Race

Lorenzo, comfortable with the gap between him and third-placed Spies, has eased down just a touch too, and is now getting on for three seconds behind Stoner.

Reader Flying Lobster 27 is not impressed with Randy de Puniet's record so far this season: "Q. In a field so depleted you only need to finish to­ score points, how hard can it be to pull clear of­ Hopkins's 6 points as a wildcard? A. Very hard.­ Randy de Puniet: 4 retirements from the first 5 races,­ with a whopping 37 race laps completed (less than 2­ full GPs), 3 crashes in the opening 5 laps, 2­ collisions, 1 of which with his own team-mate on the­ first lap of the season!"

Plenty of action in the pits - some teams taking tyre warmers off, some putting them back on! Stoner taking it nice and steady.

Crutchlow suffers a real wobble! He came a little far out of his racing line and really shook his bike as he took a corner! He remains in seventh though.

A couple of specks of rain dropping in the pit lane. It looks like it's getting heavier. Anyone thinking about changing has to get the switch right, and make it before they slip off! Stoner's lead is cut to 1.814 as he takes his lead a bit more cautiously now. Wil Lorenzo be willing to take the gamble?

That is more of a precautionary measure than anything else. The rain is light and the cloud responsible may blow by before it can start pouring over the Circuit de Catalunya.

Some drops of rain are now beginning to fall over the circuit now. Several teams readying their second bikes in case their riders need to change.

Make that 2.497 seconds ahead! The Aussie is flying! An update on the two who came off... Aoyama is taking the rap for hitting de Puniet. Both riders are fine.

Stoner now 2.290 ahead of Lorenzo. Stoner is heading for his third win of the season, after winning in Qatar on the opening weekend and France last time out.

Great riding from Cal Crutchlow to get past Nicky Hayden! The English rider flew out of the 2006 world champion's slipstream down the straight in textbook fashion and nips ahead of him into seventh!

Simoncelli is 1.107 behind Rossi now. He is paying for a poor start after doing so well to gain pole from Stoner. Talking of the leader, he is creeping up towards a two-second gap over Lorenzo now.

Spies is now 3.779 behind the leader, but he has managed to open up a little breathing space between him and fourth-placed Dovizioso. There are 13 riders left on the track after de Puniet and Aoyama's crash. Turn one is now clear of debris.

Fifth-placed Rossi is tailing Dovizioso now, waiting for an opening to pounce upon. Stoner is 1.401 in front now. Unless something happens to onw of them, that's your top two on the podium.

Another fastest lap for Stoner, 1:43.084 this time. The gap between him and Lorenzo is now 1.187. If it stays like this, he will cut Lorenzo's lead at the top of the standings down to just seven points. Ben Spies is trying to cling on to third place, but Dovizioso is gaining on him.

Yellow flag is still out on turn one as Stoner leads the pack over the line. Lorenzo still right on his tail though, 0.784 behind. Simoncelli is in sixth place, bearing down on Rossi.

Stoner leads Lorenzo by 0.132 as they cross the line with 22 laps to go. Spies is third ahead of Dovizioso. Randy De Puniet and Hiroshi Aoyama have both crashed out on turn one!

Dovi sneaks in ahead of Rossi! Really aggressive riding from him there. And Stoner has taken the lead from Lorenzo! He sets the fastest lap so far - 1:43.523 - in the process.

Great ding dong happening between Rossi and Dovizioso for fourth place happening. Lorenzo still leads, but Stoner has been fastest here all weekend. The Australian is 0.44 behind at the moment.

We're away! Lorenzo gets himself in front, with Stoner, Ben Spies and Rossi in behind him! Simoncelli drops all the way back to seventh!

The riders are going for their warm-up lap now. They are revving their way around this 4.65-kilometre, 19-turn circuit. With Simoncelli, Lorenzo and Stoenr in front, and Valentino Rossi back in seventh, this promises to be a good race. If it is half as good as qualifying hinted, then it should be a cracker!

All the riders are out on pole, sat on their bikes in the shade of the umbrellas held over them by various grid lovelies. It's 21 degrees celcius and cloudy in Catalonia this afternoon.

Marco Simoncelli declared that his maiden MotoGP pole position at Catalunya was the perfect way to move on from the criticism he has received in recent months: "This is the best way to cancel the incident of Le Mans, the polemics and everything everybody said until now."

However, both of them will be behind pole-sitter Marco Simoncelli, who pipped Stoner to take top spot right at the end of Saturday's qualifying.

Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and second-placed Casey Stoner both start at the front of the grid. with four races of the season gone, Lorenzo is 12 points ahead of Stoner at the top of the standings.

Welcome to Eurosport-Yahoo!'s live coverage of the Catalunya Grand Prix in Barcelona!