WRC Italy, Barcelona MotoGP

16:26 That's it for AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live for this weekend.

Keep an eye on our news pages for all the Le Mans, MotoGP and WRC follow-up news over the coming days, plus IndyCar and NASCAR race reports later today.

Our live coverage resumes with Austrian Grand Prix Formula 1 practice on Friday morning.

16:00 MotoGP - Barcelona: Lorenzo and his lime green sunglasses arrive on the top step of the podium between Rossi and Lorenzo.

15:56 FR3.5 - Hungaroring: Notification has come through from race officials that no action will be taken against today's winner Oliver Rowland.

The Fortec driver was being investigated for a possible yellow flag infringement.

15:55 MotoGP - Barcelona: We try to avoid comparisons between motorsport categories because they're divisive and invariably juvenile, but it's always fun to see how chilled MotoGP is about getting its riders rounded up for the podium. Celebrations and Yamaha poses still going on in parc ferme now that Lorenzo's finally made it back from his flag-planting ceremony.

15:51 MotoGP - Barcelona: Pretty quiet scenes in the Suzuki pit that was so ecstatic yesterday. Just sixth for Vinales and Espargaro in the gravel.

It was pretty extraordinary how much ground that pair lost off the line, they were virtually outside the top 10 by Turn 1.

15:49 MotoGP - Barcelona: Lorenzo traditionally puts a 'Lorenzo's Land' flag in the gravel when he wins. Recently asphalt run-off areas and flimsy flag poles have hampered his efforts.

He's sorted for Barcelona - his fan club provide a comedy oversized mallet with his logo on it. Nice work.

15:48 MotoGP - Barcelona: Plenty of hugs for Iannone as he gets back to the Ducati garage. No repeat of the Mugello podium but fourth for a man who was in Q1 at a not-great-for-the-bike track will do.

15:47 MotoGP - Barcelona - result:

1 Lorenzo
2 Rossi
3 Pedrosa
4 Iannone
5 Smith
6 Vinales
7 Redding
8 Bradl
9 Petrucci
10 Bautista
11 Miller
12 Laverty
13 Baz
14 di Meglio
15 de Angelis
16 Barbera

Out: A Espargaro, Hayden, Melandri, Dovizioso, Marquez, Crutchlow, Hernandez
Didn't start: Abraham

15:44 MotoGP - Barcelona: Third place for Pedrosa but he's a full 18.5s away from the Yamahas as he returns to the podium for the first time since November 2014.

15:44 MotoGP - Barcelona: Lorenzo claims his fourth MotoGP victory in a row by 0.885s to bring the championship deficit down to just one point.

15:43 MotoGP - Barcelona: Lorenzo has a few little slides and goes onto the final lap with just a 1.067s lead over Rossi but the Italian really does have to do something beyond miraculous to pinch this now.

15:40 MotoGP - Barcelona: Two laps left and despite Rossi's determined efforts Lorenzo still stubbornly leads by 1.326s.

15:38 MotoGP - Barcelona: Espargaro's exit moves Iannone and Smith into fourth and fifth.

15:37 MotoGP - Barcelona: Poleman Aleix Espargaro crashes! Suzuki has lost its fourth place.

He's walking away very frustrated with himself.

Rossi remains 1.364s behind Lorenzo with four laps to go.

15:35 MotoGP - Barcelona: Just thousandths of a second in it at every sector point on this lap. That time around Rossi is still quicker, but only by 0.016s. Five laps left.

15:34 MotoGP - Barcelona: Maybe this is going to come alive - Rossi takes 0.4s off Lorenzo on that lap and he's now within 1.3s of his race-leading team-mate with six laps left.

15:32 MotoGP - Barcelona: There's another Brit in a big battle just up the road too, as Smith tries to fend off Iannone for fifth. But the Ducati gets through at Turn 1 and sets off after Espargaro.

In the lead, Rossi still can't get closer than 1.7s to Lorenzo with seven laps left.

15:29 MotoGP - Barcelona: Wonderful stuff from Redding and Vinales in their battle for seventh. The two young guns both brake wildly late for Turn 1 and disappear down the run-off in unison.

As they reach Turn 4, the Suzuki gets the spot for now at least.

15:25 MotoGP - Barcelona: Pedrosa in third and Aleix Espargaro in fourth are getting pretty lonesome now.

Smith is holding off Iannone for fifth, Redding is resisting Vinales for seventh.

15:24 MotoGP - Barcelona: Rossi just grabbed a couple of tenths back from Lorenzo's lead, though.

15:23 MotoGP - Barcelona: Lorenzo just keeps inching away, a few hundredths at a time. Approaching half-distance, the gap is up to 2.1s.

15:19 MotoGP - Barcelona: Pedrosa is looking pretty secure in third right now. It's amazing to think this would be his first podium since last year's season finale at Valencia, his absence for radical arm pump surgery having defined his 2015 so far.

15:16 MotoGP - Barcelona: Now he's lost third to Pedrosa, Espargaro is hanging on just ahead of Smith, Iannone and Redding - the latter has scorched up the order from row five.

15:15 MotoGP - Barcelona: Rossi is pretty much on Lorenzo's pace up front, but he's matching not catching and they're still 1.8s. Has 'The Doctor' given himself too much to do in the race again?

15:14 MotoGP - Barcelona: Only 18 bikes left, here's the order:

1 Lorenzo
2 Rossi
3 Pedrosa
4 A Espargaro
5 Smith
6 Iannone
7 Redding
8 Vinales
9 Petrucci
10 Bradl
11 Miller
12 Bautista
13 Laverty
14 di Meglio
15 Baz
16 Barbera
17 de Angelis
18 Hayden

15:13 MotoGP - Barcelona: Marco Melandri is retiring his Aprilia in the pits. Lots of rumours that Aprilia will be retiring Melandri from duty in the coming days too, though the Spanish and Italian press have been expecting that for a while and he made it here.

15:12 MotoGP - Barcelona: Now Pedrosa, who's been picking his way forward, overtakes Espargaro's Suzuki for third.

15:11 MotoGP - Barcelona: Yet another crash! It's Dovizioso on the Ducati falling from third place!

And that moves Espargaro's Suzuki back into a podium position.

15:10 MotoGP - Barcelona: A replay of the first corner suggests poleman Espargaro triggered Crutchlow's early exit.

The Suzuki was running very wide into Turn 1 and ushered Crutchlow off the road.

15:09 MotoGP - Barcelona: We're only four laps into this race and Lorenzo is already 1.6s clear of Rossi in the lead.

15:09 MotoGP - Barcelona: While one Espargaro brother is regaining ground, the other is on the ground. Pol has crashed the Tech 3 Yamaha.

15:08 MotoGP - Barcelona: Aleix Espargaro had tumbled outside the top six as both Suzukis were absolutely gobbled up off the line but he's back through to fourth.

Vinales is only 11th, though.

15:07 MotoGP - Barcelona: Marquez picks the Honda up in the gravel but he's only going as far as the pits.

That's his third crash in the last four grands prix.

Meanwhile Rossi is passing Dovizioso for second to make it a Yamaha one-two.

15:06 MotoGP - Barcelona: The world champion had passed Dovizioso for second and was clinging on to the back of Lorenzo for the lead when he braked too late into Turn 10 and skated into the gravel and down.

15:06 MotoGP - Barcelona: Marquez is next to crash out!

15:02 MotoGP - Barcelona: Crutchlow is already down and out of the race.

15:01 MotoGP - Barcelona: The Suzukis are absolutely swamped off the line and it's Lorenzo into the lead ahead of Dovizioso and Marquez.

15:00 MotoGP - Barcelona: Medium tyres all round for everyone of note except the Ducatis (both works and Pramac), they're on hard rears.

14:59 MotoGP - Barcelona: Off they go for the parade lap. Lorenzo scorches away at the front, as MotoGP endearingly doesn't bother keeping grid order for formation lap and just sorts it all out when they get back to the startline.

14:56 MotoGP - Barcelona: Riders are donning their helmets now and preparing for the green-flag lap. Just 24 bikes on the grid today as Karel Abraham dislocated a toe in a nasty accident in practice four.

Summary

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