Moscow WTCC, Oulton BTCC, Le Mans test
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Red flag
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Half-way through the session here in Slovakia and we have a red flag. Would seem that Francesco Sini's Chevrolet Camaro has gone into the barriers between Turns 2 and 3. He's out of the car.
Checkered flag
WTCC - Moscow: That is indeed that. Yvan Muller claims the first WTCC pole at Moscow Raceway, with Tom Coronel grabbing a share of the front row and Rob Huff and Norbert Michelisz sharing the second. Full report to follow.
Green flag
Superstars - Slovakiaring: And we're underway with free practice two here in Slovakia. Fabrizio Giovanardi is straight down into the low 2m13s bracket on his first lap. Already three-tenths quicker than the fastest time from FP1.
WTCC - Moscow: James Nash, Mehdi Bennani and Charles Ng the only men to stay out on track. The rest have all pitted, but fresh rubber will be little help as the rain intensifies. Yvan Muller looks to have secured his third pole of the season (ignoring 'penaltygate' at the Salzburgring of course).
WTCC - Moscow: Muller goes P1 ahead of Coronel, Huff and Michelisz. The circuit has been declared wet, but it is still only spitting - yesterday's thunderstorms are holding off for now.
WTCC - Moscow: Just to make it interesting, it has started spitting just as the cars head onto their first flyers.
Green flag
WTCC - Moscow: Green flag, and Q2 at Moscow Raceway is underway.
Checkered flag
Tom Coronel
WTCC - Moscow: So Tom Coronel tops the first part of qualifying at Moscow Raceway, ahead of Tom Chilton and Yvan Muller. Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz sneak through, but no such luck for Tiago Monteiro. Freddy Barth, Marc Basseng and Alex MacDowall among those to miss the cut.
Through to Q2 (in order): Coronel, Chilton, Muller, Oriola, Thompson, Nykjaer, Bennani, Nash, Huff, Ng, Tarquini, Michelisz.
WTCC - Moscow: Huff now at risk as he's been bumped down to 11th. Monteiro meanwhile is out of his car - he'll start tomorrow's races from 22nd.
WTCC - Moscow: Monteiro and Tarquini are down in 21st and 23rd respectively. All is not well for Monteiro - his engine is still being worked on as the clock ticks into the final two minutes. Tarquini is on track with the Zengo Civic of Norbert Michelisz.
WTCC - Moscow: With 12 minutes to go in Q1, a reminder that the top 12 cars will progress into Q2 and the fight for pole. Nikolai Karamyshev, one of only four drivers with previous experience of the track (along with Coronel, Mikhail Kozlovskiy and Marc Basseng), is on the bubble in 11th. Tom Chilton, Tiago Monteiro, Alex MacDowall and Gabriele Tarquini are all currently outside of the cut.
AUTOSPORT logo
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Regardless of who's on pole later today, AUTOSPORT has top placement on every car in the field this weekend.
WTCC - Moscow: James Nash, whose Bamboo outfit has been struggling so far this weekend, goes top early on with a 1m43.699s. It doesn't last for long though, as Mehdi Bennani, Yvan Muller and then Tom Coronel all improve. The Dutchman is quickest of the lot now with a 1m42.966s - the first sub-1m43s lap we've seen.
Green flag
WTCC - Moscow: Green flag and the first WTCC qualifying session to be held at Moscow Raceway is underway. It is dry as well, for now...
WTCC Moscow
WTCC - Moscow: One minute from the start of qualifying, and the weather is keeping everyone guessing - stood in bright sunshine, this was the view looking out onto the exit and the first section of the track.
Euro RX - Kouvola: The Citroen C2 of Eric Faren was fastest in Super1600, Robin Larsson's Skoda Fabia tops TouringCar and Kevin Hansen heads the JRX table in free practice.
Breaking news
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Turns out Gianni isn't the only driver not happy with the temporary chicane. It will be under permanent yellow flags for the rest of the weekend (races included). Why is it even there, you ask? To stop cars from (quite literally) taking off over a small rise on the back straight.
Euro RX - Kouvola: Free practice is over here in Finland. American racer Tanner Foust tops the order, ahead of Timmy Hansen and local man Toomas Heikkinen.
Twitter
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Gianni Morbidelli took to Twitter after the first session to talk about how demanding this circuit is. But he's clearly not happy about one part...
@MorbidelliG I'm pissed off about Slovakia Ring's fast chicane, though: plain dangerous. Can't figure out why we're forced to take such useless risks.
@MorbidelliG I'm pissed off about Slovakia Ring's fast chicane, though: plain dangerous. Can't figure out why we're forced to take such useless risks.
Euro RX - Kouvola: Halfway through free practice here in Finland, Liam Doran is currently unofficially fastest in his Citoren DS3, ahead of local driver Tomas Heikkinen and round three winner Timmy Hansen.
Tiago Monteiro
WTCC - Moscow: Confirmation from Honda that Tiago Monteiro's FP2 problem was caused by an electrical water pump failure. The pump is located deep within the engine, hence the team being unable to repair it before the end of FP2.
BTCC - Oulton Park: Lea Wood was the fastest S2000 runner in 16th overall. AUTOSPORT will be going trackside for FP2 as well as heading into the paddock to see how things are going.
Time for a brief pause for all today's championships after their morning practice sessions.
Action resumes with WTCC qualifying from Moscow at 10:30 GMT/11:30 BST, with more BTCC and Superstars practice kicking off soon after.
AUTOSPORT's reporters will continue to update Race Centre Live with paddock snippets throughout the morning.
Action resumes with WTCC qualifying from Moscow at 10:30 GMT/11:30 BST, with more BTCC and Superstars practice kicking off soon after.
AUTOSPORT's reporters will continue to update Race Centre Live with paddock snippets throughout the morning.
Checkered flag
BTCC - Oulton Park: And that's it. Plato ends up quickest in FP1. A late improvement from his MG team-mate Sam Tordoff gets him to second so the order is:
1. Plato
2. Tordoff
3. Shedden
4. Jordan
5. Turkington
6. Neal
7. Newsham
8. Morgan
1. Plato
2. Tordoff
3. Shedden
4. Jordan
5. Turkington
6. Neal
7. Newsham
8. Morgan
BTCC - Oulton Park: Reigning champ Gordon Shedden improves to go second on 1m26.784s. Colin Turkington has also moved to fourth in the best WSR BMW.
BTCC - Oulton Park: Plato goes even quicker to 1m26.227s, with Sam Tordoff moving up to second to make it an MG one-two.
Green flag
BTCC - Oulton Park: Once again, we're back under way. Hopefully we can stay that way for the final six minutes of the session.
Red flag
BTCC - Oulton Park: Well, that didn't last long! Another red flag...
Green flag
BTCC - Oulton Park: We're green again and the two works Hondas of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal go second and third with exactly the same time! 1m27.208s.
Checkered flag
Superstars - Slovakiaring - free practice one: Turns out Liuzzi's lap was good enough. He finished the session on top for Romeo Ferraris Mercedes. Here is the full top 10:
1 Tonio Liuzzi; 2 Max Mugelli; 3 Fabrizio Giovanardi; 4 Gianni Morbidelli; 5 Thomas Biagi; 6 Giovanni Berton; 7 Francesco Sini; 8 Luigi Ferrara; 9 Mauro Trentin; 10 Andrea Larini.
1 Tonio Liuzzi; 2 Max Mugelli; 3 Fabrizio Giovanardi; 4 Gianni Morbidelli; 5 Thomas Biagi; 6 Giovanni Berton; 7 Francesco Sini; 8 Luigi Ferrara; 9 Mauro Trentin; 10 Andrea Larini.
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Tonio Liuzzi knocks Mugelli off top spot with less than five minutes left in the session. It's now Mercedes-BMW-Porsche in the top three.
Red flag
BTCC - Oulton Park: First practice has been red-flagged. Jeff Smith has come back to the pits with damage, but the exact cause of the stoppage isn't yet clear.
Breaking news
Yvan Muller
WTCC - Moscow: Yvan Muller back ahead as Chevrolets dominate second practice - full report and times here.
BTCC - Oulton Park: And Plato puts in a 1m26.407s to go fastest. MG team-mate Sam Tordoff goes second, but the rapid Honda Civics haven't put in proper times yet.
Superstars - Slovakiaring: 10 minutes to go in FP1 and Max Mugelli is leading the way in the Dinamic BMW. Fabrizio Giovanardi is second in the Porsche, with Gianni Morbidelli third for Audi.
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Bit of GT Sprint news; With Johann Kristoffersson away on RallyX duties, former British Formula Ford gun Antti Buri will share the Audi Sport Italia R8 with Thomas Schoffler this weekend.
BTCC - Oulton Park: Frank Wrathall's Dynojet Toyota is the first to go sub-1m28, with 1m27.897s. That is still a second off Jason Plato's 2012 pole.
BTCC - Oulton Park: First BTCC free practice gets under way at Oulton Park with brilliant sunshine and a decent crowd already.
RX
Euro RX - Kuovola: Finland is basking in hot sunshine as the teams start to queue up ready for free untimed practice.
Green flag
Superstars - Slovakiaring: Free practice one is underway in Slovakia. With the majority of the drivers having never raced here before, this session will be all about getting a feel for the track.
By: Matt Beer, Mark Glendenning, Dan Cross, Sam Tremayne, Andrew van Leeuwen, Kevin Turner, Pablo Elizalde, Gary Watkins, Charles Bradley, Connell Sanders Jr, Peter Mills, Andrew van de Burgt
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