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Acropolis Rally, Mugello MotoGP weekend

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MotoGP - Mugello: Marc Marquez takes over at the front on slicks with a 1m56.5s.
MotoGP - Mugello: Andrea Dovizioso falls at the first corner. Apart from a covering of muddy gravel on his leathers, he is fine. His bike briefly gets dropped as the marshals stumble with it.
MotoGP - Mugello: First crash of the weekend is Ioda's Danilo Petrucci. He walks away unhurt.
MotoGP - Mugello: Valentino Rossi and Randy de Puniet have little trips off the road, which is still slippery.
MotoGP - Mugello: Meanwhile Yonny Hernandez is definitely on dry tyres and is down to a 1m57s. That's still 10s off dry times with less than 10 minutes to go.
MotoGP - Mugello: Pedrosa is going onto slicks. Most will follow suit.
MotoGP - Mugello: Yonny Hernandez has just flown to the top on the Paul Bird Aprilia CRT bike. Trying to work out if he's the first to jump to slicks...
Acropolis Rally: Finns are going to struggle to win from what's likely to be third (Latvala) and fourth (Hirvonen) on the road.
Acropolis Rally: QS order: Ogier, Sordo, Novikov, Neuville, Ostberg, Mikkelsen, Al-Attiyah, Hirvonen, Latvala, Prokop, Al-Qassimi. Latvala almost spun; Fiesta drivers felt their cars were too low. Running order selection 1015 UK time.
MotoGP - Mugello: Pedrosa jumps to the top with the first sub-two minute lap of the day, a 1m59.7s.
Sebastien Ogier

Sebastien Ogier


Acropolis Rally: Ogier wins QS and will have first selection of his road position for today's two long (29.64 and 16.18-mile) stages. The weather here is windy, which means dust shouldn't be a problem and the championship leader is likely to run last on the road of the priority drivers.
FR3.5 - Spa: The World Series by Renault meeting is getting underway at Spa after a fog delay. Although Formula Renault 3.5 is not due out until later, the delays are likely to affect it as there is little recovery time in the Friday schedule.
MotoGP - Mugello: Cal Crutchlow is now on top on a 2m00.547s, ahead of Lorenzo, Marquez, Dovizioso, Rossi and Hayden. Pedrosa is back in 11th.
Acropolis Rally: Neuville 0.4s faster than M-Sport team-mate Ostberg. Mads reported engine issue on his second FP run. He was also seen enjoying a pretty big two-wheeled moment on the final corner in the stage. Citroen's Sordo closer than anybody else to Ogier at the moment - but still 1.1 down.
MotoGP - Mugello: Marc Marquez is the early pacesetter with a 2m01.5s on a damp track. Pole last year was a 1m47s.
Acropolis Rally: Hirvonen 2.7s down, Latvala 3.4 down on Ogier. Mikko reported no problems and was pretty surprised at Ogier's time...
Acropolis Rally: Ogier through the 1.86-mile stage in 2m14.5s.
Le Mans MotoGP podium

Le Mans MotoGP podium


MotoGP - Mugello: A quick reminder of how the title battle looks right now:

MotoGP standings after four of 18 rounds:

1 Dani Pedrosa 83
2 Marc Marquez 77
3 Jorge Lorenzo 66
4 Cal Crutchlow 55
5 Valentino Rossi 47
MotoGP - Mugello: Engines roar and the riders begin to explore the track for 45 minutes of practice.
MotoGP - Mugello: Tyre supplier Bridgestone reports a current track temperature of just 13 degrees. There's no rain falling, but it remains overcast.
MotoGP - Mugello: What Jorge Lorenzo really needs this weekend is to repeat last year's dominant Italian GP performance...

2012 Mugello MotoGP report
MotoGP: Here's a reminder of what happened in the last MotoGP round, the spectacularly dramatic wet French GP at Le Mans:

Pedrosa wins French GP
Acropolis Rally: Zero car in the stage now. Ogier on the line.
Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi


MotoGP - Mugello: This is a particularly big weekend for Yamaha in MotoGP. Jorge Lorenzo has slipped behind Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez after their recent wins and his troubled French Grand Prix.

And for Italian hero Valentino Rossi, once unbeatable at Mugello, the thought of being left trailing by the 'big three' ahead once again is painful one, though he has taken care to play down expectations.
Acropolis Rally: Start of qualifying delayed. Massive crowds in the stage. FIA safety delegate is taking a second tour in the helicopter to make sure everybody's standing in the right place. Should be ready to go in next five minutes...
The MotoGP weekend has got underway at Mugello with opening practice for Moto3. Jonas Folger snatched the top spot from local wildcard Andrea Locatelli in the final moments.

Overnight rain meant a damp track, with times a long way off dry pace. That could have an impact on the MotoGP session, which is due to commence in just under a quarter of an hour.
Here's what is coming up on AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live today.

Friday May 31 - all times GMT

7:33 Acropolis Rally qualifying
7:55 MotoGP Mugello free practice one
9:00 Auto GP Silverstone free practice one
11:15 European Formula 3 Spielberg practice
11:45 Auto GP Silverstone free practice two
12:05 MotoGP Mugello free practice two
13:50 Formula Renault 3.5 Spa free practice
15:10 IndyCar Detroit free practice one
15:15 Auto GP Silverstone qualifying
15:28 Acropolis Rally SS1
15:55 European Formula 3 Spielberg qualifying
18:26 Acropolis Rally SS2
19:00 IndyCar Detroit race one qualifying
19:15 NASCAR Sprint Cup Dover qualifying
Last year's Acropolis Rally was a Sebastien Loeb victory, although not an easy one, with the Fords pushing him hard and a puncture causing a late scare.

Back then Sebastien Ogier was still biding his time in a VW-run Super 2000 Skoda, finishing a distant eighth overall.

2012 Acropolis Rally report
Could be some disruption around Europe this morning. AUTOSPORT's Jamie O'Leary (@mrjamieoleary) is hearing reports of snow at Spielberg, where the DTM and European Formula 3 are in action, while Glenn Freeman (@glenn_autosport) could be in for a quiet time at Spa initially, where fog is delaying sessions including Formula Renault 3.5.
Sebastien Ogier

Sebastien Ogier


So far in 2013, no one named anything other than Sebastien has won a round of the WRC. Loeb triumphed on two of his three part-time appearances so far, including last time out in Argentina, while Ogier has won the other three rallies.

With no Loeb in Greece this weekend, it's up to the likes of Mikko Hirvonen, Dani Sordo, Mads Ostberg and Jari-Matti Latvala to try to peg back Ogier's growing points lead.

WRC standings after five of 13 rounds:

1 Sebastien Ogier 122
2 Sebastien Loeb 68
3 Mikko Hirvonen 57
4 Jari-Matti Latvala 49
5 Mads Ostberg 38
Sunny morning here in Loutraki. Sebastien Ogier quickest on his second practice run, 0.9s up on Thierry Neuville. All priority drivers have completed the obligatory two runs.
First up will be World Rally Championship qualifying from Greece at 7:30 GMT.
The opening weekend features the Acropolis Rally, MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix, DTM and European Formula 3 at Spielberg in Austria, Formula Renault 3.5 at Spa-Francorchamps, NASCAR at Dover, IndyCar's first double-header in Detroit, and Auto GP and the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone.
This is a brand new rolling blog for every racing weekend, bringing together coverage of all major international motorsport series for live updates from AUTOSPORT's team across the world's paddocks.
Good morning and welcome to the first ever day of AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live.

By: Matt Beer, David Evans, Peter Mills, Mark Glendenning, Jamie O'Leary, Glenn Freeman, Scott Mitchell, Gary Watkins, Charles Bradley

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