Acropolis Rally, Mugello MotoGP weekend
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IndyCar - Detroit: With the need to run the car in two races this weekend, will the racing this afternoon be less intense? Dario Franchitti, who was fastest in yesterday's qualifying session for race one but was hit with a penalty, doesn't think so.
"Doubtful," he said. "Very doubtful. These things can be rebuilt quite quickly. I think both races will be aggressive.
"This track by its nature requires quite an aggressive style all the time. You're really on edge the whole way round. So I don't see one race being more aggressive than the other. I think they're both going to be pretty full on."
"Doubtful," he said. "Very doubtful. These things can be rebuilt quite quickly. I think both races will be aggressive.
"This track by its nature requires quite an aggressive style all the time. You're really on edge the whole way round. So I don't see one race being more aggressive than the other. I think they're both going to be pretty full on."
MotoGP - Mugello: A storming final effort from Dani Pedrosa clinched an unlikely Italian MotoGP pole for Honda from under the nose of Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo.
Full session report
DTM - Spielberg: And yet more support news, the KTM X-Bow races feature Motocross legend Heinz Kinigadner, polesitter Reinhard Kofler - who beat Nico Rosberg to a German FBMW win at the Nurburgring 11 years ago - and the wonderfully named BERNIE SILVERSTONE (he's in capital letters on the entry list, so I'm sticking with it).
European F3 - Spielberg: Michael Lewis, who is racing for the first time since his horrible Brands Hatch crash two weeks ago, says that walking is more painful than driving his Mucke Dallara-Mercedes! Despite his foot hurting, he picked up his first points of the year with ninth in race one.
Green flag
IndyCar - Detroit: The first qualifying group is on track for its 12 minute session.
MotoGP - Mugello: Moto2 qualifying is underway in Italy. Championship leader and Le Mans winner Scott Redding has had his bike rebuilt after a huge practice crash.
Takaaki Nakagami, who led in France before crashing, has set a new track record with an early but ominous benchmark.
Takaaki Nakagami, who led in France before crashing, has set a new track record with an early but ominous benchmark.
DTM - Spielberg: The first Scirocco race is underway and there's already a sensational lead battle between Michelle Gatting and Kelvin van der Linde. They passed each other three times on the last lap alone. They'll be using up all their boosts if they don't calm things down. Amusingly, Klaus Niedzwiedz, one of the most experienced guys in the pack, jumped the start.
Lights out
FR3.5 - Spa: Eventful start, with Magnussen fiercely holding off da Costa before pulling out a gap later in the opening lap. Jaafar drops from P3 to P10 at the start, while Vandoorne is put on the grass at La Source and drops to P21.
FR3.5 - Spa: Magnussen charged into a 2.5s lead, but over the last couple of laps da Costa's car has come to him and he is chipping away at that gap. He's taking third placed Pic with him. The star of the race so far has been Nigel Melker, who has raced his way from 10th to fourth in the opening five laps.
Acropolis Rally: Sebastien Ogier is onto SS8 as the next stage of the afternoon loop commences.
Checkered flag
IndyCar - Detroit: Session ended early courtesy of a spin and stall by Alex Tagliani, who loses his two best laps for causing a red flag. The man on top? James Jakes, with Ryan Hunter-Reay 0.0590s behind him. Hunter-Reay pulled off the track with a problem just prior to Tag's spin.
Second qualifying group heading out shortly.
Second qualifying group heading out shortly.
Acropolis Rally: Rain is coming. Fans walking into SS8 carrying brollies.
Acropolis Rally: Live from stage eight... the rain has arrived.
MotoGP - Mugello Little under 15 minutes of the Moto2 qualifying session left to run and Scott Redding - pictured here by SMARTFotos in crash-scarred leathers - has just gone fastest.
Crash
FR3.5 - Spa: Safety car is called on lap eight after Nico Muller and Yann Cunha collide on the approach to Fagnes. Muller clipped the back of Cunha's car, and the Monaco winner speared into the tyre wall doing a lot of damage to it and his Draco car. It was a huge impact but both drivers walked away.
Blancpain - Silverstone: Good news for the Blancpain boys. The winners in each class title will be invited to the new FIA GT finale in the exotic location of Baku in Azerbaijan.
Green flag
IndyCar - Detroit: Second group now on track for race two qualifying.
FR3.5 - Spa: No sign of the safety car coming in any time soon. The marshals have their work cut out getting the tyre barrier back together. Muller and Cunha have had a trackside shouting match over the clash, but it doesn't look as clear cut as the former seems to be making out.
Acropolis Rally: Sebastien Ogier completes SS8, which he describes as "not so nice".
Citroen's Khalid Al-Qassimi has rolled and is out of ninth place.
Citroen's Khalid Al-Qassimi has rolled and is out of ninth place.
Mikko Hirvonen
Acropolis Rally: More pain for Mikko Hirvonen, with a puncture seven kilometres before the end of SS8.
"You're hitting rocks all the time, I don't know which one it was," he says.
FR3.5 - Spa: Behind the safety car, the order is: 1 Magnussen; 2 da Costa; 3 Pic; 4 Melker; 5 Martsenko; 6 Sorensen. Da Costa had trimmed Magnussen's lead from 2.4s to 1.6s over the three laps before the Muller/Cunha crash.
Green flag
FR3.5 - Spa: Safety car is coming in, 17 minutes remaining.
Breaking news
Latest news:
Le Mans: Matteo Malucelli gets AF Corse Ferrari call
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Le Mans: Matteo Malucelli gets AF Corse Ferrari call
FIA GT Series: FIA GT Series secures Azerbaijan street race for 2013 finale
FR3.5 - Spa: Magnussen makes a good restart, edging a slight gap over da Costa. Pic is caught sleeping and loses third to the charging Melker at La Source. Sorensen passes Martsenko for fifth and is straight onto Pic's tail.
IndyCar - Detroit: And your polesitter for Sunday's race is ... Mike Conway. Great job by the Brit, who is making a one-off appearance this weekend in the second Dale Coyne car. James Jakes, who was fastest from the first group, will line up alongside him.
The order from the second session: Conway, Will Power, EJ Viso, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Sebastian Saavedra, Ryan Briscoe, Graham Rahal, Simona de Silvestro, Tony Kanaan, Takuma Sato, Ed Carpenter.
MotoGP - Mugello: The front three for tomorrow's Moto2 race - Redding, Nakagami and Schrotter - remained unchanged in the final 15 minutes. Very impressive response from the Briton after his practice crash. It looked like Pol Espargaro would snatch pole with his final lap of the session but he aborted his flier and will start from the fourth row, in 10th.
FR3.5 - Spa: Magnussen can't shake da Costa off this time. With the gap at 0.5s the Dane locks up at Les Combes. But - as seems to be the case every lap - he gets away slightly in the middle sector.
FR3.5 - Spa: Three minutes to go and da Costa is still giving chase. He's had one half-look so far, which resulted in him locking up at Les Combes and having to fend off Melker - who is hanging onto the front two very nicely.
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Acropolis Rally: Leader Jari-Matti Latvala comes through SS8 safely and looks set to add a few more seconds to his lead over Dani Sordo.
"Finally we start to feel experience pay off!" Latvala says. "I've had many years of driving with a youngster's passion."
"Finally we start to feel experience pay off!" Latvala says. "I've had many years of driving with a youngster's passion."
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MotoGP - Mugello: Jorge Lorenzo had the MotoGP honour snatched from him and was surprised by his own pace, let alone Pedrosa going even quicker.
"I was really surprised I did a 1m47.6s on the first lap," he said. "I didn't expect to be so fast on the first lap, but I also didn't expect Dani to be so fast on the last lap.
"I'd expected to be on pole position but sometimes racing is the opposite to what you expect. I think we have a good pace for tomorrow and we have to be focused and consistent."
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Acropolis Rally: Citroen driver Dani Sordo has criticised the organiser's double use of stages after a very rough run through the Ghymno stage.
The second-placed Spaniard said: "This is not natural, it's a lottery to see if you get through the stage without a puncture. You can't drive... you can't do these second passes."
Novikov was fastest through the stage and countered that driving flat out was still possible - providing you hold on tight to the steering wheel.
The second-placed Spaniard said: "This is not natural, it's a lottery to see if you get through the stage without a puncture. You can't drive... you can't do these second passes."
Novikov was fastest through the stage and countered that driving flat out was still possible - providing you hold on tight to the steering wheel.
Checkered flag
FR3.5 - Spa: Result - 1 Magnussen; 2 da Costa; 3 Melker; 4 Pic; 5 Sorensen; 6 Martsenko; 7 Negrao; 8 Move; 9 Jaafar; 10 Huertas.
Acropolis Rally - SS8 results:
Stage: 1 Novikov; 2 Latvala + 4.6s; 3 Ogier +15.0s; 4 Neuville +15.4s; 5 Mikkelsen + 19.0s.
Overall: 1 Latvala; 2 Sordo + 44.7s; 3 Neuville + 1m32.3s; 4 Al Attiyah + 3m25.8s; 5 Mikkelsen + 3m34.6s; 6 Prokop + 4m59.8s.
Stage: 1 Novikov; 2 Latvala + 4.6s; 3 Ogier +15.0s; 4 Neuville +15.4s; 5 Mikkelsen + 19.0s.
Overall: 1 Latvala; 2 Sordo + 44.7s; 3 Neuville + 1m32.3s; 4 Al Attiyah + 3m25.8s; 5 Mikkelsen + 3m34.6s; 6 Prokop + 4m59.8s.
IndyCar - Detroit: Mike Conway, making a one-off appearance in the second Dale Coyne entry, claimed pole position for the second IndyCar race tomorrow. It's an all-British front row as James Jakes, who was fastest in his group, will line up alongside him.
Full qualifying report
Lights out
European F3 - Spielberg: Race two is underway and it's Rosenqvist in front again. From third on the grid he passed Kvyat on the run to Turn 1 and then grabbed the lead from Wolf at the next corner after nabbing a tow up the straight.
European F3 - Spielberg: The current highlight is the Latifi v Muller fight for fourth, which has now been joined by Auer. Marciello, from 17th on the grid, is now 18th after running off the track at the penultimate turn on the first lap.
Crash
European F3 - Spielberg: A big moment as Latifi, Muller and Auer go three-wide out of Turn 3, resulting in contact between the Carlin and Ma-con cars. Latifi is lucky not to roll as he is launched over the front of Muller's car and into the gravel. Muller is also out with broken suspension.
European F3 - Spielberg: That all seemed to start as fourth-placed Latifi ran Muller out wide at Turn 3, the latter having almost completed a passing move round the outside in the braking zone. Auer nipped inside both, banged wheels with Latifi and pushed him into Muller. Latifi was so nearly clear of the Ma-con car before the contact occurred.
FR3.5 - Spa: A dejected Stoffel Vandoorne has been cornered in the media centre by his local press. He recovered from that off at the start to finish 13th - outside of the points.
European F3 - Spielberg: Half distance order in race two is 1 Rosenqvist; 2 Kvyat; 3 Wolf; 4 Auer; 5 Hill; 6 King; 7 Tincknell; 8 Cheever; 9 Blomqvist; 10 Lewis.
By: Matt Beer, David Evans, Peter Mills, Mark Glendenning, Jamie O'Leary, Glenn Freeman, Scott Mitchell, Gary Watkins, Charles Bradley
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