax at Hockenheim this weekend. Three drivers, representing as many teams and manufacturers, are in pursuit of their maiden title in the prestigious German series.

Leading the standings is factory Lamborghini man Mirko Bortolotti, who is keen to avenge his narrow loss to Porsche’s Thomas Preining in 2023. The Italian sits 15 points clear of Abt Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde, while Mercedes’ Maro Engel is another five points adrift in third for Winward Racing.

Both Bortolotti and van der Linde have scored at least one win so far, while Engel’s title charge has been built on consistency, having finished on the podium in seven of the 16 races so far in 2024.

A total of 56 points are on offer at the Hockenheimring double header, with 25 going to the winner of each race and three additional points granted for pole position in both qualifying sessions.

How Mirko Bortolotti can win the 2024 DTM title

Podium: Race winner Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Bortolotti is the only driver who can secure the title on Saturday. To do so, he would have to score at least 14 points more than van der Linde and eight points more than Engel on the opening day of racing. That would give him an insurmountable lead heading into Sunday.

This means that if Bortolotti takes pole position and wins on Saturday, he can seal the title if van der Linde rival finishes fifth or lower and Engel does not end up on the podium. Even a fourth place for van der Linde would suffice for Bortolotti if his South African rival qualifies lower than second and does not score the additional two points.

If Bortolotti finishes sixth or less in the first race, the fight will go down the wire on Sunday regardless of how his two rivals perform.

If the SSR Lamborghini driver does not score any points in Saturday qualifying, even a fourth place would ensure that the title fight will be decided on the last day of the season.

However, the Italian does not necessarily have to fight for victory in the final weekend: two podium finishes, either second or third, would in all probability be enough for Bortolotti to secure the coveted DTM crown for the first time. Because then van der Linde would have to win at least one of the two races to swing the fight in his favour.

How Kelvin van der Linde can become the 2024 champion

Kelvin van der Linde, Team ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The elder of the van der Linde brothers may not be able to emulate Sheldon’s 2022 success on his own. Even a perfect weekend, with two wins and two poles, would not guarantee the South African the championship.

If Bortolotti were to follow him and finish second in both races and qualifying sessions, the Lamborghini driver would still end up three points clear. On his final weekend driving an Audi, the Abt driver may therefore need some misfortune to hit his chief rival in order to win a title that slipped from his grasp in the controversial 2021 finale.

For the 28-year-old, it will be important to make up as many points as possible on Saturday to keep himself in the fight. He cannot afford to lose more than 14 points to Bortolotti on the first of the two race days if he wants to add a DTM title to a CV that includes two ADAC GT Masters titles, and as many wins in the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

If van der Linde driver finishes ahead of Bortolotti, the title will definitely not be decided until Sunday. Regardless of where Bortolotti finishes on Saturday, he would keep the title fight open with a podium finish in the first race.

However, it would be advisable to win from pole position in at least one of the two final races in Hockenheim. This would significantly improve van der Linde’s chances of success. If he manages to achieve this feat on Saturday and Bortolotti only finishes fourth, the two drivers will be level on points at the top of the table again before the last race.

If Bortolotti and van der Linde finish the season with the same number of points, the latter would have a decisive advantage regardless of the Hockenheim results. Because while the Lamborghini driver celebrated his first victory of the season only last time at Spielberg, van der Linde has already been on the top step of the podium twice this year. If they end up level on points, the number of wins will decide who gets to lift the championship trophy.

How Maro Engel can win the 2024 DTM title

Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance, Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Maro Engel has the lowest chance of all three title contenders. If the Mercedes-AMG driver doesn’t take any risks on Saturday, he would have to bury his title hopes early.

That’s because if Bortolotti scores at least eight points more than him in the first race, he would already be out of the championship reckoning.

If Bortolotti ends up third on Saturday, Engel would have to finish between fourth to seventh, depending on the qualifying result, in order to remain in the title hunt. Should Bortolotti finish second, the newly-crowned GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup champion would also have to finish on the podium to maintain his title chances.

If Bortolotti manages a perfect Saturday, following up pole position with victory, Engel would be left in a precarious situation. He would have to qualify in the top three and finish the race in second place to keep a mathematical chance of winning the title.

Second place on Sunday would be enough to finish the year on the same number of points, but Bortolotti would have more wins to his name.

It is not unlikely that the number of victories will ultimately decide who wins the 2024 DTM title. In many calculations, Bortolotti and Engel end up on the same number of points. The Mercedes-AMG driver would therefore be well advised to put all on the line to win Saturday’s race.

Then he would not only score a big chunk of points and keep his small hope of winning the title alive, but would also have – just like Bortolotti – a victory under his belt.

If they finish equal on points and race wins, the number of second places would decide and Engel is currently ahead with five second places compared to four for Bortolotti.

Teams’ and manufacturers’ titles

René Rast, Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

BMW squad Schubert Motorsport leads the championship by 39 points over Abt, having benefitted from its status as the DTM’s only three-car team.

Winward, SSR Performance and HRT – the Mercedes squad welcoming Jules Gounon for his series debut this weekend in place of an unwell Luca Stolz – are also very much in the frame for the title.

In the manufacturers’ championship, Mercedes is on top with 384 points, followed by Lamborghini (360), BMW (337) and Audi (301).

Hockenheim is poised to be Audi’s final appearance in the DTM, with long-time partner Abt splitting with the German marque to join forces with Lamborghini.