FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 20th, 2013

NBCSN PRESENTS MORE THAN 20 HOURS OF MOTORSPORTS COVERAGE THIS WEEK, HIGHLIGHTED BY LIVE FORMULA ONE AND INDYCAR RACES

Live Coverage of Shell Belgian Grand Prix Begins Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN

IndyCar Series Coverage of GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma
at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday Caps Open-Wheel Doubleheader

STAMFORD, Conn. – Aug. 20, 2013 – NBC Sports Group will present 21.5 hours of motorsports coverage this weekend, highlighted by live Formula One and IndyCar grand prixes on NBCSN on Sunday. NBCSN’s Sunday doubleheader of live race coverage begins at 7:30 a.m. ET with the Shell Belgian Grand Prix, and continues with the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at 4 p.m. ET.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) continues to maintain his lead atop the F1 points standings over Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), despite a third place finish in Hungary last month. Raikkonen is a four-time winner of the Shell Belgian Grand Prix, while Vettel took the checkered flag in Belgium in 2011.

Helio Castroneves (Penske) continues to maintain his position atop the IZOD IndyCar Series points standings over Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi). Both are past winners at Sonoma; Dixon took the checkered flag in 2007, while Castroneves earned a victory in 2008. Charlie Kimball (Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi) became the fourth driver this season to earn his first career IndyCar Series race with his victory at Mid-Ohio three weeks earlier.

Coverage of the Shell Belgian Grand Prix begins on Friday with live practice on NBCSN at 8 a.m. ET. Live streaming coverage of qualifying can be seen on NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices and tablets, on Saturday at 8 a.m. ET, and on NBCSN at 12:30 p.m. ET. Sunday’s live coverage of the Shell Belgian Grand Prix on NBCSN begins at 7:30 a.m. ET.

NBCSN’s coverage of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma starts with qualifying on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. NBCSN’s live telecast of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma airs Sunday at 4 p.m.

NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra will combine to provide live AMA Motocross coverage this Saturday from Lake Elsinore, Calif. Live coverage starts on NBC Sports Live Extra at 1 p.m. ET and will also air on NBCSN at 3:30 p.m. ET.

ARCA Racing rounds out NBC Sports Group’s motorsports coverage this weekend on Friday at 11 p.m. on NBCSN.

Date Coverage Network Time (ET)
Fri., August 23 F1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix – Practice NBCSN 8 a.m.
ARCA Racing NBCSN 11 p.m.
Sat., August 24 F1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix – Practice (Encore) NBCSN 1 a.m.
F1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying (Live) NBC Sports Live Extra 8 a.m.
F1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying NBCSN 12:30 p.m.
AMA Motocross NBC Sports Live Extra 1 p.m.
AMA Motocross NBCSN 3:30 p.m.
AMA Motocross NBC Sports Live Extra 5:30 p.m.
GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma – Qualifying NBCSN 9 p.m.
AMA Motocross (Encore) NBCSN 10 p.m.
Sun., August 25 F1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying (Encore) NBCSN 1 a.m.
F1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix NBCSN 7:30 a.m.
F1 Extra NBCSN 10 a.m.
GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma NBCSN 4 p.m.


COMMENTATORS:
NBC Sports Group’s IndyCar and Formula One play-by-play voice Leigh Diffey will call the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Diffey will be joined in the booth this week by former drivers Townsend Bell and Wally Dallenbach. Reporters Jon Beekhuis, Kevin Lee, Marty Snider and Robin Miller will manage the pits. 

Veteran motorsports broadcaster Bob Varsha will call the Shell Belgian Grand Prix. He will be joined by veteran analyst and former racecar driver David Hobbs, and analyst and former race mechanic for the Benetton F1 team Steve Matchett. F1 insider Will Buxton will serve as the team’s on-site reporter from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Jason Weigandt, Jeff Emig and Kelli Stavast will provide AMA Motocross coverage from Lake Elsinore National in Lake Elsinore, Calif. on Saturday afternoon.

Rick Benjamin, Andy Hillenburg and Kevin Lee have the call of the Allen Crowe 100 from the Illinois State Fairgrounds on Friday night.

INDYCAR AND FORMULA ONE ON NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA: NBC Sports Live Extra — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets — will live stream the Belgian Grand Prix and the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday. Coverage will be streamed via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.

For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app for mobile devices and tablets is available at the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and on select Android handset and tablet devices within Google Play.

Coverage airing on NBCSN will live stream to PCs, mobile devices and tablets through NBC Sports Live Extra, and to the digital platforms of participating cable, satellite, and telco services, via “TV Everywhere,” which is available on an authenticated basis to subscribers of participating MVPDs.

Click here for the participating cable/satellite/telco companies offering NBC Sports Live Extra:  
http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2013/08/16/nbc-sports-live-extra-providers/

MOTORSPORTSTALK: MotorSportsTalk (@MotorSportsTalk) on NBCSports.com brings racing fans up-to-the-minute news, video and information on the IZOD IndyCar Series, Formula One, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and all other motorsports racing from around the world. The site also serves as the destination for all news, analysis and video from NBC and NBCSN productions of IndyCar and F1, including contributions from on-air commentators.

MotorSportsTalk’s content is provided by top racing journalists and expert analysts, including:

  • Keith Collantine (@KeithCollantine), editor and creator of the F1Fanatic blog;
  • Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) creator of the F1 site RichlandF1.com;
  • Tony DiZinno (@TonyDiZinno), who has written for RACER Magazine and has covered IndyCar and NASCAR since 2006;
  • Writer Christopher Estrada (@estradawriting) who has written for the Boston Globe, FoxSports.com, created the Indy Racing Revolution blog and is a contributor to IndyCar’s IndyCar Nation blog.

To explore the site, please visit MotorSportsTalk.com.nbcsports.com or www.NBCSports.com.

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