Sachsenring MotoGP, Toronto IndyCar, Norisring DTM
Live Text
Sort by
MotoGP - Sachsenring: Worth taking a quick look at the points, then. Valentino Rossi won at Assen, but Dani Pedrosa extended his lead in the Dutch TT and will look to do the same this weekend - particularly as his chief rival will be missing...
Championship standings after eight of 18 rounds:
1 Dani Pedrosa 136
2 Jorge Lorenzo 127
3 Marc Marquez 113
4 Cal Crutchlow 87
5 Valentino Rossi 85
6 Andrea Dovizioso 65
25 points for a win
MotoGP - Sachsenring: We're just five minutes away from the start of third practice in Germany, where the big news is that Jorge Lorenzo will not be competing after his heavy crash yesterday.
The Spaniard was flicked airborne and landed heavily on his injured left shoulder, bending the titanium plate inserted onto the collarbone he broke a fortnight ago at Assen.
The Spaniard was flicked airborne and landed heavily on his injured left shoulder, bending the titanium plate inserted onto the collarbone he broke a fortnight ago at Assen.
DTM - Norisring: Werner's off at the final corner - no damage to the Schnitzer BMW and he continues. Mortara is still at the head of the leaderboard while the Mucke Mercedes' occupy the bottom two spots.
DTM - Norisring: 30 minutes in and Audi drivers are certainly on top at the moment - they occupy four of the top five positions.
DTM - Norisring: Mattias Ekstrom had been atop the times after the early flurry of competitive efforts, but Edoardo Mortara has jumped to the top with a 48.713s lap.
Green flag
DTM - Norisring: Practice is underway.
DTM - Norisring: On the eve of the halfway point in the title fight, we have a tie at the top of points and a lead battle between Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
Mike Rockenfeller leads Bruno Spengler on countback after a storming drive to second at Lausitz, while 12 points behind is Gary Paffett - on pole here last season, and now firmly in the frame after his first win of the season.
Championship standings after four of 10 rounds:
1 Mike Rockenfeller 59
2 Bruno Spengler 59
3 Gary Paffett 47
4 Christian Vietoris 40
5 Augusto Farfus 33
6 Marco Wittmann 32
25 points for a win
DTM - Norisring: This morning's 90-minute practice session should give an indication as to whether Jamie Green can help end Audi's long wait for a Norisring success.
The Mercedes convert is something of a Nuremberg street specialist, having won here four times for his old employer. Though Audi insists that its hopes of a first victory since 2002 - before it was a fully-fledged manufacturer entrant - do not rest solely on his shoulders.
The Mercedes convert is something of a Nuremberg street specialist, having won here four times for his old employer. Though Audi insists that its hopes of a first victory since 2002 - before it was a fully-fledged manufacturer entrant - do not rest solely on his shoulders.
Kicking off today's action is the first DTM practice at the Norisring, where AUTOSPORT's Jamie O'Leary is standing by. We'll also be bringing you updates from Sachsenring MotoGP third practice.
Good morning and welcome to the Saturday leg of this AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live weekend.
AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live will be back in action again from 7am GMT on Saturday ready for DTM practice from the Norisring.
Checkered flag
IndyCar - Toronto: And for the fifth time in his career at this track, Franchitti has secured pole position for tomorrow. Sebastien Bourdais is second, giving Dragon Racing its first front-row start, ahead of Will Power, Tony Kanaan, James Jakes and Scott Dixon.
IndyCar - Toronto: Dario Franchitti is P1, with 90s left on the clock. Bourdias is P2 ahead of Power.
IndyCar - Toronto: With three minutes remaining, the provisional pole-sitter is Sebastien Bourdais. It sounds like everyone is on scuffed reds.
Quote
IndyCar - Toronto: The Fast Six are just heading out onto the track. In the meantime, Ryan Hunter-Reay was one of those whose qualifying was compromised by Sato's accident. It's just a week since he was taken out of the Pocono race by the Japanese driver, and he still doesn't sound happy:
"I‘d like to thank the crew for giving me a great car, and I’d like to thank Sato for knocking us out again today."
"I‘d like to thank the crew for giving me a great car, and I’d like to thank Sato for knocking us out again today."
IndyCar - Toronto: As expected, the chequered flag is out for this phase of qualifying, so that final order will stand.
Red flag
IndyCar - Toronto: Sato has hit the wall at Turn 1. There's less than a minute left, so I don't think much is going to change from here.
As it stands, Franchitti, Bourdais, Kanaan, Dixon, Power and Jakes will progress to the Fast Six.
Hunter-Reay, Castroneves, Wilson, Briscoe, Andretti and Sato all miss out.
As it stands, Franchitti, Bourdais, Kanaan, Dixon, Power and Jakes will progress to the Fast Six.
Hunter-Reay, Castroneves, Wilson, Briscoe, Andretti and Sato all miss out.
IndyCar - Toronto: Power has a big moment in Turn 3, but manages to keep it off the wall. His car has looked like a real handful today.
IndyCar - Toronto: Halfway into Round 2, and current leader is Dario Franchitti. Will Power has just thrown on a new set of tyres, while Sebastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson are yet to leave pitlane.
IndyCar - Toronto: While we wait for the second round of qualifying to start, the long-expected announcement that Andersen Promotions will take control of the Indy Lights series from 2014 was made earlier today. Full details here.
IndyCar - Toronto: So the 12 drivers in Round 2 will be Dixon, Bourdais, Sato, Castroneves, Jakes, Power, Franchitti, Hunter-Reay, Andretti, Kanaan, Briscoe and Wilson.
IndyCar - Toronto: Not a good day so far for the locals: first Tagliani was bumped out of Group 1, and now James Hinchcliffe has just missed the cut from Group 2.
Progressing to the next round are Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe and Justin Wilson.
Eliminated: Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal, Mike Conway, Simona de Silvestro and Sebastian Saavedra.
Progressing to the next round are Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe and Justin Wilson.
Eliminated: Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal, Mike Conway, Simona de Silvestro and Sebastian Saavedra.
DTM - Norisring: In support race news Dutchman Jaap van Lagen set the pace in German Carrera Cup practice today, the Land Motorsport driver just ahead of Brit Sean Edwards and Frenchman Kevin Estre
Meanwhile 'Legend' Nicola Larini topped practice for the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup. The 1993 DTM champion was chased hard by Kasper Jensen, points leader Kelvin van der Linde and Brit Ross Wylie.
Fellow 'Legends' Marco Werner, Harald Grohs and Marc Duez were fifth, 21st and 22nd.
Meanwhile 'Legend' Nicola Larini topped practice for the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup. The 1993 DTM champion was chased hard by Kasper Jensen, points leader Kelvin van der Linde and Brit Ross Wylie.
Fellow 'Legends' Marco Werner, Harald Grohs and Marc Duez were fifth, 21st and 22nd.
IndyCar - Toronto: The second group is now on track. Meanwhile, a despondent-sounding Alex Tagliani is saying that there was "nothing left" in his car.
IndyCar - Toronto: Group 2 will be out shortly, featuring Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ryan Briscoe, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, James Hinchcliffe, Justin Wilson, Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal, Sebastian Saavedra, Simona de Silvestro and Mike Conway.
IndyCar - Toronto: Chequered flag. Advancing to round two are Dixon, Bourdais, Sato, Castroneves, Jakes and Power, who just managed to sneak in on his final lap.
Eliminated: Pagenaud, Viso, Tagliani, Newgarden, Vautier and Carpenter.
Eliminated: Pagenaud, Viso, Tagliani, Newgarden, Vautier and Carpenter.
IndyCar - Toronto: Four minutes left, and James Jakes is currently on top. Probably the biggest name outside the bubble at the moment is Will Power, but there's plenty of time left yet.
IndyCar - Toronto: We're got the regular road/street qualifying format for the Saturday race, with six from each group progressing on to the next round. It's tomorrow's qualifying session for the Sunday race where things get tricky, with that annoying odd-numbered/even-numbered system that we had to wrap our heads around in Detroit.
Green flag
IndyCar - Toronto: The first group has headed out to start qualifying for tomorrow. In this group: Helio Castroneves, EJ Viso, Tristan Vautier, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, James Jakes, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Alex Tagliani, Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter.
Quote
Auto GP- Mugello: "I think we can improve for qualifying, but the Super Nova drivers are looking really strong," said Roda, whose younger brother is also racing at Mugello this weekend, in Formula Abarth.
"Anyway, it's good. I only used the mediums [tyres] in testing, and then switched to softs for practice. We have done a lot of good set-up work today."
"Anyway, it's good. I only used the mediums [tyres] in testing, and then switched to softs for practice. We have done a lot of good set-up work today."
Auto GP - Mugello: Upbeat after setting the third fastest time in free practice, Virtuosi UK's Andrea Roda was hesistant when asked if he could bridge the 0.9s gap from practice to Friday pacesetter Narain Karthikeyan.
Quote
European F3 - Norisring: Meanwhile, Tom Blomqvist, who grew up in New Zealand, is pretty happy to have Kiwi Nick Cassidy as his EuroInternational team-mate. The duo, as well as GP2 racer Mitch Evans, used to kick about together at kart tracks in NZ. "We've known each other since I was eight years old," said Tom.
Quote
European F3 - Norisring: Alex Lynn, the top Brit in qualifying, is pretty upbeat about tomorrow's races, each of which he starts in the top four. "I'm out of the main chaos!" he quipped.
Quote
Auto GP - Mugello: "I think there is more to come, I did a 1m35.0 on older tyres and then the 1m34.6 on fresher tyres," said Karthikeyan.
"The circuit is quite physical, as we have no power-steering. The Arrabbiata Turn 8 is really tough.
"I think overtaking in the races could be hard as it is difficult to follow other cars. But I think I have a good technique in the last corner, it seems to be working well."
Auto GP - Mugello: Friday free practice pacesetter Narain Karthikeyan was confident he could find further improvements for qualifying. The Indian explained to Autosport the reason he missed the first half hour of free practice was to bed-in brakes.
European F3 - Norisring: Interesting to note that on combing through lap times from first qualifying that poleman Rosenqvist is only sixth fastest on theoretical bests from each sector. That's a very good, consistent performance.
DTM - Norisring: Earlier today the first meeting of the DTM Technical Steering Group took place.
The point of the group is to formalise all aspects of the DTM technical rules that are being absorbed into Super GT and the so-far unnamed 'DTM America', which will be run by Grand-Am.
Grand-Am's Ed Bennett and Super GT head Masaaki Bandoh will join ITR chairman Hans Werner Aufrecht in revealing details of the meeting tomorrow morning here.
We will, of course, let you know what has gone on tomorrow.
The point of the group is to formalise all aspects of the DTM technical rules that are being absorbed into Super GT and the so-far unnamed 'DTM America', which will be run by Grand-Am.
Grand-Am's Ed Bennett and Super GT head Masaaki Bandoh will join ITR chairman Hans Werner Aufrecht in revealing details of the meeting tomorrow morning here.
We will, of course, let you know what has gone on tomorrow.
We'll have full reports from Euro F3 qualifying and Auto GP practice imminently.
In the meantime, you can read how IndyCar's practice at Toronto panned out here. We'll be back to cover qualifying at 18.15 this evening, so join us then.
In the meantime, you can read how IndyCar's practice at Toronto panned out here. We'll be back to cover qualifying at 18.15 this evening, so join us then.
European F3 - Norisring: Grid for third race is this: 1 Marciello; 2 Rosenqvist; 3 Lynn; 4 Blomqvist; 5 Auer; 6 Sims; 7 Tincknell; 8 Kvyat; 9 Derani; 10 Serralles.
Checkered flag
European F3 - Norisring: Chequered flag is out with Marciello already in the pits and just hoping nobody betters his time.
By: Sam Tremayne, Peter Mills, Marcus Simmons, Jamie O'Leary, Mark Glendenning, Matt Beer, Scott Mitchell, Andrew van de Burgt
Published:
Lap:
