mugello

Dani Pedrosa looks to have shattered the official MotoGP top speed record by reaching a claimed 349.3km/h (217.1mph) on his Repsol Honda during Friday free practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

Julian Simon has set the fastest lap time during Friday's 125cc free practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at a sunny Mugello.

Last year at Mugello, Valentino Rossi became the first rider in motorcycle grand prix history to win his home event for seven years in a row; can he make it eight in 2009? Below is a brief summary of Rossi's 13 grand prix appearances, in all three classes, at Mugello:

Andrea Dovizioso will reach a proud moment in his professional career this weekend at Mugello, when he takes part in his first home event as a factory MotoGP rider.

125GP's newest manufacturer, Haojue, has withdrawn from this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello 'in order to concentrate on addressing the problems affecting the engine performance' of its machine.

If Valentino Rossi wins next weekend's French Grand Prix at Le Mans it will mark his 99th grand prix victory, in all three classes.

It will be back to business as usual for Kimi Raikkonen in 2009, his employers Ferrari insist - as the Finn bids to re-establish both his battered reputation and Formula 1 World Championship credentials on the back of a desultory 2008 campaign in the top flight.

Felipe Massa has claimed that the first outing for Ferrari's new F60 race car was a positive one, despite not completing many laps or setting the world alight with sparkling times.

Human errors cannot be eliminated from Formula 1, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has warned - despite it arguably having been just such 'human errors' that ultimately cost Felipe Massa the 2008 world championship crown.

Valentino Rossi returned to the cockpit of a Ferrari F1 car for the first time since February 2006, during the opening day of his special two-day test session at Mugello on Thursday - and lapped within 1.5sec of F1 pace.

Valentino Rossi has claimed that Ferrari wanted him to make the jump across to Formula 1 - and acknowledged that he considered the switch, but in the end decided that he enjoyed racing motorbikes too much to change.

The is the special helmet design with which Valentino Rossi took an amazing seventh consecutive home victory at Mugello on Sunday.

Marco Simoncelli took his first 250GP win in front of his home fans at Mugello on Sunday - but only after colliding with Hector Barbera at the start of the last lap, sending the Spaniard literally somersaulting along the main straight

Full race results from the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, round six of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship.

Saturday pm - This Was an Incredible Ride from Toseland

Jorge Lorenzo may have been able to overcome the effects of a double ankle fracture during the last two rounds, but set-up problems prompted by the lack of dry track time at Mugello left MotoGP's star rookie a career worst seventh on the grid for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

Hector Barbera has taken pole position for Sunday's 250cc Italian Grand Prix by a mighty 0.772secs. World championship leader Mika Kallio, seventh in Friday's wet session, shot to the top early in the session and was only relegated with five minutes to go, by Barbera.

Full qualifying times from the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, round six of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship. 500GP race winner Tady Okada has returned as a wild-card this weekend, to give the pneumatic-valve Honda engine its MotoGP debut...

Mika Maki has secured his second F3 Euroseries win in as many meetings after winning the second race of the weekend at Mugello.

1. Jamie Green Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 59mins 39.961secs 33 laps 2. Paul di Resta AMG Mercedes Mercedes C-Klasse +3.166secs 3. Tom Kristensen Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM +5.313secs

As if victory last time out at Oschersleben and a handy championship lead were on their own not enough, Timo Scheider has gone another step towards stamping his authority firmly on the DTM in 2008 - by storming to his third successive pole position on the series' first foreign trip of the campaig

1. Timo Scheider Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 1min 43.079s 2. Jamie Green Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1min 43.401s 3. Tom Kristensen Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 1min 43.420s

1. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix Dallara-Mercedes 1min 41.433secs 2. Koudai Tsukakoshi Manor Dallara-Mercedes 1min 41.609secs 3. Christian Vietoris Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 1min 41.765secs

When Ducati MotoGP test rider Vittoriano Guareschi suffered a minor injury during testing at Mugello, former seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was called up to take his place on Thursday - but once again denied any racing ambitions.