Solved

Port forward

I would imagine he may be behind a proxy. I cant use the viewer in work for example as the required ports seem to be blocked. Always have been even since the previous version of the game.

@Chaz: If you have never raced there before on that exact computer, it takes a while to download here in OZ. 

But I start most races on my computer in about 30 seconds or so.

Have you tried spectating a race on the same track you will be using before your race to see if it then caches?

You can also join a race before the 'go to race' button lights up from the 'league' page, as soon as qualy is run you can click through from there.