Motorsport wrap: Neuville flies in Portugal

Hyundai's Neuville wins Portugal, takes WRC championship lead

Thierry Neuville has taken the lead in the WRC from Sebastian Ogier after the Frenchman crashed out early on at Rallye de Portugal.

It’s the Belgian’s second win of the season and sees him 19 points clear of Ogier who will be looking to gain a fourth win next month on the dusty roads at Italy's Rally Sardinia.

Behind the Belgian were M-Sport Ford pair Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suinen, both the Brit and Fin taking their first podium finish of the year.

Further down the field, Mads Ostberg finished sixth in his 2018 race debut and Irishman Kris Meeke was taken to hospital after a huge crash into trees, with both driver and co-driver reported to be fine.

WRC standings after six rounds:

1 Thierry Neuville - 119-points

2 Sebastian Ogier - 100-points

3 Ott Tanak - 72-points

Will Power on the front row for the Indy 500

Australian Indycar driver Will Power will start next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 on the front row alongside local driver Ed Carpenter, who took pole position, and Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud who pipped Power for second spot.

Carpenter blew away a three-strong Penske party at the top of the grid with an average qualifying lap speed of 369km/h and was the only driver to go faster than 370km/h around the 4km oval track.

Rounding out team Penske's qualifying position was Josef Newgarden in fourth while fellow Aussie James Davison, cousin of V8 Supercar drivers Alex and Will, fought from 33rd to start 19th on the grid.

Marquez wins Le Mans MotoGP

Marc Marquez won his third-consecutive MotoGP at Le Mans to take a comfortable 36-point lead in the championship.

The Honda rider battled for the win after slipping to fifth early on but crashes from championship rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Johann Zarco helped the Spanish rider to an easy win ahead of Italian Danilo Petrucci and Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi.

Less than one second off podium pace was Australian Jack Miller who is currently fighting with fellow Ducati rider Petrucci for a spot in the factory team next year alongside a confirmed contract for Dovizioso.

MotoGP standings after five rounds:

1 Marc Marquez - 95-points

2 Maverick Vinales - 59-points

3 Johann Zarco - 58-points

Audi dominates at home

Audi flew to victory in the Berlin ePrix around the Tempelhof Airport circuit on Saturday. Daniel Abt led his teammate Lucas di Grassi across the line to score a dominant one-two result for the Audi Sport squad.

Abt led the 45-lap race from start-to-finish, having earlier in the day claimed pole position to underline the Audi team’s strong pace for its home event. The German driver never looked flustered, despite di Grassi closing the gap during the middle stint of the race. Abt simply resisted di Grassi’s attempts to overtake and proceeded to open a gap between the pair that reached more than six-seconds by the chequered flag.

Championship leader, Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne, put in an impressive drive to finish third. Although he started in the same position he was forced to recover from a slow start that dropped him to fifth. But he made some decisive overtakes to get himself back into the podium positions.

Vernge’s podium coupled with Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird finishing seventh held the Frenchman strengthen his grasp on the title. He now has a 40-point lead with only three races to go, a single event in Berlin followed by a double-header in New York.

Formula E standings after nine rounds:

1 Jean-Eric Vergne - 162-points

2 Sam Bird - 122-points

3 Felix Rosenqvist - 86-points

- with Stephen Ottley.