Pit Stop: F1 is Back at Zandvoort, Global Time Attack @ The Ridge

Pit Stop: F1 is Back at Zandvoort, Global Time Attack @ The Ridge

THIS WEEKEND'S RACING SCHEDULE


Formula 1 – Heineken Dutch Grand Prix @ Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands
• Race: Sunday, August 23 at 7:50 AM EST — Apple TV
This is it, the last lap for Zandvoort (at least for now) after the promoter couldn't lock down a multi-year deal past 2026, so Max gets one final home race and the dunes get their first-ever sprint weekend to send them off. Up top, Kimi Antonelli's cruising with a 50-point championship cushion over Lewis Hamilton after Lando Norris stole Hungary and put himself back in the mix for P4.

Global Time Attack – Speed Summit @ The Ridge Motorsports Park, Shelton, WA
• Time Attack, SCCA Time Trials & Lone Star Drift: Saturday, August 22 & Sunday, August 23, on-track sessions running roughly 12:00 PM – 8:40 PM EST both days — Livestream via Global Time Attack (YouTube)
Global Time Attack rolls into the Pacific Northwest this weekend for a full weekend of shaved-down, screaming time attack cars chasing lap records alongside SCCA Time Trials and Lone Star Drift's tire-smoking tandem battles, the kind of grassroots chaos that makes club racing so much fun. And yes, Standing Start will be right there in the mix on the winner's podium, sporting the best trophy designs around.

IndyCar – Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. @ National Mall Street Circuit, Washington, D.C.
• Qualifying: Saturday, August 22 at 5:00 PM EST — FS2
• Warmup: Sunday, August 23 at 9:00 AM EST — FS1
• Race: Sunday, August 23 at 1:00 PM EST — FOX
IndyCar's never raced on the National Mall before, so this weekend the paddock sets up shop with the Washington Monument and the Capitol as the backdrop for a brand-new 1.7-mile street fight. First-ever anything in IndyCar means anyone could write their name into the history books this weekend.

NASCAR – New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, NH
• Truck Series 175: Saturday, August 22 at 1:30 PM EST — FS1
• Cup Series Dollar Tree 301: Sunday, August 23 at 3:00 PM EST — USA/MAX
The regular season's down to its last two rounds and the bubble is boiling: Shane van Gisbergen is clinging to the final playoff spot while Ryan Preece sits 50 points back and running out of Sundays to close the gap. Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, is just cruising with a 115-point points lead like he doesn't have a care in the world.

IMSA – Michelin GT Challenge @ Virginia International Raceway, Alton, VA
• Michelin Pilot Challenge: Saturday, August 22 at 2:10 PM EST — YouTube
• SportsCar Championship Qualifying: Saturday, August 22 at 4:45 PM EST — YouTube
• SportsCar GT Challenge Race: Sunday, August 23 at 12:00 PM EST — NBC
The prototypes sit this one out, so it's a GT-only shootout at VIR, and the manufacturer battle couldn't be tighter: Aston Martin is clinging to an 18-point lead over Ferrari with the GTD Pro and GTD title fights bunched just as close behind them.

Circuit Zandvoort
Say goodbye to the dunes. This weekend marks Zandvoort's last Dutch Grand Prix, at least for the foreseeable future, after F1 and the promoter could only agree on a one-year extension instead of the long-term deal both sides wanted. It's a fitting note to go out on, though: the circuit's signature moment has always been the Arie Luyendykbocht, the steeply banked final corner (up to 18 degrees, with a peak gradient of 32%) that slingshots cars onto the front straight. It's named for Arie Luyendyk, the Dutch driver who won the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 1990 and 1997, and the corner was rechristened in his honor in 2001. Before that it was just "Bos Uit," Dutch for "out of the woods," a nod to where the track first emerged from the surrounding dunes back in 1948.Circuit Zandvoort


Say goodbye to the dunes. This weekend marks Zandvoort's last Dutch Grand Prix, at least for the foreseeable future, after F1 and the promoter could only agree on a one-year extension instead of the long-term deal both sides wanted. It's a fitting note to go out on, though: the circuit's signature moment has always been the Arie Luyendykbocht, the steeply banked final corner (up to 18 degrees, with a peak gradient of 32%) that slingshots cars onto the front straight. It's named for Arie Luyendyk, the Dutch driver who won the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 1990 and 1997, and the corner was rechristened in his honor in 2001. Before that it was just "Bos Uit," Dutch for "out of the woods," a nod to where the track first emerged from the surrounding dunes back in 1948.

The Ridge Motorsports Park


The Ridge Motorsports Park almost didn't happen without a road trip. Founder Rod Powell had just sold his medical device manufacturing company when a 2005 visit to Thunderhill Raceway in California lit the spark. He kept going back, kept talking with the board there, and eventually decided the Pacific Northwest needed a track of its own. Teaming up with Joe Manke, he broke ground near Shelton, Washington on April 26, 2011, and Steve Crawford's 2.47-mile, 16-turn design hosted its first official race, a WMRRA motorcycle event, on May 26, 2012.

The signature feature is the 50-foot plunge through the "Ridge Complex," a blind, downhill drop that's drawn comparisons to Laguna Seca's famous Corkscrew, part of more than 300 feet of elevation change packed into under two and a half miles of track. It's since become MotoAmerica's Pacific Northwest home too, and in 2020 the track even added a chicane to its 2,850-foot front straight just to keep the superbikes from getting too comfortable.

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