WRC Poland, Assen MotoGP, Norisring DTM and more
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Green flag
MotoGP - Assen: It is just spitting at the moment, but riders will need to go out and brave the elements. And sure enough, there's a rush to leave the pitlane.
Rain
MotoGP - Assen: Rain, anyone?
MotoGP - Assen: The Q1 riders today are:
11 Alvaro Bautista
12 Scott Redding
13 Cal Crutchlow
14 Yonny Hernandez
15 Carl Edwards
16 Hiroshi Aoyama
17 Nicky Hayden
18 Karl Abraham
19 Broc Parkes
20 Hector Barbera
21 Michael Laverty
22 Danilo Petrucci
23 Mike di Meglio
11 Alvaro Bautista
12 Scott Redding
13 Cal Crutchlow
14 Yonny Hernandez
15 Carl Edwards
16 Hiroshi Aoyama
17 Nicky Hayden
18 Karl Abraham
19 Broc Parkes
20 Hector Barbera
21 Michael Laverty
22 Danilo Petrucci
23 Mike di Meglio
MotoGP - Assen: Q1 consists of riders whose combined times in the first three practice sessions were 11th place and below. The fastest two riders in Q1 then progress to Q2, which already includes the 10 quickest riders from practice, making a total of 12 riders competing for the first dozen grid positions.
Those that fail to set the two fastest times in Q1 will occupy grid positions 13 and above in accordance to their times in that session.
Those that fail to set the two fastest times in Q1 will occupy grid positions 13 and above in accordance to their times in that session.
MotoGP - Assen: Qualifying is next, and if you need reminding how that works...
Checkered flag
MotoGP - Assen: Session finished and Marquez remains at the top of the order.
1. Marquez 1m33.462s; 2 Rossi +0.398s; 3 Lorenzo +0.400s; 4 P. Espargaro +0.479s; 5 A. Espargaro +0.696s; 6 Pedrosa +0.891s.
1. Marquez 1m33.462s; 2 Rossi +0.398s; 3 Lorenzo +0.400s; 4 P. Espargaro +0.479s; 5 A. Espargaro +0.696s; 6 Pedrosa +0.891s.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Assen: And Marquez has just beaten Espargaro's lap record with a time of 1m33.462s!
Breaking news
WRC - Poland: DAVID EVANS reports that the FIA officials are taking a good look at the two Lithuanian stages to see if it will even be possible to run the second pass over them this afternoon.
The ruts that so troubled drivers behind the front few are a major concern, with fears that the situation will get worse still when the re-run happens.
SS7 is scheduled for just over one hour's time.
The stage surface has been equated to driving on a beach.
If the Lithuanian stages are cancelled, the next action won't be until this evening when the field returns to Poland for a repeat run of today's first test plus another superspecial.
The ruts that so troubled drivers behind the front few are a major concern, with fears that the situation will get worse still when the re-run happens.
SS7 is scheduled for just over one hour's time.
The stage surface has been equated to driving on a beach.
If the Lithuanian stages are cancelled, the next action won't be until this evening when the field returns to Poland for a repeat run of today's first test plus another superspecial.
MotoGP - Assen: At other end of the timesheet, Crutchlow has improved from 18th and has gone up to 16th. He's 2.347s off Marquez's best time at the moment.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Assen: And the reigning champion has made further gains and produces a time of 1m33.691s. Marquez looks particularly quick through the final sector.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Assen: Marquez goes top with a 1m33.818s on the first flying lap of his second run.
MotoGP - Assen: The current order with 10 mins remaining:
1 Rossi 1m33.860s; 2 Marquez +0.083s; 3 Lorenzo +0.158s; 4 A. Espargaro +0.388s; 5 Pedrosa +0.532s; 6 Dovizioso +0.797s.
1 Rossi 1m33.860s; 2 Marquez +0.083s; 3 Lorenzo +0.158s; 4 A. Espargaro +0.388s; 5 Pedrosa +0.532s; 6 Dovizioso +0.797s.
Stopwatch
MotoGP - Assen: Both Yamahas are doing long runs in this session. Rossi is currently on his ninth lap and has gone fastest of all with his 1m33.860s.
MotoGP - Assen: Rossi makes further gains on his sixth lap and his 1m34.018s brings him 0.075s within Marquez's benchmark time.
MotoGP - Assen: Marquez leads at this early stage. His time is currently 1m33.943s, while Lorenzo and Rossi are within 0.125s of the championship leader's time.
Green flag
MotoGP - Assen: The riders stream out of the pitlane to get the 30-minute session started in Assen.
MotoGP - Assen: The fourth and final practice session is about to get underway. Conditions are much better than they were this morning, although there is a bit of breeze making its way through the circuit.
Breaking news
WRC - Poland: Here's a recap of everything that happened during this morning's loop of stages:
Ogier leads tight battle with Mikkelsen
WRC - Poland: Problems for the third Hyundai of Hayden Paddon. He's slowest so far and accelerates away from reporters at he end of the stage to get back to the regroup for attention.
WRC - Poland: Kubica and Hanninen both lose a lot of time in the ruts too, with the Hyundai man saying it would be stupid to try to push in the conditions. But he adds that he's that far back in the running order because that's the championship position he's earned at present, so it's fair enough...
WRC - Poland: Neuville's spin made him slowest on the stage so far, 32s off Ogier's pace.
Crash
WRC - Poland: Thierry Neuville reaches the finish and reports a spin on a fast corner near the end.
He blames the ruts and mud, and says it's become "dangerous".
He blames the ruts and mud, and says it's become "dangerous".
WRC - Poland: M-Sport Ford duo Evans and Hirvonen made it safely through, slightly faster than Meeke.
Quote
WRC - Poland: Definitely no surge from Meeke, he's 24s off the pace.
"The road's ****ing destroyed!" he rages. "There are ruts a foot deep after seven cars.
"Sometimes the leader gets disadvantaged by cleaning the road, here it's us getting disadvantaged by the ruts. It's so frustrating when there's nothing you can do."
"The road's ****ing destroyed!" he rages. "There are ruts a foot deep after seven cars.
"Sometimes the leader gets disadvantaged by cleaning the road, here it's us getting disadvantaged by the ruts. It's so frustrating when there's nothing you can do."
WRC - Poland: Unless the Hyundais or Meeke can surge back into contention again - and with conditions seemingly getting worse not better further down the order, that seems unlikely - we're now into an all-VW lead battle for the time being.
Ogier leads Mikkelsen by 1.5s, with Ostberg now 15.2s back in third.
Ogier leads Mikkelsen by 1.5s, with Ostberg now 15.2s back in third.
Quote
WRC - Poland: "I really tried hard in there, but it's getting slower and slower, for sure. Seb has an opportunity now," says Mikkelsen.
WRC - Poland: After setting the pace on the splits, Mikkelsen has ended up losing time to Ogier - he's 1.6s down and that means Ogier retakes the outright lead.
Quote
WRC - Poland: "I think it's getting more and more slippery," says Ostberg.
"I think we did a good stage, but Ogier has just pulled away.
"If it's not getting more slippery, then he's been very good..."
Incidentally the downcast Latvala is now 29.4s behind Ogier overall.
"I think we did a good stage, but Ogier has just pulled away.
"If it's not getting more slippery, then he's been very good..."
Incidentally the downcast Latvala is now 29.4s behind Ogier overall.
WRC - Poland: Bad stage for Ostberg too. After being quickest on the last stage, he's 6.6s down on Ogier this time.
WRC - Poland: Latvala loses more time to Ogier, he's 4.3s off his team-mate's pace.
And he's very downbeat.
"Now I don't have the fighting spirit for the victory. Now we have to see what position we can get. We could set a target for the top five.
"It's mainly [down to] me but of course it is confidence in the car as well."
And he's very downbeat.
"Now I don't have the fighting spirit for the victory. Now we have to see what position we can get. We could set a target for the top five.
"It's mainly [down to] me but of course it is confidence in the car as well."
WRC - Poland: First splits look good for Mikkelsen - he's a full two seconds quicker than Ogier in their lead battle.
The target set by Ogier is 9m51.3s.
The target set by Ogier is 9m51.3s.
WRC - Poland: Ogier completes the stage and he says there were no problems being first on the road this time as rain in the area means a damp road and less sweeping.
WRC - Poland: Our five-way lead battle has faded a little now with Meeke and Hanninen dropping back on SS5, but Mikkelsen and Ogier just 0.1s apart for the outright lead is nothing to complain about - and Ostberg is still in this after his stage win on the last one.
WRC - Poland: It's straight over to SS6 now. Margionys is 17.97km and starts in about 10 minutes.
Checkered flag
WRC - Poland - SS5 results:
1 Ostberg 6m21.5s
2 Ogier +0.5s
3 Mikkelsen +0.8s
4 Latvala +2.2s
5 Meeke +6.7s
6 Neuville +7.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Mikkelsen
2 Ogier +0.1s
3 Ostberg +8.7s
4 Meeke +11.6s
5 Hanninen +15.7s
6 Latvala +25.2s
1 Ostberg 6m21.5s
2 Ogier +0.5s
3 Mikkelsen +0.8s
4 Latvala +2.2s
5 Meeke +6.7s
6 Neuville +7.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Mikkelsen
2 Ogier +0.1s
3 Ostberg +8.7s
4 Meeke +11.6s
5 Hanninen +15.7s
6 Latvala +25.2s
WRC - Poland: Another man finding the ruts hard to cope with is Juho Hanninen, who is going to lose a position to Ostberg with this time after starring in the lead battle so far.
Hanninen was initially listed as having gone slower still, with a 6s discrepancy between the time the marshals at the end of the stage gave him and what the crew had on their system.
The officials agreed with Hanninen after a bit of debate, but in his words "we're still too far away."
Hanninen's team-mate Hayden Paddon's post-SS4 leak turned out not to be a significant issue. He's not keen on the ruts either, saying they've got so deep you don't really have to steer the car.
Hanninen was initially listed as having gone slower still, with a 6s discrepancy between the time the marshals at the end of the stage gave him and what the crew had on their system.
The officials agreed with Hanninen after a bit of debate, but in his words "we're still too far away."
Hanninen's team-mate Hayden Paddon's post-SS4 leak turned out not to be a significant issue. He's not keen on the ruts either, saying they've got so deep you don't really have to steer the car.
WRC - Poland: Kubica is only 10th fastest, and that keeps him behind team-mate Hirvonen overall. The Pole says he ended up taking it carefully because the ruts were so deep.
WRC - Poland: Thierry Neuville isn't happy with his car's ride height, his pace notes or his driving. He's 7s off Ostberg's pace, so is going to drop behind Latvala in the overall order. Their positions are 'seventh/eighth-ish' subject to the upcoming Hyundais' times.
WRC - Poland: Meeke has indeed fallen behind Ostberg. Depending on what Hanninen does, he'll be either fourth or fifth now.
By: Dan Cross, Matt Beer, Marcus Simmons, Glenn Freeman, Andrew van Leeuwen, Sam Smith, Kevin Turner, David Evans, Mark Glendenning, Charles Bradley, AUTOSPORT staff
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