INDYCAR GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH HIGHLIGHTS MORE THAN 15 HOURS OF MOTORSPORTS COVERAGE ON NBCSN THIS WEEK

Live Grand Prix Coverage Begins Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN; Indy Lights Streets of Long Beach Airs at 2:30 p.m. ET

Bahrain Grand Prix Record Viewership Contributes to Formula One Best Viewership Over First Three Races in a Decade

NBCSN and Esquire Network Present Mecum Auctions from Houston This Week; NBCSN’s Coverage Begins Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET

STAMFORD, Conn. – April 9, 2013 – NBCSN’s coverage of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series begins this week with the IndyCar Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, highlighting more than 15 hours of motorsports coverage this week. NBC Sports Live Extra – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets – will stream coverage of the Grand Prix of Long Beach via “TV Everywhere.”

NBCSN’s presentation of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series from Long Beach begins Saturday at 6 p.m. ET with qualifying. Coverage continues on Sunday afternoon on NBCSN at 2:30 p.m. ET with the Indy Lights Streets of Long Beach race, leading into live coverage of the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Two weeks ago, Will Power (Team Penske) held off Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) to win the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, and both Power (2008, 2012) and Hunter-Reay (2010) have both won at Long Beach. Last year, Takuma Sato (A.J. Foyt Racing) took the checkered flag at Long Beach for his first career IndyCar victory.

NBC Sports Group’s lead IndyCar and Formula One play-by-play voice Leigh Diffey will call the Grand Prix of Long Beach on-site, alongside former drivers Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Tracy joins NBC Sports Group’s IndyCar telecasts for select races this season, and is a four-time winner at Long Beach, including the first of his 31 career victories in 1993.

Reporters Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Kevin Lee and Robin Miller will report from the pits. Lee will be joined by Anders Krohn and Jake Query to call the Indy Lights Streets of Long Beach race.

In addition, NBCSN and Esquire Network will combine to present more than 15 hours of Mecum Auctions live coverage from Houston this week. Coverage begins on Esquire Network tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. ET, and continues on NBCSN at 4:30 p.m. ET. Esquire Network’s live presentation continues Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET, and shifts to NBCSN at 4 p.m. ET, with the final installment of Mecum Auctions from Houston airing Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. To find Esquire Network, please visit: http://esquiretv.com/channelfinder

Scott Hoke will host NBC Sports Group’s Mecum Auctions coverage on-site at Reliant Center in Houston, Texas, alongside analysts John Kraman, Stephen Cox, and Bill Stephens. Mecum Auctions is led by Dana Mecum, Founder and President of Mecum Auctions for the past 27 years.

NBCSN will also present coverage of the GP2 Series, Formula One’s developmental series, with the GP2 Bahrain race this Friday at 1:30 a.m. ET. NBC Sports Group’s F1 insider Will Buxton will have the call from Sakhir International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.

Motorsports Coverage This Week on NBCSN and Esquire Network (subject to change):

Date Program Time (ET) Network Thu., April 10 Mecum Auctions – Houston 12:30 p.m. Esquire Mecum Auctions – Houston 4:30 p.m. NBCSN Fri., April 11 GP2 Bahrain 1:30 a.m. NBCSN Mecum Auctions – Houston 12:30 p.m. Esquire Mecum Auctions – Houston 4 p.m. NBCSN Sat., April 12 Mecum Auctions – Houston 2:30 p.m. NBCSN IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach – Qualifying 6 p.m. NBCSN Sun., April 13 Indy Lights Streets of Long Beach 2:30 p.m. NBCSN IndyCar Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach 4 p.m. NBCSN

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX RECORD VIEWERSHIP CONTRIBUTES TO BEST FORMULA ONE VIEWERSHIP OVER FIRST THREE RACES IN A DECADE

The first night race in Bahrain Grand Prix history produced the most-watched non-domestic Formula One race on cable in three years, including the most-watched race on NBCSN since the network began televising the circuit last year.

Sunday’s race (10:30 a.m. – 12:53 p.m. ET) averaged 594,000 viewers, the most for a non-domestic F1 race on cable since the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix on SPEED (627,000 viewers). The previous best for an F1 race on NBCSN was last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (354,000 viewers).

The viewership was also up 435% from NBCSN’s third race last year (111,000 viewers) for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The first three races have averaged 364,000 viewers, making this season the most-watched through the first three races on cable in a decade (SPEED, 2004, 382,000). The 364,000 average viewers is up 206% vs. the first three in 2013 on NBCSN (119,000) and up 46% vs. SPEED’s first three races in 2012 (250,000).

INDYCAR ON NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA: NBC Sports Live Extra — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets — will provide live streaming coverage of this week’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach and Mecum Auctions airing on NBCSN via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of 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 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.

MOTORSPORTSTALK: MotorSportsTalk (@MotorSportsTalk) on NBCSports.com brings racing fans up-to-the-minute news, video and information on the Formula One, Verizon IndyCar Series, 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:

Luke Smith is creator and editor at Richland F1, which begins its second season this year. He’s on Twitter at @LukeSmithF1, primarily handling the F1 scene from Europe in great detail.

is creator and editor at Richland F1, which begins its second season this year. He’s on Twitter at @LukeSmithF1, primarily handling the F1 scene from Europe in great detail. Tony DiZinno has most recently served as web editor for RACER Magazine and has more than seven years of experience in the industry. Follow him on Twitter at @TonyDiZinno.

has most recently served as web editor for RACER Magazine and has more than seven years of experience in the industry. Follow him on Twitter at @TonyDiZinno. Chris Estrada launched the Indy Racing Revolution blog site and has served as a contributor to IndyCar’s IndyCar Nation blog. Follow him at @estradawriting.

launched the Indy Racing Revolution blog site and has served as a contributor to IndyCar’s IndyCar Nation blog. Follow him at @estradawriting. Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran NASCAR reporter with more than 30 years of experience. He has contributed to USA Today, Yahoo! Sports and other websites over the course of his career. Follow him on Twitter @JerryBonkowski.

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