WRC Italy, Barcelona MotoGP
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Crash
WRC - Italy: Could be worse than a puncture for Latvala - he announced a puncture over team radio after hitting a rock hard, but there doesn't appear to be a puncture after all. And VW's told him if it's not a puncture causing that feeling then he's damaged a damper instead...
WRC - Italy: Radio reports suggest Tanak has got stuck in sixth gear.
And now Latvala appears at the end of the stage with a rear puncture, though it's only cost him about 12s to Ogier and 6s to Ostberg.
And now Latvala appears at the end of the stage with a rear puncture, though it's only cost him about 12s to Ogier and 6s to Ostberg.
IndyCar - Toronto: And the session end with Castroneves on top at 59.6424s. Montoya was just over 0.1s slower in P2.
Breaking news
WRC - Italy: Third-placed Tanak has stopped on the tracking system!
He was looking very settled in that podium spot.
He was looking very settled in that podium spot.
WRC - Italy: First split in for Paddon and he's already lost 2s to Ogier.
But this was a stage where Ogier made a bit of progress this morning before the Hyundai began rebuilding its lead.
Ostberg has got a bit of tyre damage, he reports the stage has some hard-to-miss rocks.
But this was a stage where Ogier made a bit of progress this morning before the Hyundai began rebuilding its lead.
Ostberg has got a bit of tyre damage, he reports the stage has some hard-to-miss rocks.
Stopwatch
WRC - Italy: Ogier, who thinks if anything he was a bit too careful there, comes through with the fastest stage time so far, 6s quicker than Citroen men Ostberg and Meeke.
Rally leader Paddon isn't quite at the first split yet.
Rally leader Paddon isn't quite at the first split yet.
WRC - Italy: Kubica finishes the stage with a rear puncture. That's approximately his 44th puncture of today.
Sometimes rally tyres do just burst, sometimes they burst because they've smacked something hard/sharp/pointy.
Sometimes rally tyres do just burst, sometimes they burst because they've smacked something hard/sharp/pointy.
Green flag
IndyCar - Toronto: The replay shows that the Monagasque was lucky to miss the wall there. There were less than four minutes remaining when he spun; we're now back under way with a minute and a half on the clock.
Red flag
IndyCar - Toronto: Coletti spins again, this time at the exit of Turn 11. He has stalled on the main straight.
IndyCar - Toronto: Penske is still on top, but now it's Helio Castroneves setting the pace. He, Montoya and Newgarden are currently the only drivers in the 59s range.
WRC - Italy: Meeke sets a first-on-the-road benchmark of 13m44.8s. He's a bit troubled by a clunky gearshift on his Citroen.
Stopwatch
WRC - Italy: Latvala's recovery drive is going to be one of the themes of the rest of the day, and catching Ostberg for fourth is mission number one.
He's taken 1.7s off the 8s gap to the Citroen by split one of SS17.
Fastest man at that split, though, is Ogier - who's half a second up on Latvala's pace.
Ogier's victory rival Paddon is about to start.
He's taken 1.7s off the 8s gap to the Citroen by split one of SS17.
Fastest man at that split, though, is Ogier - who's half a second up on Latvala's pace.
Ogier's victory rival Paddon is about to start.
Lights out
WRC - Italy: It's the Monti di Ala stage to begin our final Saturday charge. It's 14 miles long, and here Evans' co-driver Dan Barritt's verdict on it:
"We’ve used this stage before, but in the opposite direction.
"This is a typical stage of this region, a lot like Monte Lerno which is coming a bit later.
"It's a hard base with quite a lot of loose on top and generally pretty quick in places."
Meeke has just begun the stage.
"We’ve used this stage before, but in the opposite direction.
"This is a typical stage of this region, a lot like Monte Lerno which is coming a bit later.
"It's a hard base with quite a lot of loose on top and generally pretty quick in places."
Meeke has just begun the stage.
IndyCar - Toronto: Jack Hawksworth brushes the wall, but it looks like he got away with it. No change up at the front, where Montoya is still P1 ahead of Pagenaud and Newgarden. The top 10 is all Chevy at the moment.
IndyCar - Toronto: Montoya is the early leader in what has been a pretty uneventful session so far, although Stefano Coletti just did his best to liven things up by skating into the Turn 3 run-off and almost collecting Scott Dixon along the way.
WRC - Italy: This is how the WRC runners look going into this stage:
1 Paddon
2 Ogier +9.0s
3 Tanak +1m08.9s
4 Ostberg +2m30.7s
5 Latvala +2m38.0s
6 Neuville +3m45.0s
7 Evans +4m50.2s
There's also Khalid Al-Qassimi running just outside the top 10, plus Kris Meeke and Robert Kubica under Rally 2 somewhere near 40-ish - though the non-WRC order is pretty confused at the moment following some interruptions when the midfield were coming through this morning. It's unlikely Meeke will care whether he finished 22nd or 52nd overall anyway.
1 Paddon
2 Ogier +9.0s
3 Tanak +1m08.9s
4 Ostberg +2m30.7s
5 Latvala +2m38.0s
6 Neuville +3m45.0s
7 Evans +4m50.2s
There's also Khalid Al-Qassimi running just outside the top 10, plus Kris Meeke and Robert Kubica under Rally 2 somewhere near 40-ish - though the non-WRC order is pretty confused at the moment following some interruptions when the midfield were coming through this morning. It's unlikely Meeke will care whether he finished 22nd or 52nd overall anyway.
Quote
WRC - Italy: Kris Meeke will be first on the road again when we get going properly in Italy in just a moment, with three stages in quick succession to round the day off.
Following some fairly outspoken comments about Sebastien Ogier in the lead up to this event, Meeke also happily talked of his appreciation for what the Frenchman achieves at the front of the field.
The Citroen driver has been the first car into the stages today and the Northern Irishman admitted it's not as easy as Ogier can make it look.
"What Sebastien does in these conditions is simply incredible and I have absolute respect for that," said Meeke.
"I haven't been first on the road since this event last year and you forget just how much the car moves about; braking distances have to be increased by 50 per cent and when you touch a rut or a bump the car just takes off.
"It's tough, but if I want to be leading the championship then I have to learn to deal with this and that's the positive from a negative situation."
Meeke admitted the circumstances under which he's running first aren't quite the same as when Ogier was there yesterday.
"I'm first because I made a mistake," said Meeke, "so the fight's not there as it would be if you came here leading the championship.
"And the big thing is that you just don't want to go off again and make yourself look like a t**t."
Following some fairly outspoken comments about Sebastien Ogier in the lead up to this event, Meeke also happily talked of his appreciation for what the Frenchman achieves at the front of the field.
The Citroen driver has been the first car into the stages today and the Northern Irishman admitted it's not as easy as Ogier can make it look.
"What Sebastien does in these conditions is simply incredible and I have absolute respect for that," said Meeke.
"I haven't been first on the road since this event last year and you forget just how much the car moves about; braking distances have to be increased by 50 per cent and when you touch a rut or a bump the car just takes off.
"It's tough, but if I want to be leading the championship then I have to learn to deal with this and that's the positive from a negative situation."
Meeke admitted the circumstances under which he's running first aren't quite the same as when Ogier was there yesterday.
"I'm first because I made a mistake," said Meeke, "so the fight's not there as it would be if you came here leading the championship.
"And the big thing is that you just don't want to go off again and make yourself look like a t**t."
IndyCar - Toronto: Just before the current IndyCar session, the Indy Lights field were on track.
They've been joined by an illustrious supersub this weekend - with Max Chilton busy at Le Mans, Carlin has called up another ex-Formula 1 man in Formula E championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr...
...and he's put it on pole for his series debut:
Toronto Indy Lights qualifying report
They've been joined by an illustrious supersub this weekend - with Max Chilton busy at Le Mans, Carlin has called up another ex-Formula 1 man in Formula E championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr...
...and he's put it on pole for his series debut:
Toronto Indy Lights qualifying report
Nelson Piquet Jr, Carlin, Toronto Indy Lights 2015
WRC - Italy: We've been largely focused on MotoGP for the last few hours, but now it's nearly rally time again - and those two worlds overlapped earlier in the week.
If Sebastien Ogier was short on confidence coming into this week's sixth round of the World Rally Championship, taking Andrea Dovizioso for a ride at his pre-event test wasn't such a bad idea.
Running third in MotoGP right now, Ducati rider Dovizioso is a man who knows plenty about risk, reward and what it takes to get through a corner quickly.
Stepping out of the Frenchman's Polo R WRC, the Italian couldn't contain himself, saying: "You have no idea of how extreme it is, how fast they go in the narrow roads and how powerful these cars are.
"To be honest, it is the most charged-up and incredible thing I have ever done, by a long shot.
"MotoGP is nothing compared to this!"
Crikey Andrea, it must be far, far duller than it looks from the saddle of your GP15.
Ogier had his own taste of MotoGP recently too, attending the previous round at Mugello with Ducati (part of the same ownership group as VW these days, of course).
If Sebastien Ogier was short on confidence coming into this week's sixth round of the World Rally Championship, taking Andrea Dovizioso for a ride at his pre-event test wasn't such a bad idea.
Running third in MotoGP right now, Ducati rider Dovizioso is a man who knows plenty about risk, reward and what it takes to get through a corner quickly.
Stepping out of the Frenchman's Polo R WRC, the Italian couldn't contain himself, saying: "You have no idea of how extreme it is, how fast they go in the narrow roads and how powerful these cars are.
"To be honest, it is the most charged-up and incredible thing I have ever done, by a long shot.
"MotoGP is nothing compared to this!"
Crikey Andrea, it must be far, far duller than it looks from the saddle of your GP15.
Ogier had his own taste of MotoGP recently too, attending the previous round at Mugello with Ducati (part of the same ownership group as VW these days, of course).
Andrea Dovizioso and Sebastien Ogier
Green flag
IndyCar - Toronto: Green flag for third practice in Toronto. The track is immediately busy: everyone is clearly keen to get some running time after yesterday's second session was washed out.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Barcelona: Heading towards the later stages of Moto2 qualifying here and Johann Zarco is having fun - he's just broken the circuit record for the class twice in quick succession.
Zarco has a championship lead to protect after reigning champion Tito Rabat kickstarted his season by winning at Mugello last time out.
Zarco has a championship lead to protect after reigning champion Tito Rabat kickstarted his season by winning at Mugello last time out.
Quote
WRC - Italy: Now rally leader Paddon is through and he's three tenths slower than Ogier. That leaves them 9s apart.
Here's Paddon's philosophy for the afternoon:
"Just keep doing what we're doing, try not to pay too much attention to the times. I'm quite surprised we didn't lose too much in there, superspecials are normally our weak point."
He reckons the next two stages will be pretty crucial.
Leaderboard:
1 Paddon
2 Ogier +9s
3 Tanak +1m08.9s
4 Ostberg +2m30.7s
5 Latvala +2m38.0s
6 Neuville +3m45.0s
Here's Paddon's philosophy for the afternoon:
"Just keep doing what we're doing, try not to pay too much attention to the times. I'm quite surprised we didn't lose too much in there, superspecials are normally our weak point."
He reckons the next two stages will be pretty crucial.
Leaderboard:
1 Paddon
2 Ogier +9s
3 Tanak +1m08.9s
4 Ostberg +2m30.7s
5 Latvala +2m38.0s
6 Neuville +3m45.0s
Stopwatch
WRC - Italy: Neuville takes the stage win on this short little sprint, eight tenths quicker than Meeke.
Stopwatch
WRC - Italy: We're back up and running in Italy, but it's a relatively gentle start to the afternoon with the 0.9-mile Ittiri Arena stage.
Meeke is fastest through of the early runners, half a second ahead of Ogier.
Meeke is fastest through of the early runners, half a second ahead of Ogier.
MotoGP - Barcelona: Moto2 qualifying is now kicking off at Barcelona and title contender Sam Lowes has just pulled off one of the best saves of the year through the fast right-hander onto the back straight. Wow! Most riders would've been flying through the air there but he stayed on both wheels.
Ricky Cardus has just had the opposite experience and is picking himself out of the barriers. He's unhurt.
Ricky Cardus has just had the opposite experience and is picking himself out of the barriers. He's unhurt.
MotoGP - Barcelona: A crowd of blue-clad mechanics, team personnel and riders are posing for the cameras with a lot of thumbs-up in parc ferme - and it's Suzuki blue, not Yamaha blue.
MotoGP - Barcelona: After a big stats delve, we reckon that's Suzuki's first one-two on a premier class grid since Kevin Schwantz and Alex Barros did it at Jerez in May 1993!
Here's the full grid from that one, courtesy of FORIX.
Here's the full grid from that one, courtesy of FORIX.
MotoGP - Barcelona: So after that blisteringly quick qualifying session, here's the top 12:
1 Aleix Espargaro
2 Vinales
3 Lorenzo
4 Marquez
5 Dovizioso
6 Pedrosa
7 Rossi
8 Smith
9 Crutchlow
10 Hernandez
11 Pol Espargaro
12 Iannone
1 Aleix Espargaro
2 Vinales
3 Lorenzo
4 Marquez
5 Dovizioso
6 Pedrosa
7 Rossi
8 Smith
9 Crutchlow
10 Hernandez
11 Pol Espargaro
12 Iannone
MotoGP - Barcelona: It could be a while before the post-qualfying press conference happens today because the Suzuki crew are too busy mobbing their ecstatic riders in parc ferme.
MotoGP - Barcelona: Rossi watch: the championship leader ended up P7, four places behind his team-mate and rival Jorge Lorenzo.
MotoGP - Barcelona: That's the first MotoGP pole position for Suzuki in eight years.
MotoGP - Barcelona: It's pole position for Aleix Espargaro and second place for his teammate Maverick Vinales.
MotoGP - Barcelona: Marquez and Lorenzo are unable to topple the Suzuki pair on their final laps.
Crash
MotoGP - Barcelona: Pol Espargaro has come down at Turn 1 but he seems to be ok. Cal Crutchlow has also crashed, losing the front end of his bike.
MotoGP - Barcelona: As the riders start their final laps of this frantic Q2, championship leader and perennial qualifying underachiever this year, Valentino Rossi, is down in P9.
MotoGP - Barcelona: Vinales goes to P2. Suzuki currently locking out the top two places.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Barcelona: Aleix Espargaro retakes P1 with a 1m40.546s.
MotoGP - Barcelona: The rest of the field have now headed back out to try and topple Lorenzo. Pedrosa had set the fastest first sector before he encountered traffic.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Barcelona: Lorenzo takes full advantage of a quiet track to set the fastest lap with a 1m40.646s.
MotoGP - Barcelona: With just over five minutes to go here's the top five:
1 Marquez
2 Aleix Espargaro
3 Lorenzo
4 Dovizioso
5 Crutchlow
1 Marquez
2 Aleix Espargaro
3 Lorenzo
4 Dovizioso
5 Crutchlow
By: Matt Beer, Jack Benyon, David Evans, AUTOSPORT staff, Mark Glendenning, Peter Mills, Alex Kalinauckas
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