2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Entrants
David Markozov returned to drive the No. 27 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR01 car after he was prevented from taking part at Silverstone because of family problems. LMP2 consisted of 12 cars with 36 drivers in five different types of chassis with one additional Gibson 015S from G-Drive Racing who fielded the 4 Hours of Silverstone winners Giedo van der Garde, Simon Dolan and were joined by GP3 Series driver Jake Dennis.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Entrants
The Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) field consisted of three manufacturers (Aston Martin, Ford, and Ferrari) with one change of driver: Jonathan Adam, who missed the opening race because he was participating in the British GT Championship, returned to the World Endurance Championship to Aston Martin Racing while the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) entrants consisted of six teams: Aston Martin Racing, AF Corse, KCMG, Larbre Compétition, Abu Dhabi Proton Racing and Gulf Racing. Patrick Long made his first start of the year in the championship alongside Khaled Al Qubaisi and David Heinemeier Hansson in Abu Dhabi Proton Racing's No. 88 Porsche 911 RSR after missing the first round because of commitments to other motor racing series.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was confirmed as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship's 2016 schedule in December 2015 at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris. It was the second of nine scheduled endurance sports car rounds of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, and the fifth running of the event as part of the championship. The race was held on 7 May 2016 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium with two preceding days of practice and qualifying. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a race track that is 7.004 kilometres (4.352 mi) long and has twenty corners.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
Endurance racing events were first held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in 1924 with the Spa 24 Hours. 39 years later, the track began holding 500 km (310 mi) World Sportscar Championship races which later expanded to 1,000 km (620 mi). It was cancelled after the 1975 running because of modern safety concerns. It was resurrected in 1982 on the reconfigured Spa-Francorchamps track layout and remained on the calendar until 1990. Spa-Francorchamps again began holding endurance sports car races from 1999 and the 6 Hour event was made part of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012. The race is considered by many as a final preparation event for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
Before the race Porsche drivers Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas led the Drivers' Championship with 25 points each, seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stéphane Sarrazin, and a further three in front of third-placed Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher. Nick Heidfeld, Nico Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr. were fourth on twelve points, and Bruno Senna, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo González rounded out the top five with ten points.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
Toyota were leading the Manufacturers' Championship with 33 points, eight ahead of their rival Porsche in second; the third-placed manufacturer Audi had scored one point. Porsche had won the preceding event, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, after the No. 7 Audi car was disqualified when it was discovered that its front skid block was worn out by more than the amount permitted in the sport's technical regulations.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
After being unable to win the previous running of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Dumas said that Porsche had to be focused, remain calm, and ensure the team did not make any mistakes. Brendon Hartley, driving the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid, said he was looking forward to racing the circuit because it is one of his favourite tracks and spoke of his feeling it would be a good race for him and his teammates.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
He also stated that he felt that his defence of the World Drivers' Championship would be revived at the track following his disqualification from the Silverstone event. Toyota No. 5 car co-driver Anthony Davidson said that the race would give them an indication of the segments that needed focus on before heading to Le Mans and was looking forward to competing at Spa-Francorchamps. Having missed the previous year's running of the event due to injury, Kazuki Nakajima was pleased to return to the circuit and spoke of his belief that the race would be better than Silverstone.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Background
Due to the configuration of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with its high average speed and abundance of elevation change, the teams all set up their cars to produce the maximum amount of downforce possible and to have the least amount of drag available. Toyota, however, opted to use a high-downforce specification which gave them have an advantage in the track's second sector. The teams tested the aerodynamic changes in a two-day testing session at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón in April where they learned more about the package and better understood how they operated. Aston Martin were allowed to decrease the minimum weight of their cars by 20 kilograms (44 lb), making it the lightest vehicle in LMGTE Pro, and Ford Chip Ganassi Team were granted permission to increase their refuelling restrictor by 4.5 millimetres (0.18 in) which allowed for faster refuelling pit stops.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Practice
Three practice sessions—two on Thursday and a third on Friday—were held before the Saturday race. The Thursday afternoon and evening sessions lasted 90 minutes; the third, one-hour session was held on Friday afternoon. The first session was held in sunny weather conditions. The No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Hartley led the 90-minute period through its mid-way point with the fastest lap time of the day, at 1 minute and 58.012 seconds, almost six-tenths of a second ahead of teammate Jani in second.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Practice
Audi's second R18 was twice shown a black and orange flag because of a lack of telemetry for which the team was given a €1,000 suspended fine for the remainder of the race weekend and were required to change the vehicle's battery. LMP2 was led by Pipo Derani's No. 31 Extreme Speed Motorsports Oreca with a lap of 2 minutes and 8.974 seconds which was recorded within the session's first fifteen minutes. Adam's No. 97 Aston Martin was quickest in the LMGTE Pro while Pedro Lamy helped the British manufacturer to be fastest in LMGTE Am.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Practice
In the second practice session, which took place in cooler weather conditions, Sarrazin in the No. 6 Toyota, was fastest with a time of 1 minute and 58.566 seconds, which was set early in the 90-minute period. His teammate Nakajima finished with the second-quickest time, with Mark Webber in the No. 1 Porsche ending up third-fastest. The second Audi vehicle did not take part because their mechanics were unable to repair a failed front axle drivetrain.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Practice
Roberto Merhi achieved the only time under the two minute and eight second mark in LMP2 in the No. 45 Manor Oreca with a lap of 2 minutes and 7.865 seconds, eight-tenths of a second faster than the second G-Drive car of van der Garde. LMGTE Pro was led by James Calado in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari with the Italian marque setting the fastest time in the LMGTE Am with Rui Águas driving the No. 83 vehicle. The session ended prematurely with seven minutes remaining when Yutaka Yamagishi in Larbre Compétition's No. 50 Chevrolet was reported to have dropped fuel on the track and then collided with the barriers at Stavelot corner.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Practice
The final practice session occurred in sunny weather conditions. Timo Bernhard set the fastest timed lap of the weekend so far at 1 minute and 56.456 seconds in the No. 1 Porsche, 1.6 seconds faster than the second quickest car of teammate Jani. Loïc Duval made contact with Christian Ried's No. 78 Proton Porsche 911 RSR driving into the Bus Stop chicane in the session's halfway period, damaging his vehicle's front-left quarter, but managed to return to his garage where it remained until the end of practice for repairs to its bodywork.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Practice
René Rast was the fastest LMP2 driver in the No. 26 G-Drive Oreca with a time of 2 minutes and 7.341 seconds, four-tenths of a second quicker than Nelson Panciatici's No. 35 Signatech Alpine Oreca. Gianmaria Bruni recorded the quickest LMGTE Pro time ahead of AF Corse teammate Davide Rigon while Paolo Ruberti, driving the No. 50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet, was the fastest driver in LMGTE Am.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Friday's late afternoon qualification session was divided into two groups that lasted 25 minutes each. Cars in LMGTE Pro and Am were sent out first and, after a five-minute interval, LMP1 and LMP2 vehicles drove onto the track. All vehicles were required to be driven by two participants for one timed lap each and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest average times. The fastest qualifier was awarded one point which went towards the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships. Qualifying took place in sunny weather conditions.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Porsche led the time sheets early on with a flying lap from Hartley in the No. 1 entry before Bernhard improved it to clinch the team's first pole position of the season with an average time of 1 minute and 55.793 seconds. This was Hartley's, Bernhard's and Webber's seventh of their careers, and the 13th for the manufacturer. They were joined on the grid's front row by teammates Jani and Lieb who were nearly eight-tenths of a second off Bernhard and Hartley's pace. It marked the first time that Porsche began a World Endurance Championship on the grid's front row since the 2015 6 Hours of Bahrain. Lieb was not happy with his fastest lap because he braked early and could not find a rhythm he liked.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Further down the field, there was an intense battle between Audi and Toyota for positions three to six. Audi struggled to find an optimum set-up for their cars as they secured fourth and sixth positions. They were separated by the two Toyota vehicles in third and fifth places. André Lotterer was slowed by another car on the start of his first timed lap and was affected by oversteer on his second lap of the circuit. Marcel Fässler took over the No. 7


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Audi entry from Lotterer and abandoned his first attempt because his vehicle's rear-end became excessively light and later lost downforce behind two cars in Blanchimont corner which restricted the car to starting sixth. The two Rebellion Racing cars and the No. 4 ByKolles Racing CLM P1/01 rounded out the LMP1 qualifiers. Qualifying was stopped for ten minutes when the ByKolles car collided with the No. 43 Manor entry at La Source and debris coming from the former's rear bodywork littered the track at Radallion corner.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
In LMP2, the No. 26 G-Drive Oreca car of Rast and Roman Rusinov took the fastest time at 2 minutes and 7.363 seconds, which was set towards the end of qualifying and was a new class record at the track. The two were half a second quicker than the second-place class qualifier, the No. 36 Singatech Alpine vehicle.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Merhi held the category lead early in the session with a lap of two minutes and 7,920 seconds but his co-driver Matt Rao was unable to match the latter's time and was the third fastest qualifier, ahead of G-Drive's No. 38 entry in fourth. Sam Bird and Rigon, competing in the No. 71 AF Corse entry, were the fastest LMGTE Pro qualifiers with a two-lap average lap time of 2 minutes and 17.644 seconds.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Bruni, in the second AF Corse vehicle, improved late in qualifying, pushing Aston Martin's No. 97 car down to third, and the two Ford Chip Ganassi Team entries rounded out the top five class qualifiers. The No. 98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana and Lamy took the pole position in LMGTE Am, 1.8 seconds ahead of second-place qualifier, AF Corse's No. 81 car.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
Six drivers were reprimanded by the stewards for being slow to react to the red flag, while the fastest times from the No. 50 Larbre Compétition Chevrolet, the No. 78 KCMG Porsche, and No. 88 Abu-Dhabi Proton Racing entry were disallowed because the drivers were adjudged to have exceeded track limits. The ruling meant the Gulf Racing's No. 86 car moved from sixth to fourth in LMGTE Am.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
The No. 51 AF Corse entry, and Ford Chip Ganassi Team's No. 66 car, failed their post-qualifying checks when it was discovered that the vehicles were able to start their engines with and without their fuel couplings engaged; they were allowed to start the race. Michael Christensen, one of two drivers of the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche, failed to reach the 107% mark of the fastest qualifying time in LMGTE Pro and was prohibited from starting the event. He was however allowed to partake in the rest of the race. The ruling meant the car's second driver Richard Lietz took over Christensen's starting duties.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying, Qualifying results
Pole position winners in each class are indicated in bold.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Weather conditions were dry and sunny at the start of the race. The air temperature throughout the race ranged from 20 to 24.5 °C (68.0 to 76.1 °F) with the track temperature between 24 to 52 °C (75 to 126 °F). 56,000 people attended the event. The race began at 14:30 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00). Hartley maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner. After starting fourth, the No. 8 Audi moved to third while the team's second car went from sixth to fourth driving up to Les Combes corner.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Hartley began to pull away from the rest of the field. Merhi spun his car leaving the first turn but his teammate Will Stevens overtook Nicolas Lapierre for second position in LMP2. The No. 7 Audi went wide at La Source but narrowly maintained fourth place. In LMGTE Pro, Bruni passed teammate Bird to claim the lead on the first lap. Vitaly Petrov's right-rear tyre was punctured following contact with another car on the first lap, causing him to make an unscheduled pit stop where his vehicle's floor and bodywork was changed. Derani and Panciatici made contact at Les Combes but both continued without any major damage.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Benoît Tréluyer, driving the No. 7 Audi, was pressured by the two Toyota cars with Conway driving closely behind him heading into the Bus Stop chicane. Buemi got ahead of Conway driving into Les Combes to move into fourth place overall. Bird made a mistake at Pouhon, allowing his teammate Bruni to reclaim the LMGTE Pro lead. Twenty minutes in, Lieb slowed with a hybrid system problem and began lapping slower than most of the LMP1 runners.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
The result meant he was unable to utilise his car's full electric power capability for the remainder of the event, and he quickly fell to sixth place behind both Audi entrants and the first Toyota car. Tréluyer was overtaken around the outside for third place by Buemi at the Bus Stop chicane while Conway got ahead of the former shortly after. Lieb was told by his team to remain on the circuit and manage the problem as Porsche needed the extra points for the championship.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Derani and Panciatci continued to battle for position which was resolved when the former went slightly wide at Eau Rouge and had to reduce his speed to avoid contact, allowing the latter to take over the position. After spinning at the start, Merhi moved back to fifth place in the LMP2 field.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Tréluyer was delayed by slower traffic, allowing Conway to overtake him for fourth position before the latter ran wide at the Bus Stop chicane. Van der Garde's car's sustained a damaged mirror and was ordered by race control to have it repaired at his scheduled pit stop. Buemi closed the gap to Lucas di Grassi in Audi's No. 8 entry and attempted to pass him driving into Eau Rouge and Raidillon but di Grassi was able to pull away on the Kemmel Straight.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Buemi moved to the outside line at Blanchimont and moved in front of di Grassi, who went through grass, at the Bus Stop chicane for second place. Marino Franchitti's No. 67 Ford made contact with Aguas's car at Les Combes but both drivers were able to continue, although Augas lost the LMGTE Am lead. Conway locked his tyres and collided heavily with Victor Shaytar's delayed No. 37 SMP Racing car going into the Bus Stop chicane while attempting to close the gap to di Grassi. Conway immediately drove into the pit lane for repairs to his car's front-end. Both Porsche cars made pit stops after 49 minutes which had Jani taking over Lieb's driving duties while Hartley switched positions with Bernhard.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Buemi elected not to change tyres and gained the overall lead. Conway later served a drive-through penalty for his collision with Shaytar. The repairs to Van der Garde's vehicle meant he was stationary in his pit stall for four minutes which allowed Merhi to inherit fifth position in LMP2. Tréluyer reported to Audi that his car had no front downforce, while Buemi went off the track at Raidillon in his effort to push hard to extend his lead over Bernhard.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Buemi was held up by one of the SMP entrants and an Aston Martin at Fagnes causing his advantage to be reduced to 1.015 seconds. Buemi missed his braking point for the Bus Stop chicane and went wide at La Source shortly afterwards, causing him to lose the lead to Bernhard. Buemi reclaimed the position at Eau Rouge but temporarily fell to second again after Bernhard overtook him on the Kemmel straight. Buemi then retook the place before the entry to Les Combes. At Blanchimont corner, Bernhard avoided colliding heavily with the rear-end of Buemi's car after the latter slid while lapping Gulf Racing's Porsche entry.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
At the start of his 37th lap Bernhard reported a front-left puncture to his pit crew after driving over debris. He had difficulty turning into the track's right-hand turns and fell to fourth place behind di Grassi and Tréluyer. The tyre degraded further which damaged his car's bodywork, but he cautiously returned to the pit lane for a replacement front nose, and Webber relieved Bernhard of his driving duties. Strakka Racing's entry struck the Porsche's tyre carcass which became lodged in its right-front wheelarch but continued.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Webber slowed with a punctured front-left tyre, causing him to return to the pit lane where he pushed back into his garage for ten-minute bodywork repairs. Then his front-axle energy retrieval system was changed, forcing Webber to remain in his garage for more than one hour. The second round of green flag pit stops began after 90 minutes. The No. 7 Audi and the No. 5 Toyota had cosmetic alterations to their rear-ends and the former vehicle was taken over by Fässler. The first Toyota, driven by Davidson, kept the lead after the pit stops.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
The first full course caution was shown when Nicki Thiim's No. 95 Aston Martin was hit by Dolan in the No. 38 G-Drive vehicle and went backwards into the Stavelot tyre barrier at a high speed. His car flipped over but he was unhurt. Marshals were required to repair the damaged barrier, and removed debris from the track.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
During the yellow flag period, some cars elected to make pit stops, and González spun the No. 43 RGR Sport Ligier. The No. 7 Audi rejoined the race after repairs to its floor which was damaged when the car drove over a kerb and its ducts required cleaning after rubber picked up from the circuit caused the vehicle to overheat. The car rejoined in 15th place overall. The race restarted 12 minutes later with Davidson leading the field, ahead of the No. 8 Audi. Kobayashi immediately got ahead of Dumas to move into third position.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Manor's No. 31 car driven by Richard Bradley overtook the No. 31 Extreme Speed Motorsports car of Chris Cumming at Eau Rouge for fourth place in LMP2. Nathanaël Berthon's No. 26 vehicle had its left-rear tyre punctured following contact with Abu Dhabi Proton's No. 88 Porsche at La Source, while Andy Priaulx in the No. 67 Ford passed Dempsey-Proton's No. 77 car for fifth place in LMGTE Pro. Berthon went off the track at the Bus Stop chicane while attempting to drive into the pit lane.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Upfront, the No. 5 Toyota increased its lead over the No. 8 Audi to 38.778 seconds, while the first Audi moved into 12th position. The No. 1 Porsche returned to the pit lane for a change of front axel and fell down the order in LMP1 because of different tyre speeds of the vehicle's front wheels. G-Drive's No. 38 entry was issued a two-minute stop-and-go penalty for its role in the collision with the No. 95 Aston Martin. Fässler nearly placed Davidson into the grass at Stavelot while lapping the Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Fässler then entered the pit lane for a replacement front bodywork. Gulf's Porsche car spun after contact with Emmanuel Collard's Ferrari at Rivage. The second full course caution was later necessitated when debris was located on three sections of the track. Davidson remained the leader at the restart, ahead of Duval. Davidson immediately increased his advantage over the latter. The No. 7 car hit the No. 36 Alpine at La Source, causing the latter to spin. The third round of pit stops commenced shortly afterwards when Audi and Toyota stopped for fuel and driver changes. Kraihamer's No. 13 Rebellion Racing vehicle hit the LMP2 leader Tor Graves in the No. 44 Manor Oreca, beaching his car on La Source's apex for a long period of time before rejoining the track.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Graves, who fell to second in class, went into Rivage's gravel trap with a left-front brake failure, causing him to retire. Toyota retired their No. 6 entry because of an engine failure caused by an electrical fault. Smoke bellowed from the rear-end of Nakajima's Toyota upon leaving La Source and he went back into the pit lane where his mechanics worked on rectifying the problem allowing Oliver Jarvis in the No. 8 Audi to inherit the lead. Webber drove straight at the Bus Stop chicane, spun, and drove into the pit lane.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Stefan Mücke, who was affected by turbocharger issues, lost control of the No. 66 Ford after his left-rear tyre burst, and narrowly avoided going airborne. He made heavy contact with the left-hand side barriers at Raidillon, heavily damaging the front-end and removing both of the car's doors, littering debris on the circuit. Mücke stopped in the centre of the track, causing the No. 2 Porsche to swerve to avoid hitting him. The safety car was deployed to allow marshals to repair the heavily damaged tyre barrier. Drivers were instructed to steer onto the right-hand side of the track at Eau Rouge because the stranded car blocked the turn. Mücke was transported to the medical centre and was later taken to the local hospital for a precautionary check-up because of leg bruising.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Audi's No. 8 car made a pit stop for tyres, fuel and a rear spoiler replacement. The safety car went into the pit lane after 24 minutes and racing resumed with Jarvis leading the field back up to speed. Lamy passed François Perrodo's No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari at Rivage corner to take over the LMGTE Am lead. Patrick Long in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing car overtook Perrodo at Les Comes to take over second position in the category.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Fässler closed the gap to Heidfeld in the No. 12 Rebellion Racing vehicle but was spun by Albuquerque's RGR Sport car after moving in front of him upon lapping him at La Source. This resulted in heavy damage to the No. 7 Audi car's front-end, littering debris on the track. This was partly because Fässler braked early for the corner due to slower cars. Baxi DC Racing's No. 35 Alpine and the Abu Dhabi's No. 88 Porsche made heavy contact causing the former to sustain a left-rear puncture.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
It scattered debris on the Kemmel Straight, and stopped at the side of the track. Calado's engine failed, preventing him from winning in LMGTE Pro and he went into his garage to retire. Derani locked his tyres at La Source, allowing Lapierre to close up to him. Lapierre overtook Derani around the outside for the LMP2 lead while lapping Franchitti's Ford GT at Fagnes corner.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Toyota's No. 5 car returned to the track to gain championship points but ran on electrical power. Merhi collided with Albuquerque while claiming third position from him. Unhindered in the final hour Jarvis crossed the start/finish line to clinch Audi's first overall victory of the season. It was Jarvis's and di Grassi's first win in the World Endurance Championship. The second Audi car secured its first victory since Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish in 2013. The No. 2 Porsche finished two laps behind in second, and Rebellion Racing's No. 12 vehicle took third-place, albeit a further two laps in arrears.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Lapierre maintained his advantage to take the LMP2 victory, earning his co-drivers Gustavo Menezes and Richelmi their first World Endurance Championship class wins, followed in second place by Derani, who was five seconds adrift. AF Corse's No. 71 Ferrari of Bird and Rigon took their second consecutive victory in LMGTE Pro, while the No. 67 Ford and the No. 77 Aston Martin took second and third positions, the former narrowly finishing ahead to secure its first podium finish in the World Endurance Championship. The class win came after Bruni's engine failed nine minutes before the race's end, forcing him to enter the pit lane. In LMGTE Am, Aston Martin was unhindered upon passing the No. 83 AF Corse car and maintained its lead to win the category with a one-lap advantage.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
The top three drivers of each racing class appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in a later press conference di Grassi described the event as "crazy" and said that his team did not expect to achieve the victory. He stated that he was "very happy" about clinching his first victory with his team and it would increase their motivation and wished that he would do well at Le Mans.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
His co-driver Duval said that his team deserved the victory and that Audi had recovered and secured points towards the championship, while Jarvis stated that the team did not expect to secure the win because of the car's slow lap times over the race weekend. Dumas said the team's second-place finish were a reward for his mechanics, while Lieb said it had been frustrating to lose hybrid power early in the race. Jani revealed that they treated their vehicle carefully due to the loss of hybrid power. Impreatori said Rebellion Racing's third-place finish was "a dream result" and set the objective of repeating the result at the season's next race; his co-driver Kraihamer hoped that the team's strong form would continue. Tuscher said that while the race was "tough", he was "super happy" about the result.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
Davidson described the event as "strange" and stated that he had the pace to take the victory and had luck to his advantage while other competitors had problems: "I had everything crossed but it wasn't meant to be today. That's racing I suppose but it sure does hurt sometimes.” After finishing in 26th, Webber said it had been a tough event for his team and revealed that they were confident that they could have battled for the victory had his car not sustained two punctured tyres: "It just goes to show how hard endurance racing can be.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
We're all right on the limit and as we’ve seen here that's causing quite a high rate of attrition. Third time lucky at Le Mans is the plan." Mücke stated that he felt okay after his heavy crash and thanked his team for constructing a safe vehicle. Toyota conducted analysis of their engine failures days after the race and it transpired they were caused by the heavy forces placed onto them at the bottom of Eau Rouge corner.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
The chief executive officer of the World Endurance Championship Gerard Neveu described the event as "a great day for motorsport" but spoke of his feeling that it was moderately strange. He revealed that after the race, he had organised a meeting with several people and raised the question of why there was a high degree of the competitiveness at Spa: "It's quite simple: the cars are all so close together, the competition is so hard as never before. It can happen at any time - that is exciting...".


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
The result meant Lieb, Jani and Dumas maintained their lead in the Drivers' Championship with 43 points, 15 ahead of third-place finishers Imperatori, Kraihamer and Tuscher, who in turn, were a further five points in front of race winners Duval, di Grassi and Jarvis. Heidfeld, Prost and Piquet retained fourth position on 24 points and Kobayashi, Conway and Sarrazin rounded out the top five with 18 points. Porsche increased its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship on 56 points, 13 in front of their nearest rival Toyota in second, and a further two ahead of Audi with seven races left in the season.


2016 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Race result
The minimum number of laps for classification (70 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 112 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold.


2016 A Lyga
The 2016 A Lyga, also known as SMSCredit.lt A Lyga for sponsoring purposes was the 27th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 2 March and ended on 26 November 2016. Žalgiris Vilnius were the defending champions.


2016 A Lyga, Teams
FK Šiauliai failed to obtain a license to play in the A Lyga and were relegated alongside FK Kruoja, which withdrew and FK Klaipedos Granitas, which was disqualified. They were replaced by FK Lietava Jonava, which will make its debut at the top level. FK Spyris Kaunas changed its name to FK Kauno Žalgiris.


2016 A Lyga, Teams, Changes from 2015
The league reduced its number of teams from ten sides down to eight. As a consequence, each team will play every other four times, twice at home and twice away with the top six then playing an additional round against each other.


2016 A Lyga, Teams, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2016 A Lyga, Relegation play-offs
The 7th placed team will face the runners-up of the 2016 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn entry into the 2017 A Lyga.


2016 A Lyga, Attendance
— Official attendance statistic for the play-off matches wasn't publicly released.


2016 A Lyga, Awards, Yearly awards
Awards were presented at the LFF Awards ceremony, which was held on November 28. Finalists for voted awards were announced after the season and winners were presented at the award ceremony.


2016 A Lyga, Awards, "Golden Heart" initiative
From 2016 season A lyga together with Lithuanian Football Federation decided to expand project "Bring you hearts to the stadium" and honor players who played 10 or more times for the Lithuania national team with golden heart on their shirts.


2016 A-League Grand Final
The 2016 A-League Grand Final was the eleventh A-League Grand Final, and was played on 1 May 2016, at Adelaide Oval to determine the 2015–16 A-League Champion. The match was contested by the two winning finals series semi-finalists, Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers who finished the 2015–16 A-League season in first and second position respectively.


2016 A-League Grand Final
The match was won by Adelaide United, who defeated Western Sydney Wanderers 3–1 in front of a crowd of 50,119.


2016 A-League Grand Final
The Grand Final was both teams' third, with both never having won. Adelaide losing the 2007 and 2009 grand finals against Melbourne Victory 6–0 and 1–0 respectively. Wanderers lost consecutive grand finals in 2013 and 2014, against Central Coast Mariners 2–0 and Brisbane Roar 2–1 in extra time.


2016 A-League Grand Final
As Grand Final winners, Adelaide United earned a spot in the group stage of the 2017 AFC Champions League, but had already qualified for the Asian competition prior to the match via their league position.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
After the completion of the 2015–16 A-League regular season, the top six teams qualified for the finals series. Teams finishing 3rd-6th placed (Brisbane Roar, Melbourne City, Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory) began the series in the elimination-finals, with the top two teams (Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers) receiving byes into the semi-finals.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
The first match of the elimination-finals between Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory. The opening goal of the game came at the 86th minute, with Besart Berisha putting Melbourne in front. Brisbane immediately responded with a goal by Matt McKay in the 88th minute. In the third minute of added-time Thomas Broich netted in the match winner ensuring e progress to the semi-finals with a 2–1 win. The second elimination-final match between Melbourne City and Perth Glory was played in front of a crowd of 11,273 at AAMI Park. A brace from Bruno Fornaroli at either side of the break saw Melbourne progress to face Adelaide in the semi-finals.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
The first match of the semi-finals was played at Hindmarsh Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,489. Adelaide took the lead at the 48th minute thanks to Bruce Djite, and the forward doubled the lead after converting a penalty in the 60th minute. Nick Fitzgerald's 72nd-minute goal gave the visitors some hope, but any chances of Melbourne City progressing were soon scrapped when Dylan McGowan scored in the 88th minute and Pablo Sánchez scored in the fourth minute of added-time to see the match finish 4–1. The win saw Adelaide through to their first A-League grand final in seven years.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
In the second semi-final match Western Sydney Wanderers hosted Brisbane Roar at Parramatta Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,084. Brisbane started the game strongly by racing to a 3–0 lead inside 23 minutes via a Dimitri Petratos penalty, an Andreu Guerao own goal and a Jamie Maclaren strike. Wanderers replied with a goal in the 26th minute via Romeo Castelen, and Brendon Santalab scored in the 39th to bring the scores to 2–3. Castelen levelled the scores in 53rd minute and quickly put the home side in front with a 59th-minute goal. Another Maclaren goal within the last 10 minutes tied the scores to see the game go into extra-time. The deadlock broke in the 102nd minute with substitute Dario Vidosic netting in the decisive goal to send Wanderers to a third Grand Final in four years.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
Adelaide Oval was confirmed to be the host venue of the 2016 A-League Grand Final following Adelaide United's semi-final win. The Oval was chosen as it has a capacity of 53,583, some 37,083 more than United's regular home Coopers Stadium, and had hosted a number of Adelaide United's high-profile A-League matches against Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. Adelaide United have also played at the venue in friendly matches against Spanish side Málaga CF, in front of a crowd of 23,254, and Liverpool FC in front of 53,008 fans.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
2015–16 Referee of the Year Jarred Gillett was named as the referee of the Grand Final. Gillett, a FIFA listed referee, previously took charge of the 2012 A-League Grand Final between Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory after being named the 2011–12 Referee of the Year, as well as the  2015 A-League Grand Final between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory after being named the 2014–15 Referee of the Year. Gillett will be joined by Matthew Cream and Luke Brennan as the assistant referees, Paul Cetrangolo as the fourth official and Strebre Delovski and Chris Beath as additional assistant referees.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
By 26 April, more than 43,000 tickets had been sold for the Grand Final match, with between 5,000 and 8,000 fans travelling from interstate, similar to the number of supporters that travelled north for the 2014 Grand Final in Brisbane. Owing to the high number of travelling Wanderers fans, extra flights from Sydney to Adelaide were arranged by various airlines. The increased demand saw some Qantas flights from Sydney to Adelaide almost tripling in price, with non-stop flights at $900 one-way. Virgin Australia had put on four extra flights, with the cheapest economy ticket from Sydney to Adelaide on the Saturday before the Grand Final costing $445 one-way. Tigerair Australia had also added an extra weekend flight, with tickets at $469 one-way.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
Owing to the demand for tickets, FFA organised for The Hill at the Adelaide Oval to be opened for use. This added a further 1,500 tickets for the general public.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
Bruce Kamau opened the scoring for Adelaide in the 22nd minute after finishing a cross from Marcelo Carrusca. Isaías doubled the lead for the home side 12 minutes later when he curled a free kick into the top corner past Wanderers keeper Andrew Redmayne.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
Adelaide came close to adding a third early in the second half. Later, Scott Neville gave the visitors hope with a goal in the 58th minute, set up by Romeo Castelen and Brendon Šantalab. Adelaide thought they had restored a two-goal lead with just over 20 minutes to go, but when the ball was poked home from inside the box, it was ruled out for offside. Wanderers poured forward in search of an equaliser, but they could not find the necessary finish. As the game moved into the final minutes, Adelaide made sure of their title, as Pablo Sanchez burst into the penalty area and fired a shot across Redmayne into the corner of the net for 3–1.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
Isaías was named man of the match, and as such was the recipient of the Joe Marston Medal.


2016 A-League Grand Final, Match, Details
Assistant referees:Matthew CreamLuke BrennanFourth official:Paul CetrangoloAdditional assistant referees:Strebre DelovskiChris Beath


2016 A-League Grand Final, Broadcasting
As with the previous season, the 2016 A-League Grand Final was broadcast in Australia on Foxtel and on free-to-air TV, with SBS showing the game on a one-hour delay. The Grand Final was also broadcast live on ABC NewsRadio. In New Zealand the match was broadcast live on Sky Sport.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism
The 2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on May 15, 2016, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 12th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, The race had 19 lead changes among different drivers, and twelve cautions for 65 laps, The race was red-flagged for 11 minutes and 22 seconds.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Report, Background
Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the Verizon IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Report, Background
The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, First practice
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.799 and a speed of 165.145 mph (265.775 km/h). Four minutes into the session, Danica Patrick's engine expired, dumped oil onto the track, spun and caught fire on the frontstretch. Jamie McMurray and Tony Stewart were caught in the oil and slammed the wall. All three went to backup cars. Patrick said afterwards that "there was oil, a fire and the car spun and was caught by the wall. I'm not sure what happened, but this is obviously not something we normally see. You don't see a lot of failures like that. I'm sure they will figure out what it is. It sucks when it takes other people with you."


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, First practice
Harvick, speaking on his teammate's wreck on a part of the outside wall not reinforced with SAFER barriers, said that they've been put "in the groove at Darlington and it’s two-and-a-half cars wide. So, there’s really no excuse not to have it in my opinion. ... We don’t wear our helmets and HANS devices for the impacts that we are prepared for. We wear those things for the instances where those one-off things can happen like happened today.”


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Qualifying
Kevin Harvick claimed the pole after a rained out qualifying session. The starting grid was set on times from the first practice. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who started second, said he hoped "we will get some practice tomorrow to get to work on the race set-up a little bit. We just ran in qualifying trim today. The car was not real close when we came off the trailer, but they made some great adjustments and got some good speed out of it, got it real comfortable. I like this track. It is challenging to run the way you want to run every lap, lap after lap, and that is a fun challenge."


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Practice (post-qualifying), Second practice
Kyle Busch was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 22.808 and a speed of 157.839 mph (254.017 km/h).


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice
Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.882 and a speed of 157.329 mph (253.196 km/h).


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, First half, Start
Under mostly sunny Delaware skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 1:16 p.m. After five laps, he pulled to a one-second lead over Carl Edwards. After 15 laps, that gap grew to two seconds. After 30 laps, the gap grew to four seconds. The first caution of the race flew on lap 41. It was a scheduled competition caution due to overnight rain. Edwards exited pit road with the race lead.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 46. Harvick dove underneath Edwards going into turn 1 to retake the lead on lap 48. The second caution of the race flew on lap 118 for a single-car wreck on the backstretch. Exiting turn 2, Matt DiBenedetto got loose and slammed the wall. He would go on to finish 40th. Edwards exited pit road with the race lead. Denny Hamlin was tagged for improper fueling and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 125. Matt Kenseth took the lead on lap 132 before ceding it back to Edwards on lap 133. The third caution of the race flew on lap 143 for a single-car spin in turn 4. Rounding the turn, Regan Smith got loose and made contact with the wall. Martin Truex Jr. opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the race lead.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 152. Debris in turn 1 brought out the fourth caution of the race on lap 172. Greg Biffle opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the race lead. Ryan Newman was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 179. Kyle Larson drove underneath Biffle into turn 3 to take the lead on lap 182. The fifth caution of the race flew on lap 183 for a single-car wreck in turn 3. Going into the turn, Austin Dillon suffered a right-front brake rotor failure and slammed the wall. He said afterwards that he thought "it was the brakes. I was complaining about them before that, having to pump them up. I am just frustrated. We had the same issue at Bristol and we come here and we have another issue with the brakes. I’m frustrated, but we had a good car. Our Chevrolet was fast and we had good shot of running top 10, top-five depending on track position.”


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 191. The sixth caution of the race flew on lap 212 for a single-car spin in turn 1. Reed Sorenson blew an engine in turn 1 and spun around. Jimmie Johnson ran through the oil and spun out as well. Hamlin opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the race lead. Jamie McMurray was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 220. The seventh caution of the race flew for a single-car wreck on the frontstretch. Exiting turn 4, McMurray got into Michael Annett and sent him into the outside wall. Annett's car then came down across the track and slammed the inside wall.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 231. Brad Keselowski got by Hamlin in turn 3 to take the lead on lap 232. After 20 laps of battling back and forth, Larson drove by Keselowski exiting turn 2 to retake the lead on lap 281. Debris on the frontstretch brought out the eighth caution of the race with 113 laps to go.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted with 107 laps to go. Debris on the frontstretch brought out the ninth caution of the race with 102 laps to go.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 98 laps to go. After battling for 10 laps, Martin Truex Jr. passed Larson rounding turn 2 to take the lead with 70 laps to go. The 10th caution of the race came with 58 laps to go after Tony Stewart broke a track bar, which punctured the rear gear, spilling rear end grease in turn 1 and Chris Buescher spun out. Johnson exited pit road with the race lead. Under the caution, Johnson led his three-thousandth career lap at Dover.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 46 laps to go and a multi-car wreck just past the start/finish line brought out the 11th caution of the race. Johnson's car stalled out, fell backwards and caused an 18-car wreck. Johnson, Truex, Harvick, McMurray, Newman, A. J. Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Hamlin, Biffle, Casey Mears, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard and Michael McDowell were all collected in the wreck.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
Johnson said afterwards that as soon as he "went from second and tried to go into third, I kind of got up into the neutral gate of the transmission and it didn't even want to go to third," Johnson said. "It stopped before it ever went to third. And then I tried fourth and third and eventually I got hit from behind...I thought maybe I missed a shift, but it wouldn't go into gear. Martin was good and patient with me. He gave me a couple of opportunities to try to find a gear but it just locked out and wouldn't go into gear for some reason." The subsequent cleanup forced the red flag to fly. The red flag was lifted after 11 minutes and 22 seconds.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 41 laps to go and the 12th caution of the race flew for a single-car wreck on the backstretch. Exiting turn 2, Edwards came down on Larson, got hooked into the inside wall. He said afterwards that he "was trying to give Kurt (Busch) a little room, it looked like he got choked up and as I looked at the replay it looked like I moved down a little and Larson got underneath me. I don’t think he meant to do it, but it surprised me. I didn’t know he was that close. We’ll just chalk it up to racing, but the hard part is we felt like we were going to win that million bucks for those kids and I felt like we could win this race. It’s tough not to be out there.”


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 35 laps to go. Despite a hard fought battle towards the finish with Larson and Chase Elliott, Kenseth – who assumed the lead after the multi-car wreck with 46 laps to go – drove on to score the victory.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Kenseth said after the race that he "had a good car today. I thought we were competitive and there were a few guys at different parts of the race that were a little bit better and Kyle (Larson) gave me all I wanted at the end, and then some. We were fortunate to be able to hold him off."


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Larson said that he "got close to his (Kenseth’s) bumper a couple of times. I may have gotten into him once. But I’m not going to do anything dirty. I respect Matt Kenseth a lot. He always races me with respect, and I try to do the same with him. I tried to race him as hard as I could without getting into him to beat him.”


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
A dejected Elliott said after the race that he "couldn't be on the good end of (a great race) but proud of our effort today. We really started a good ways out of where we needed to be. I thought we made a lot of really, really solid gains throughout the day to get our car better and better. ... Hate to not get the job done and be so close, but we'll keep digging at it and try to get a little better."


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Media, Television
Fox Sports covered their sixteenth race at the Dover International Speedway. Mike Joy, five-time Dover winner Jeff Gordon and two-time Dover winner Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the action on pit road for the television side.


2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Media, Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race which was also be simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2016 AAA Texas 500
The 2016 AAA Texas 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on November 6, 2016, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 34th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, eighth race of the Chase and second race of the Round of 8. This would also turn out to be Carl Edwards 28th and final career victory.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.


2016 AAA Texas 500, First practice
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.455 and a speed of 196.685 mph (316.534 km/h). Kyle Busch went to a backup car after hitting the wall exiting turn 4 on his first lap in practice. He said afterwards that he "got into Turn 3 and the car felt good. It loaded really well, but we got back into the throttle and got to the bumps and it bottomed me out a little bit. It got me up the track. From there the whole car just kind of came off the track.


2016 AAA Texas 500, First practice
I couldn't get it checked up or slowed down in time before it slapped the wall. Speeds are really high here at Texas and when you lose that grip, it happens in a hurry and it got away from me. I wish I would have taken it a little easier but I wasn't even trying that hard to be honest so it was a shock that it happened."


2016 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Austin Dillon scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.081 and a speed of 192.301 mph (309.478 km/h). He said afterwards that he couldn't "be happier for RCR and everybody back at the shop. A lot of hard work and effort goes on. We missed the Chase by just two feet. We want to prove that we can win a race by the end of this year. This is big for us. I thought I messed up the lap, truthfully. I got a lot of good speed off of (Turn) 2, but Turn 3 I turned in and missed my corner, but it worked out. Proud of these guys and everybody back home."


2016 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Joey Logano, who qualified second, said he "didn’t think it would be anywhere close to the pole" after he "got done with that last run," and that he "didn’t have a very good run in (turn) 2 at all; I missed the bottom. And then realizing how close you were to the pole afterward is the most frustrating part of it, especially after last week.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Kyle Busch's crew chief Adam Stevens, who took the No. 18 car to the garage for a water leak after advancing into the second round, said he thought the leak was "a byproduct of pounding the fence before we even completed a lap in practice. In our hurry to change the motor and all the drivetrain afterwards, apparently we didn't get the lower radiator hose completely clamped on the water neck out of the block and proceeded to dump all the water out of it on pit road after our first run. We’re going to start 24th and get after them from there.”


2016 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
After a crash during Saturday's Xfinity Series race, Matt DiBenedetto entered concussion protocol and was not cleared to run the Sprint Cup race. His substitute in the No. 83 was Jeffrey Earnhardt.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Chase Elliott experienced flu-like symptoms during the weekend. Justin Allgaier was named as his standby.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Practice (post-qualifying), Second practice
Ryan Blaney was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.645 and a speed of 188.515 mph (303.385 km/h).


2016 AAA Texas 500, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice
Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.319 and a speed of 190.685 mph (306.878 km/h).


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half
The start of the race was delayed for nearly six hours due to rain. The aged surface compounded the drying time. Austin Dillon led the field to the green flag at 7:56 p.m. under yellow flag conditions as the track surface was still not completely dry. The race went green at lap 7. Dillon was no match for Joey Logano who beat him on the restart to take the lead. The second caution of the race flew on lap 29. It was a scheduled competition caution.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half
The race restarted on lap 34. Green flag stops started on lap 73. Logano pitted from the lead on lap 76 and handed it to Dillon. He pitted the next lap and gave the lead to Denny Hamlin. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Kyle Busch who pitted the same lap on the next trip by, and the lead cycled back to Logano.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half
The third caution flew on lap 109 for Brian Scott spinning out in turn 4.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half
The race restarted on lap 116. Debris on the backstretch, a piece of hose, brought out the fourth caution on lap 117. The piece of debris punched a hole through the front bumper of Busch's car.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half
The race restarted on lap 121. The fifth caution flew on lap 143 for Paul Menard spinning in turn 3. Adding to his drama, a tire appeared to "explode" in his stall when it was something related to the inner liner. “When a car spins it generally flat spots the tires, which is exactly what happened here,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. “It flat spotted both front (tires). The damage that was done to the left front as he drove around the race track looked like it partially unseated the inner liner. So it was actually the inner liner that let go on pit road. It wasn't the tire itself. The tire was already down.”


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half
The race restarted on lap 149. Green flag stops commenced on lap 188. Logano pitted on lap 189 and the lead cycled to Martin Truex Jr.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half
He and Edwards were fighting for the lead when both decided to pit on lap 224 and Chase Elliott took over the lead. He pitted the following lap and the lead cycled back to Truex.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half
The sixth caution flew with 80 laps to go for David Ragan turning Dillon in turn 3. Edwards exited pit road first.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half
The race restarted with 74 to go. A three-car wreck on the frontstretch involving Dillon, Casey Mears and Scott brought out the seventh caution with 72 to go. Dillon said afterwards that Harvick "sucked down on my door tighter than anybody had all night. He knew how tight he was at my door, that’s why I slid up in front of him. He didn’t check (up). He had the opportunity to. He didn’t like it that the silver spoon kid was outrunning him tonight, so we’ll be alright. We’ve got two weeks left.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half
We just want to come out and win a race.” Harvick said after the race that "there was no intent there. I like racing with Austin. I like everything that they do. There was no reason [to hit him]. I was running seventh [or] sixth. He slid up and got loose and I hit the back of him."


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half
The race restarted with 64 to go. Rain brought out the eighth caution with 45 to go. The race was red-flagged with 41 to go, declared official a few minutes later and Edwards was declared the winner.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Edwards said in victory lane that he "actually enjoyed [the race]. Obviously this is what we had to do. The guys got me off pit road first and that's what won it for me. We've got a shot at the championship at Homestead and that's all we wanted."


2016 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Logano, who led a race high of 178 laps, said to come "that close to winning and [leading] the most laps, second stings. That's our goal every week, is to win. Anything short of that is a failure. I feel like we were so close to that today. But ultimately, we did gain some points. We're in right now. We were out going into this race. So, you know, we did the best we could as far as leading laps and getting that bonus point, or those two bonus points with the most laps led as well. But we didn't get the win part. That would have been nice."


2016 AAA Texas 500, Media, Television
NBCSN will cover the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Texas winner Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte will have the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handle pit road on the television side.


2016 AAA Texas 500, Media, Radio
PRN will have the radio call for the race, which will simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2016 ABC Supply 500
The 2016 ABC Supply 500 was the 13th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series. The event took place at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It was the fourth consecutive year that the Verizon IndyCar Series had visited the track. The race also marked roughly one year since the fatal accident of Justin Wilson in the previous year's edition of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be run on Sunday, August 21, but heavy thunderstorms forced it to be moved to the following day.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Qualifying
Qualifying took place on Saturday, August 20. Mikhail Aleshin surprised the field by securing his first pole position start with a two lap time of 1:21.6530, at an average speed of 220.6 mph (351.0 km/h); this marked Pocono as the third fastest oval on the IndyCar calendar, behind Indianapolis and Texas, respectively. This result also marked the first time a driver from Russia started on pole in an IndyCar Series event. Josef Newgarden qualified alongside him on the front row. Takuma Sato, Hélio Castroneves, and Carlos Muñoz rounded out the top five. Ryan Hunter-Reay did not participate in qualifying after sustaining heavy damage to his car in a practice accident earlier in the day, relegating him to a 22nd and last place start.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
After being postponed from its original Sunday date, the race was held on Monday, August 22, with clear but windy weather. The race began with a botched start, as Mikhail Aleshin appeared to jump too early. The race began cleanly on the second start, though, and Aleshin was able to jump into the lead into turn one. However, Josef Newgarden was able to pass him entering turn three, giving him the lead. Behind them, Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to jump up a large number of positions with an outside move in the first turn.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
As the field made their way through turn three on the first green flag lap, Takuma Sato lost control of his car and hit the outside wall hard, bringing out the first caution period of the day. Scott Dixon suffered a punctured tire from the debris from the incident, forcing him to pit and sending him to the rear of the field.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
Racing resumed on lap nine, with Newgarden still leading. After a few moments of battling, Aleshin was able to move by Newgarden on lap 11 and maintain a lead. Alexander Rossi, Carlos Muñoz, and James Hinchcliffe battled for position just behind them. Ryan Hunter-Reay continued his charge through the field and managed to get into the top five by lap 30. At this time, the first round of pit stops occurred. Aleshin remained the leader after all drivers pitted, but Hunter-Reay moved into second. On lap 49, Hunter-Reay passed Aleshin to give him his first lead of the day. Aleshin reclaimed the lead only a few laps later on lap 54. A few laps later, Ed Carpenter retired from the race with engine failure.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
Green flag pit stops came around again around lap 60. Aleshin, Hunter-Reay, and Newgarden all made their pitstops without incident. Others, though, were not as fortunate. On lap 64, Alexander Rossi was released from his pit stall into the path of Charlie Kimball. Rossi's car was launched into the air and came back down on the front nose and part of the cockpit of Hélio Castroneves who had just been released from his own pit stop. Rossi and Castroneves were forced out of the race on the spot, while Kimball was able to continue after losing a lap for repairs. All involved emerged without injury. Caution flew for the second time of the race


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
Racing resumed again on lap 71. Mikhail Aleshin maintained his lead over Ryan Hunter-Reay, while Will Power moved into the top 10. On lap 90, Hunter-Reay managed to pass Aleshin again, once again handing him the lead. Pit stops followed shortly thereafter. Scott Dixon and Will Power were able to stay out on course significantly longer than anyone else, but after stops cycled through, Aleshin once again emerged the leader. Aleshin, Hunter-Reay, and Josef Newgarden remained the top three. further back, Power began to slowly move his way forward, taking seventh position away from Graham Rahal. By lap 120, Power had moved into the top five.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
By the end of lap 134, another round of pit stops cycled through, with the top three positions remaining the same. Power, though, jumped to fourth during the sequence, continuing his steady march to the front of the field. Up front, the handling on Aleshin's car began to give way, allowing Hunter-Reay to move into the lead and begin pulling away. Aleshin continued to drop back, and by lap 142 had lost positions to both Newgarden and Power. Power moved past Newgarden a few laps later and began his pursuit of the leader.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
Pit stops came again during this battle, and on lap 157 Power was able to have a pit stop quick enough to move him into the lead of the race. Two laps later, caution flew for the third time of the race when points leader Simon Pagenaud drifted wide in turn one a hit the outside wall, bringing his day to an end and setting up a potentially huge points gain for his teammate and championship rival Power.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
Racing resumed on lap 163 with Ryan Hunter-Reay passing Will Power to move back into the lead. However, going through turn two, Hunter-Reay suddenly lost power, forcing him to pit lane. While he managed to get his car restarted, he fell off of the lead lap due to incident. The lead was handed back to Power, who then began to pull away from the battling duo of Josef Newgarden and Mikhail Aleshin.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
On lap 176, caution flew for the fourth time of the race, as one of the rear-wing winglets came off of Tony Kanaan's car and fell onto the race course in turn one. This allowed for the final round of pit stops to occur under the caution flag. Power retained the lead of the race, while Sébastien Bourdais jumped into second after electing not to change tires during the stop. Newgarden emerged third and Tony Kanaan fourth. The caution period also allowed Hunter-Reay to get back onto the lead lap.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
The final restart of the day came on lap 180. Kanaan managed to jump to second on the start, but was quickly passed by Newgarden and Aleshin by the end of the lap. Further back, Hunter-Reay began to tear through the field, and was already fighting for ninth by lap 182. Lap 183 saw Aleshin, with the handling back to his liking again, pass Newgarden and begin his pursuit of Power. With less than 10 laps to go, Aleshin managed to close the gap down to less than half a second.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
However, it was not to be, as Power pulled back out to just over a second to take his fourth victory of the 2016 season. In an impressive performance, Hunter-Reay managed to charge back up to take the final step of the podium. Newgarden came across the line fourth, while Bourdais was able to hold on with his aged tires to secure a top five finish. Rookies struggled heavily in the race, with Max Chilton's 13th being the highest amongst the rookies.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Report, Race
Power's victory was the fourth oval victory of his career and his first during the 2016 season. Due to Simon Pagenaud's crash, Power was able to close the points gap between himself and Pagenaud to only 20 points. This is turn, tightened the championship significantly with only three races remaining in the season.


2016 ABC Supply 500, Results, Race Results
Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.


2016 ABL Playoffs
The 2016 ABL Playoffs is the postseason tournament concluding the 2015–16 ABL season of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). The top four teams that had the best regular season records qualified. The semifinals are a best-of-three series, while the Finals is a best-of-five series. The higher-seed team holds the home court advantage, hosting Games 1 and 3 in the semifinals, and Games 1, 2 and 5 in the Finals.


2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (or Rotterdam Open) was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, between 8–14 February 2016. It was the 43rd edition of the Rotterdam Open, whose official name is the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The competition was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2016 ATP World Tour.


2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Points and prize money, Prize money
1 Qualifiers prize money is also the Round of 32 prize money* per team


2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău were the defending champions, but lost in the semifinals to Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya. Nicolas Mahut and Vasek Pospisil won the title, defeating Petzschner and Peya in the final, 7–6(7–2), 6–4.


2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Stan Wawrinka was the defending champion, but chose not to participate this year.


2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Martin Kližan won the title, defeating Gaël Monfils in the final, 6–7(1–7), 6–3, 6–1.


2016 ACB Playoffs
The 2016 ACB Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the ACB's 2015–16 season, which began October 10, 2015. The playoffs started on May 28, 2016, and ended with the Finals.


2016 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship
The 2016 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship was an amateur snooker tournament that is taking place from 16 April to 23 April 2016 in Doha, Qatar. It is the 32nd edition of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship and also doubles as a qualification event for the World Snooker Tour.


2016 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship
The tournament was won by the number 13 seed Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn of Thailand who defeated Mohamed Shehab 6–2 in the final to win the championship, as a result Lertsattayathorn was given a two-year card on the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons.


2016 ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship
The 2016 ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship was an amateur snooker tournament that is taking place from 1 March to 8 March 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the 17th edition of the ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship and also doubles as a qualification event for the World Snooker Tour.


2016 ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship
The tournament was won by the number 3 seed Wang Yuchen of China who defeated Thailand's Ratchayothin Yotharuck 6–5 in the final to win the championship, as a result Yuchen was given a two-year card on the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons.


2016 ACC Championship Game
The 2016 ACC Championship Game was the 12th football championship game for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Clemson Tigers defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies, 42–35. The two programs also met five years earlier in the 2011 ACC Championship Game. The ACC Championship Game had been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina since 2010, but the ACC announced it would move its neutral site championships out of North Carolina for the 2016 season in response to the state's controversial HB2 law. The 2016 championship game was played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.


2016 ACC Championship Game, Teams, Clemson Tigers
The Tigers qualified for the game by winning the ACC Atlantic Division with a conference record of 7–1, tied with the Louisville Cardinals, who Clemson beat on October 1, 2016, 42–36.


2016 ACC Championship Game, Teams, Virginia Tech Hokies
The Hokies qualified for the game by clinching the ACC Coastal Division following North Carolina's loss at home on November 25, 2016, to NC State, 28–21. The Hokies' conference record was 6–2.


2016 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament is the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference and was held at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. from March 8–12, 2016. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The tournament included 14 of the 15 ACC teams due to Louisville's self-imposed postseason ban. This was the 20th consecutive ACC Tournament that featured Duke or UNC in the championship game.


2016 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
The top 10 teams received first round byes and the top 4 teams received double byes to the Quarterfinals.


2016 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.


2016 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament is the 30th edition of the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament decides the Atlantic Coast Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.


2016 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
All twelve teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference earned a berth into the ACC Tournament. All rounds are held at the higher seed's home field. The championship match will be held in Charleston, S.C. on November 13.


2016 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, All-Tournament Team
Zeiko Lewis, Boston College Cedric Saladin, Boston College Patrick Bunk-Andersen, Clemson Malick Mbaye, Clemson Oliver Shannon, Clemson Daniel Johnson, Louisville Tim Kübel, Louisville Jon Bakero, Wake Forest Ian Harkes, Wake ForestJacori Hayes, Wake Forest Kevin Politz, Wake Forest


2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup
The 2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup was an international cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka from 15 to 23 December 2016. It formed part of the qualification process for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. Eight teams participated in the tournament, with the six Asian teams at the 2016 Under-19 World Cup being joined by the top two teams from the 2016 Asia Division Two event. India won the tournament, beating Sri Lanka by 34 runs in the final.


2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, Statistics, Most runs
The top five runscorers are included in this table, ranked by runs scored and then by batting average.


2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, Statistics, Most wickets
The top five wicket takers are listed in this table, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average.


2016 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was the postseason women's basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference held March 2–6, 2016, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum. Notre Dame won their 3rd straight ACC tournament title to earn an automatic trip to the NCAA Women's Tournament.


2016 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeding
Tournament seeds are determined by teams' regular season conference record with tiebreakers determined by ACC tiebreaking rules.


2016 ACC Women's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
The top eight teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference earned a berth into the ACC Tournament. The quarterfinal round is held at campus sites, with the semifinals and final held at MUSC Health Stadium in Charleston, SC.


2016 ADAC Formula 4 Championship
The 2016 ADAC Formula 4 season was the second season of the ADAC Formula 4. It began on 16 April at Oschersleben and finished on 2 October at Hockenheim after seven triple header rounds.


2016 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Race calendar
All rounds were part of the ADAC GT Masters weekends, with the exception of round 4 which supported the TCR International Series.


2016 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Championship standings
Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in each race. No points were awarded for pole position or fastest lap.


2016 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Championship standings
For the third race in Zandvoort, only half points were awarded because of a premature crash.


2016 ADAC GT Masters
The 2016 ADAC GT Masters was the tenth season of the ADAC GT Masters, the grand tourer-style sports car racing founded by the German automobile club ADAC. The season started on 25 April at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben and ended on 2 October at Hockenheim after seven double-header meetings.


2016 ADAC GT Masters, Race calendar and results
The seven-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 13 November 2015. It was held along with the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz.


2016 ADAC GT Masters, Championship standings
Championship points were awarded for the first ten positions in each race. Entries were required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers were required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race.


2016 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship
The 2016 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship was the first season of touring car racing to be run by the German-based sanctioning body ADAC to newly created TCR regulations. The series ran predominately in ADAC's home nation Germany. As a support category to the ADAC GT Masters series, the championship also took in races in the neighbouring nations of Austria and the Netherlands.


2016 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship, Calendar and results
The 2016 schedule was announced on 13 November 2015, with two events scheduled to be held outside Germany. The second Oschersleben round supported the International Series along with ADAC Formula 4, while the rest of the rounds were part of the ADAC GT Masters weekends.


2016 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship, Championship standings, Drivers' Championship
† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance. ‡ – Half points were awarded in Race 1 at Circuit Park Zandvoort as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed due to Bas Schouten deliberately blocking the Pit Lane exit after a start crash to force the Red Flag. After the Red Flag was shown, the restart would come only moments later, but there was not enough time to complete enough laps.


2016 AFC Champions League
The 2016 AFC Champions League was the 35th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 14th under the current AFC Champions League title.


2016 AFC Champions League
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors defeated Al-Ain in the final to win their second AFC Champions League title, and qualified as the AFC representative at the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, their second appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.


2016 AFC Champions League, Association team allocation
The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014, which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014. The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2014 rankings:


2016 AFC Champions League, Association team allocation
The AFC Competitions Committee finalised the slot allocation for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Champions League based on the criteria, including the AFC rankings and the implementation of club licensing regulations, on 28 November 2014.


2016 AFC Champions League, Association team allocation
The following table shows the slot allocation for the 2016 AFC Champions League, which are adjusted accordingly since some of the slots are unused.


2016 AFC Champions League, Teams
The following 45 teams from 17 associations entered the competition.


2016 AFC Champions League, Teams
In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League. TH means title holders.


2016 AFC Champions League, Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).


2016 AFC Champions League, Qualifying play-off
In the qualifying play-off, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 10.2). The eight winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 24 direct entrants. All losers in each round which were from associations with only play-off slots entered the AFC Cup group stage.


2016 AFC Champions League, Qualifying play-off
The bracket of the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting each match. Teams from the same association could not be placed in the same play-off.


2016 AFC Champions League, Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2015, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.


2016 AFC Champions League, Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 12.3).


2016 AFC Champions League, Knockout stage, Round of 16
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same zone, with the group winners hosting the second leg.


2016 AFC Champions League, Knockout stage, Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Zone were drawn into two ties, and the four teams from the East Zone were drawn into the other two ties, with the order of legs also decided by the draw.


2016 AFC Champions League, Knockout stage, Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 9 June 2016, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.


2016 AFC Champions League, Knockout stage, Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Zone play each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Zone play each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.


2016 AFC Champions League, Knockout stage, Final
In the final, the two semi-final winners play each other, with the order of legs reversed from the previous season's final, with the team from the East Zone hosting the first leg, and the team from the West Zone hosting the second leg.


2016 AFC Champions League, Top scorers
Note: Goals scored in the qualifying play-off are not counted when determining top scorer (see regulations, Article 77.4).


2016 AFC Champions League, Controversies
On 25 January 2016, the AFC announced changes to the group stage schedule due to Saudi Arabia's refusal to play in Iran. After the changes, all matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia (including possible play-off winners) were rescheduled to be played on matchdays 5 and 6 (19–20 April and 3–4 May). The venues of these matches would be decided after an evaluation deadline of 15 March 2016.


2016 AFC Champions League, Controversies
As there had not been a return to normal relations between the two countries by then with Saudi Arabia refusing to lift their travel restrictions to Iran, the AFC accepted the Saudi Arabian Football Federation's proposal of playing all matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia in neutral venues. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation supports its clubs who refuse to travel to Iran. The Iranian Football Federation has stated that it could withdraw from the AFC Champions League due to the venue changes.


2016 AFC Champions League Final
The 2016 AFC Champions League Final was the final of the 2016 AFC Champions League, the 35th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 14th under the current AFC Champions League title.


2016 AFC Champions League Final
The final was contested in two-legged home-and-away format between South Korean team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and United Arab Emirates team Al-Ain. The first leg was hosted by Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju on 19 November 2016, while the second leg was hosted by Al-Ain at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on 26 November 2016. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won the final 3–2 at overall and clinched their second title.


2016 AFC Champions League Final, Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).


2016 AFC Champions League Final, Rules
The final was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the order of legs decided by draw. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.


2016 AFC Champions League Final, Match details, First leg
Assistant referees: Rashid Hamed Ali Al Ghaithi (Oman) Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al Jardani (Oman)Fourth official:Jameel Juma Abdulhusain Mohamed (Bahrain)


2016 AFC Champions League Final, Match details, Second leg
AFC Man of the Match: Choi Chul-soon (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors)


2016 AFC Champions League Final, Match details, Second leg
Assistant referees: Toru Sagara (Japan) Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japan)Fourth official: Jumpei Iida (Japan)


2016 AFC Champions League group stage
The 2016 AFC Champions League group stage was played from 23 February to 4 May 2016. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout stage of the 2016 AFC Champions League.


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2015, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Draw
The seeding of each team in the draw was determined by their association and their qualifying position within their association. The mechanism of the draw was as follows:


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Draw
The following 32 teams (16 from West Zone, 16 from East Zone) entered into the group stage draw, which included the 24 direct entrants and the eight winners of the qualifying play-off, whose identity were not known at the time of the draw.


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Format
In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Format, Tiebreakers
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 11.5):


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Schedule
On 25 January 2016, the AFC announced the following changes to the schedule due to Saudi Arabia's refusal to play in Iran after the attack on their diplomatic missions in Iran and the ensuing deterioration of Iran–Saudi Arabia relations:


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Schedule
After the changes, all matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia (including possible play-off winners) were rescheduled to be played on matchdays 5 and 6 (19–20 April and 3–4 May). The venues of these matches would be decided after an evaluation deadline of 15 March 2016. As there had not been a return to normal relations between the two countries by then with Saudi Arabia refusing to lift their travel restrictions to Iran, the AFC accepted the Saudi Arabian Football Federation's proposal of playing all matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia in neutral venues. This involved a total of six matches, two each in Groups A, B and C (no matches were moved in Group D as the play-off team from Iran failed to advance to the group).


2016 AFC Champions League group stage, Schedule
On 31 March 2016, the AFC announced that they have approved the neutral venues, with teams from Iran moving their home matches to Oman, and teams from Saudi Arabia moving their home matches to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage
The 2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage was played from 17 May to 26 November 2016. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2016 AFC Champions League.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Qualified teams
The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage qualified for the knockout stage. Both West Zone and East Zone had eight qualified teams.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Format
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 12.3).


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Bracket
The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Round of 16
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same zone, with the group winners hosting the second leg.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Zone were drawn into two ties, and the four teams from the East Zone were drawn into the other two ties, with the order of legs also decided by the draw.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 9 June 2016, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Quarter-finals, West Zone
The El Jaish v Al-Nasr first leg, originally won 3–0 by Al-Nasr, was forfeited and awarded 3–0 to El Jaish by the AFC Disciplinary Committee on 12 September 2016, as Al-Nasr fielded the player Wanderley, who was found to be registered using a fake Indonesian passport.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Zone play each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Zone play each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.


2016 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Final
In the final, the two semi-final winners play each other, with the order of legs reversed from the previous season's final, with the team from the East Zone hosting the first leg, and the team from the West Zone hosting the second leg.


2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
The 2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off was played from 27 January to 9 February 2016. A total of 21 teams competed in the qualifying play-off to decide eight of the 32 places in the group stage of the 2016 AFC Champions League.


2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, Teams
The following 21 teams (8 from West Zone, 13 from East Zone) entered the qualifying play-off, which consisted of three rounds (preliminary round 1, preliminary round 2, play-off round):


2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, Format
In the qualifying play-off, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 10.2). The eight winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 24 direct entrants. All losers in each round which were from associations with only play-off slots entered the AFC Cup group stage.


2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, Bracket
The bracket of the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting each match. Teams from the same association could not be placed in the same play-off.


2016 AFC Cup
The 2016 AFC Cup was the 13th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).


2016 AFC Cup
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya defeated Bengaluru FC in the final to win their first AFC Cup title, becoming the first Iraqi team to win the competition. Johor Darul Ta'zim were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by Bengaluru FC.


2016 AFC Cup, Association team allocation
The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014, which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014. The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2014 rankings:


2016 AFC Cup, Association team allocation
The AFC Competitions Committee decided on the participation of member associations in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Cup on 28 November 2014.


2016 AFC Cup, Association team allocation
The following table shows the slot allocation for the 2016 AFC Cup, which are adjusted accordingly since some of the slots are unused.


2016 AFC Cup, Teams
The following 40 teams from 23 associations entered the competition.


2016 AFC Cup, Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws are held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).


2016 AFC Cup, Qualifying round
The draw for the qualifying round was held on 29 June 2015 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The six teams were drawn into two groups of three.


2016 AFC Cup, Qualifying round
In the qualifying round, each group was played on a single round-robin basis at the pre-selected hosts. The winners of each group advanced to either the qualifying play-off or the group stage (depending on number of teams in each zone and geographical location).


2016 AFC Cup, Qualifying play-off
In the qualifying play-off, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 10.2). The four winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 28 direct entrants.


2016 AFC Cup, Qualifying play-off
The bracket of the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting each match.


2016 AFC Cup, Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2015, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, while in the round of 16 and final, each tie was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 12.4).


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage
Starting from this season, the knockout stage was split between the two zones until the final, similar to the AFC Champions League (Regulations Article 12.3).


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage, Round of 16
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same zone, with the group winners hosting the match.


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage, Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Zone were drawn into two ties, and the four teams from the East Zone were drawn into the other two ties, with the order of legs also decided by the draw.


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage, Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 9 June 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage, Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Zone played each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Zone played each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.


2016 AFC Cup, Knockout stage, Final
In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the host team decided by a draw, held after the quarter-final draw.