What are the closest finishes in motorsport? F1, MotoGP & more

Many of the most memorable races in history have sported incredibly close finishes where first and second have crossed the line side-by-side in a photo finish.

Here are the smallest winning margins across different disciplines of racing, providing some of the most exciting finishes in motorsport history.

WRC - 0.2 seconds

The closest finish in the World Rally Championship occurred during the 2011 Jordan Rally. The event was initially off to a rocky start, with competition condensed into two days after the teams encountered problems docking their cargo in Syria, but the eventual close of the action made up for logistical headaches.

By lunchtime on the second day, Sebastien Ogier had a 18.9-second lead over Jari-Matti Latvala, but over the course of the afternoon the Finn put in a remarkable performance, taking three stage wins and reeling in the Citroen of Ogier.

Going into the powerstage Latvala now had a half-second advantage over Ogier and he felt confident after his final run that he had done enough to take the win. Yet Ogier managed to take 0.7 seconds out of Latvala's time, making him the winner by 0.2 seconds.

F1 - 0.01 seconds

The 1971 Italian Grand Prix remains the closest finish in F1's history. In the series' final visit to Monza before the introduction of its chicanes, Chris Amon seemed set for the win 10 laps from the chequered flag, after a number of the leading drivers had suffered retirement.

But technical issues soon hit Amon too, leaving Ronnie Peterson, Francois Cevert, Peter Gethin and Mike Hailwood all battling for their maiden wins, with Howden Ganley still hanging on with an outside chance.

It was a drag race coming out of Parabolica for all five cars and they crossed the line within 0.061s of each other, but it was Gethin in the BRM who got the perfect exit out of the corner and stole the win by 0.01s from Peterson. Cervert rounded out the podium by finishing just 0.8s further back.

The average speed of the race was 242.615 km/h, meaning that it held the record for the fastest ever grand prix for 32 years, when it was beaten by the 2003 Italian Grand Prix.

As in 1971 timing was only recorded to two decimal places, it is impossible to determine if the winning margin was actually smaller than the 2002 US Grand Prix when Rubens Barrichello beat Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher by 0.11s while the pair were attempting to cross the line in a formation finish. Regardless, the gap back to the rest of the field from the Ferraris was almost eight seconds on this occasion, making it much less of a competitive finish.

Indianapolis 500 - 0.043 seconds

Al Unser Jr displayed his defensive driving skills at their best at the 1992 running of the Indianapolis 500, holding off Scott Goodyear to take the win by a mere 0.043s.

It was Michael Andretti who had been the class of the field and was a lap ahead of his nearest rival with 11 laps to go.

However a fuel pump failure for Andretti meant Unser and Goodyear's battle for second suddenly became a shootout for victory when the green flag came out with seven laps to the finish.

Goodyear attempted to go in for an overtake on the way to the line but he could not quite pull it off, with Unser taking his first of two Indy 500 victories.

NASCAR Cup Series - 0.002 seconds

NASCAR Cup Series races often enjoy exceptionally close finishes and there has been eight official sub-hundredth of a second winning margins across its history.

Appropriately, two races share the record for the closest finish with 0.002 seconds separating first and second at both Darlington in 2003 and Talladega in 2011.

In 2003, Ricky Craven hunted down leader Kurt Busch in final laps after starting down in 31st, with both drivers giving it their all. The pair ultimately crossed the line locked together and it was impossible to tell with the naked eye who had the advantage before the timing screens announced Craven the winner by the smallest of margins.

It was another photo-finish at Talladega in 2011, with a battle of four two-car drafts commencing the final lap with Jeff Gordon in the lead.

Going into Turn 3 Jimmie Johnson attempted to make a move up the inside but initially could not make it through, until Gordon attempted to side-draft Clint Bowyer, leaving the opportunity there for Johnson to get past for the win.

IndyCar - 0.024 seconds

In IndyCar's tightest finish to date, Sam Hornish Jr and Al Unser Jr were engaged in a tight battle for the final 22 laps of the Delphi Indy 300 race at Chicagoland in 2002.

The duo remained side-by-side as the rest of the field jostled behind.

Neither driver could properly get in front, although Hornish had a slight advantage on the straights that allowed him to be 0.024 seconds ahead as they took the chequered flag and leaving him with a 12 point lead over Helio Castroneves in the championship going into the final race.

Indy Lights - 0.0005 seconds

The 2007 Chicagoland Indy Pro (as it was known then) race holds the Guinness World Record for the closest margin of victory in motorsport.

Alex Lloyd and Logan Gomez battled for the victory, with Gomez the leading of the two Sam Schmidt Motorsport-run cars as the race came to a close.

Lloyd made a move around the outside on the final lap and the pair briefly touched coming out of turn four but Gomez managed to hold on to cross the line a remarkable 0.0005 seconds ahead to take his first win in the series.

MotoGP - 0.0 seconds

The 500cc motorcycle grand prix race at the 1975 Dutch TT at Assen is the only premier class bike race to have awarded both first and second with the same race time.

Suzuki rider Barry Sheene took his first 500cc victory with Giacomo Agostini right behind.

The timekeepers were only able to classify riders accurately to a tenth of a second and so could not distinguish between the pair.