Spa WEC, Le Mans MotoGP and more
By: Matt Beer
Summary
Status: Stopped
Quick changes to that - Pedrosa is now eighth, having passed Smith. And the Espargaros have changed places.
The order on Lap 10, with 18 to go: Lorenzo, Dovizoso, Marquez, Rossi, Vinales, A. Espargaro, P. Espargaro, Smith, Pedrosa and Petrucci the top 10. Laverty is 11th, ahead of Barbera, Miller, Bautista, Bradl, Baz and Iannone
Dovizioso is now just 0.7s ahead of Marquez. The Honda rider is finding pace as the race continues, while Rossi is also just 0.85 behind Marquez. The fight is on for P2.
Iannone lost the front end of his Ducati at Turn 8, had been making inroads into Lorenzo's lead. He's rejoined at the tail of the field. Redding has retired, Crutchlow and Hernandez have also fallen. A chaotic lap!
Iannone starts the seventh lap of the race 0.853s behind Lorenzo, while Rossi has lost half a second to Marquez.
Lorenzo gets the gap out to 0.780s, as Iannone passes Dovizioso at Turn 2. Let's hope they avoid a repeat of Qatar and Argentina.
Rossi sets a new fastest lap of the race, a 1m33.293s. He's now within 0.9s of Marquez. Lorenzo is 3.3s ahead of Rossi in total.
Pol Espargaro has lost a couple more places, to his brother Aleix and his Suzuki team-mate Vinales. He's down to eighth, ahead of Smith, with Crutchlow and Pedrosa the next two in that pack.
Confirmation from Michelin that all of the riders are on the new, softer-construction rear tyre, other than Yonny Hernandez. Medium fronts for all of the riders other than Marquez, Crutchlow, Baz and Rabat - all on hards.
Even though the Team BMR Subarus have withdrawn from today's races at Thruxton, Jason Plato is still on the grid in his overalls, getting an up-close feel for what he is missing out on.
Pole was just reward for Thompson and his Munnich Motorsport team's efforts so far this weekend, having hung around the top 10 all weekend.
This is only Thompson’s second WTCC since his abrupt departure from Lada last year (standing in for team owner and driver Rene Munnich once again) and while he's excited about the prospect of starting from the front, he's cautious about his chances.
“I’m really, really pleased. Considering how little mileage we’ve done in the car," he said after qualifying."It will be great if I can get off the line and lead, [but] how long for or what will happen after four or five laps, I’ve no idea.
"If we had a default, go to race package like most people do I’d say ‘yea, do you know what? If I get off the line, this one’s mine’ but there’s still an unknown.”
This is only Thompson’s second WTCC since his abrupt departure from Lada last year (standing in for team owner and driver Rene Munnich once again) and while he's excited about the prospect of starting from the front, he's cautious about his chances.
“I’m really, really pleased. Considering how little mileage we’ve done in the car," he said after qualifying."It will be great if I can get off the line and lead, [but] how long for or what will happen after four or five laps, I’ve no idea.
"If we had a default, go to race package like most people do I’d say ‘yea, do you know what? If I get off the line, this one’s mine’ but there’s still an unknown.”
MotoGP is up in a little under an hour, with Jorge Lorenzo on pole at Le Mans in the top class for the first time. Team-mate Valentino Rossi is down on the third row, and he explained there were several reasons behind his disappointing result:
Here’s your top 10 on the grid for race one:
1 Ingram
2 Moffat
3 Neal
4 Cook
5 Sutton
6 Morgan
7 J Smith
8 Jordan
9 A Smith
10 Tordoff
1 Ingram
2 Moffat
3 Neal
4 Cook
5 Sutton
6 Morgan
7 J Smith
8 Jordan
9 A Smith
10 Tordoff
It’s grey in Marrakech, but the clouds that have hung over the Circuit Moulay El Hassan all morning aren’t threatening – not yet, at least – so expect a dry opening affair.
The circuit, which has been redesigned for this year, has divided drivers quite considerably so far this weekend – but one thing they all agree on is the importance of a good start, with overtaking opportunities limited around the 1.85-mile circuit.
The circuit, which has been redesigned for this year, has divided drivers quite considerably so far this weekend – but one thing they all agree on is the importance of a good start, with overtaking opportunities limited around the 1.85-mile circuit.
In Morocco, the World Touring Car Championship contingent are heading round to the grid ahead of the opening race of the day, which starts in 15 minutes' time.
The field will be led away at the start of the race by James Thompson, the Briton having secured the reversed-grid pole with 10th in yesterday’s qualifying session.
The field will be led away at the start of the race by James Thompson, the Briton having secured the reversed-grid pole with 10th in yesterday’s qualifying session.
The BTCC cars are leaving the pits to make their way to the grid, we have around 10 minutes until the start of race one.
We start our coverage of the day's events with some news that broke this morning - the works Subarus have withdrawn from today's Thruxton BTCC meeting. Here's why:
We're back! Welcome to Sunday's Autosport Race Centre Live, featuring MotoGP, DTM, BTCC and WTCC action over the next few hours.
Ford has revealed that Mucke has been given the all-clear at the circuit medical centre and is suffering nothing worse than a bit of bruising.
The #8 Audi is back on track after a super-quick trip into the garage. The safety-car period is about to end.
Albuquerque's progress towards the P2 leader has more or less come to an end. The Signatech car should get new tyres at its next stop and put an end to any ideas on the part of RGR Morand that they can win this one.
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