Acropolis Rally, Mugello MotoGP weekend
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Acropolis Rally: Mads Ostberg completes SS5 with suspension damage, although he is not sure how it occurred.
Breaking news
MotoGP - Mugello: Ben Spies has been forced to withdraw from the rest of the weekend's running.
Ben Spies pulls out of event as injury persists
Ben Spies pulls out of event as injury persists
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Acropolis Rally: Yet another driver in trouble as Andreas Mikkelsen limps to the finish of SS5 with major brake problems.
"After three kilometres I braked and the brakes suddenly went straight to the floor," he saiys.
"I had no brakes the whole stage, until after 13km it started to come back a little bit again. It was impossible."
"After three kilometres I braked and the brakes suddenly went straight to the floor," he saiys.
"I had no brakes the whole stage, until after 13km it started to come back a little bit again. It was impossible."
MotoGP - Mugello: Along with Spies' withdrawal and Marquez's morning checks, Andrea Dovizioso and Bradley Smith will test their condition in third practice - which has just started with Friday pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo still quickest after the first fliers.
Acropolis Rally: Jari-Matti Latvala adds another three seconds to his lead over Dani Sordo. The gap between them is now 18s.
Acropolis Rally: Evgeny Novikov has damage to his suspension and brakes and doesn't have the parts on board to fix them, so is "just trying to survive until service".
MotoGP - Mugello: AUTOSPORT's Simon Strang is trackside between Savelli and Arrabiatta for this session.
He's spotted a Tech 3 Yamaha looking very twitchy, but Colin Edwards' Forward FTR looking very smooth - the Texan is much happier with his bike this weekend after a long struggle.
He's spotted a Tech 3 Yamaha looking very twitchy, but Colin Edwards' Forward FTR looking very smooth - the Texan is much happier with his bike this weekend after a long struggle.
Acropolis Rally - SS5 results:
Stage: 1 Latvala; 2 Sordo + 3.2s; 3 Ogier + 9.3s; 4 Neuville + 13.8s; 5 Hirvonen + 15.3s.
Overall: 1 Latvala; 2 Sordo + 18.8s; 3 Neuville + 57.3s; 4 Mikkelsen + 2m05.1s; 5 Al-Attiyah + 2m35.1s.
Stage: 1 Latvala; 2 Sordo + 3.2s; 3 Ogier + 9.3s; 4 Neuville + 13.8s; 5 Hirvonen + 15.3s.
Overall: 1 Latvala; 2 Sordo + 18.8s; 3 Neuville + 57.3s; 4 Mikkelsen + 2m05.1s; 5 Al-Attiyah + 2m35.1s.
MotoGP - Mugello: Good news for Marc Marquez, who has improved his Friday time and gone seventh fastest in the session so far. As it stands, that should see him straight into the main part of qualifying - but there are still 25 minutes left on the clock.
Acropolis Rally: No stopping Robert Kubica in WRC 2. He's lost his 10th place overall to Mikko Hirvonen, but has added another 15s to his class lead.
Crash
DTM: Spielberg: Daniel Juncadella takes a trip through the gravel at Turn 5. A strange moment really as he began to spin exiting the corner and had to lock the rear to prevent the gyration. He's 10th quickest currently.
MotoGP - Mugello: Great lap from Andrea Dovizioso to go second fastest in the session. That's an improvement of almost three-quarters of a second from yesterday, and puts him fourth fastest overall.
The Italian, who has been on the podium for the last three years at his home race, showed no signs of suffering with his sore neck there.
The Italian, who has been on the podium for the last three years at his home race, showed no signs of suffering with his sore neck there.
DTM - Spielberg: Just prior to that was a nasty accident narrowly avoided. Christian Vietoris pulled out to pass Jamie Green at Turn 2, not realising that HWA Mercedes team-mate Roberto Merhi had slowed on the inside to let both past. Vietoris had to stand on the brakes and duck back in behind Green's Audi to avoid a collision.
MotoGP - Mugello: Back down at Savelli, Simon Strang spots that Valentino Rossi's Yamaha looks a lot more malleable than the three Ducatis following him.
more spa fog
FR3.5 - Spa: This is now a longer delay than we had yesterday morning. There's little sign of the fog clearing, and this is the view of La Source from the pit exit.
Crash
MotoGP - Mugello: It's a first real shunt of third practice - and it's Marquez again. This one was much less severe than his FP2 crash, running wide at Turn 12 and being thrown off at low-speed deep into the gravel trap. He's heading back to the pits now.
DTM - Spielberg: Currently quickest with 20 minutes left of practice is Filipe Albuquerque (Rosberg Audi), with Adrien Tambay (Abt Audi) and Edoardo Mortara (Rosberg Audi) next up. The whole 22-car field is separated by just 0.7s.
Twitter
FR3.5 - Spa: While the action is delayed, 2012 FR3.5 champion Robin Frijns confirms that he is going to brave the conditions to visit the paddock today, as he lives nearby: @RFrijns "Heading to Spa! Always nice to see everyone again! :)"
MotoGP - Mugello: Work to do for Marc Marquez. He's been bumped out of the top 10 by Bradley Smith - the young Briton has just squeezed in to ninth for the session and edged Marquez for the final spot in the top 10 overall.
Could the Spaniard, who has been in the wars so far this weekend, face having to take part in the first qualifying session?
Could the Spaniard, who has been in the wars so far this weekend, face having to take part in the first qualifying session?
FR3.5 - Spa: Latest message from race control: "All qualifying delayed. No visibility at the back of the circuit. More information soon."
DTM - Spielberg: Spotted in the paddock, a 1995 Sauber C14. AUTOSPORT had forgotten just how pretty this ex-Heinz-Harald Frentzen car was. Don't remember it having a yellow nose at the time though.
Crash
DTM - Spielberg: Andy Priaulx has a spin into the gravel at Turn 5 in his RMG BMW, and seconds later Pascal Wehrlein (RSC Mucke Mercedes) stops on the opposite side of the track at the same corner with what looks like a mechanical problem.
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FR3.5 - Spa: The biggest challenge facing the drivers at the moment is keeping warm, so most of them are hiding away. That's easier said than done for home hero Stoffel Vandoorne - he has so many guests and followers this weekend that his Fortec team has expanded its team hospitality unit to accomodate them.
There was no sign of Vandoorne in amongst the guests just now, and he admitted yesterday that he has to keep his focus: "It's always a bonus to race at home, but you're always in demand and you have to make sure you maintain your focus."
There was no sign of Vandoorne in amongst the guests just now, and he admitted yesterday that he has to keep his focus: "It's always a bonus to race at home, but you're always in demand and you have to make sure you maintain your focus."
Checkered flag
DTM - Spielberg: Free practice top 10 times: 1 Hand; 2 Rockenfeller; 3 Albuquerque; 4 Wittmann; 5 Mortara; 6 Tambay; 7 Green; 8 Glock; 9 Spengler; 10 Tomczyk.
Checkered flag
MotoGP - Mugello - practice three results: 1 Lorenzo; 2 Pedrosa; 3 Bradl; 4 Rossi; 5 Bautista; 6 Crutchlow; 7 Dovizioso; 8 Hayden; 9 Pirro; 10 Espargaro.
MotoGP - Mugello: Marc Marquez could not get any higher than 12th. That means he'll have to go into Q1 to try to earn one of the two Q2 spots available.
DTM - Spielberg: Joey Hand has made a great start to the year since switching BMW squads from RMG to RBM, taking points in the first two races and securing a career-best fifth place last time out at Brands Hatch. He ran well here last year too to take his first DTM points. I wonder what might be possible this weekend for the Californian.
DTM - Spielberg: We have a strange timetable at Spielberg today. DTM qualifying is not until 1750 local time (1650 UK), and is the last action of the day. Before that we have two F3 European Championship races, the first of which kicks off in just under 15 minutes.
FR3.5 - Spa: While the organisers work on that revised schedule, the drivers (and spectators) have been given something to do as the pit walk/autograph session has been brought forward an hour. Fog clearing quite quickly now.
European F3 - Spielberg: Race 1 starting order: 1 Kvyat; 2 Rosenqvist; 3 Wolf; 4 Cheever; 5 King; 6 Latifi; 7 Auer; 8 Tincknell; 9 Muller; 10 Hill.
European F3 - Spielberg: Remember Dennis van de Laar starts last due to his five-place grid penalty for a yellow-flag infringement in practice. He qualified 25th after also having engine and gearbox dramas.
European F3 - Spielberg: We have a dry race so Raffaele Marciello and Alex Lynn will be worth watching from 13th and 17th on the grid.
FR3.5 - Spa: First piece of the schedule puzzle is in place: Formula Renault Eurocup qualifying will start at 11.25 local time, so in a little over 10 minutes.
Acropolis Rally: The final stage of the morning loop is underway in Greece, as the delayed Sebastien Ogier and Mikko Hirvonen complete SS6 trouble-free.
European F3 - Spielberg: A frantic first couple of laps with Felix Rosenqvist grabbing the lead from Daniil Kvyat at the start, a mega start from Marciello to bring him up to P10 and a spin from Harry Tincknell (which led him to block team-mate Jann Mardenborough at T2) shuffling the pack.
European F3 - Spielberg: Five laps in and Marciello is now up to sixth and right on the tail of Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian is resisting him well thogh. Lynn has just passed Will Buller for 12th, having started 17th.
European F3 - Spielberg: Marciello's path was cleared somewhat by Sven Muller and Lucas Auer banging wheels while squabbling over fifth, contact that caused Auer to spin exiting Turn 2. Auer dropped to 22nd, but has climbed back up to 16th already.
Green flag
FR3.5 - Spa: Two hours and 25 minutes after the action was supposed to start, we have FR Eurocup cars on track. The fog is hanging in the trees around the circuit but on-track it has cleared very quickly. We'll have more on the revised schedule, including FR3.5 session times, shortly.
Acropolis Rally: Very encouraging to see FIA president Jean Todt in service park and deep in talks with WRC promoters. Read his thoughts on rallying's future in AUTOSPORT and Motorsport News next week.
European F3 - Spielberg: Jordan King is having a real go at taking third away from Lucas Wolf. Neither has been on a European F3 podium this year. Muller has passed Marciello back for sixth, and the Italian now has team-mate Lynn right behind him. Auer is up to 13th after his early spin.
By: Matt Beer, David Evans, Peter Mills, Mark Glendenning, Jamie O'Leary, Glenn Freeman, Scott Mitchell, Gary Watkins, Charles Bradley
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