Lorenzo, who had snatched a last-gasp pole from six-times champion Rossi, led for long stretches before the lead swapped several times on the final three laps.

There were several occasions where the two Yamahas almost touched as the fans - who were supporting FC Barcelona fan Lorenzo, but had a huge soft spot for Rossi - blared airhorns and bellowed them on.

It was edge-of-the-seat stuff, but Lorenzo left himself slightly open as they came around the final corner and Rossi tore up the inside for a memorable victory.

"It was a fantastic battle," Rossi said.

"The Yamahas were flying, we got away from the field and I quickly saw that it would be between Jorge and I," he added.

"The final lap was incredible, with two or three incredible braking manoeuvres, and I didn’t know whether I could overtake on the last corner but I went for it."

Lorenzo was amazed at his arch-rival’s audacity.

"I wasn’t expecting him to take me at that point but he was more courageous than me and deserved the win," he said after the race.

"He’s an old dog and I wasn’t intelligent enough to anticipate his move but it’s fine.

"The important thing is that the spectators were able to enjoy a race that went to the very last corner."

Behind the leaders Stoner eventually managed to open up a gap on the excellent Andrea Dovizioso, who matched his fourth-placed grid spot in the race, while Loris Capirossi took an impressive fifth after starting from 11th.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who suffered injury in qualifying and started from eighth, was rampant in the early stages as he went past Repsol Honda team-mate Dovizioso, but was unable to make it stick and trailed Rizla Suzuki’s Capirossi by the finish.

In seventh was Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards - his British team-mate James Toseland came in 13th - with Honda’s Randy De Puniet leading home Ducati Pramac’s Mika Kallio and factory Ducati man Nicky Hayden for eighth.

Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (Honda Gresini) finished ahead of Toseland, with Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati Onde 2000) behind the Sheffield rider.

Hungarian 250cc star Gabor Talmacsi trailed in last on his MotoGP debut behind Niccolo Canepa, while Yuki Takahashi and Antonio Elias retired.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi from Italy, rides his Yamaha to win the Catalunya Grand Prix at the racetrack of Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, - Sunday June 14, 03:44 PM
June 14, 2009.

Photo/Text: AP/Yahoo

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Aston provided a new Vantage for us to drive in Southern California recently, and within a few cloud-covered miles tooling away from LAX, the differences with other vaguely competitive supercars drew themselves neatly. The 911’s heft, the Maserati Gran Turismo’s lushness and the Nissan GT-R’s raw ambition contrast heavily with the Vantage, down to its airliner-style bonded-aluminum body, to the LED lighting on the glovebox button. The Aston’s unique in the group–a little less expensive and a little less fast than the 911 Turbo, a little pricier than the Maserati and the Audi R8 supercar. More a testament to exclusivity and understated details than unadulterated power, it’s classically British, reserved but only to a degree.

There’s plenty of power and great handling on tap, for the times when that reserve runs out. An upgraded 4.7-liter V-8 generates 420 hp of thrust, through a manual six-speed or automated manual gearbox. The Vantage’s 0-60 mph time of 4.7 seconds trails 911 Turbos and GT-Rs, but makes sensual whirring noises to compensate. Our tester had the latter–and it’s a half-step behind the times, like the old BMW SMG gearboxes that are being superseded by better dual-clutch trannies. While waiting for that upgrade, we’re happy with the Aston’s blend of user-selectable settings for steering, throttle, suspension and shifts. In either Comfort or Sport mode, the Aston bends pleasingly into canyon curves and needles through traffic with a fluid grace that’s missing from just about any of the other cars in the range.

The Vantage’s cabin is yet another point of proof for British good taste. When it’s in full force, as it is here, sumptuous piano-black trim and metal accents and red stitching turn a two-seat cabin into a sort of Gaultier space shuttle. You’ll want to touch the lustrous trim–and wipe it off since it grabs fingerprints like a CSI agent. The seats grip where they need too, maybe a little too high in the lumbar area, but nicely support whatever kind of driving you’ll encounter. The trunk isn’t really interested–it’s small, can hold a couple of bags and mostly exists to give the rear end some interesting cutlines and a discreet winged Aston badge, a place to live.

No federal official has the audacity to suggest crash-testing a Vantage, but Aston fits the usual airbags and electronic helpers in the name of crash protection. The Aston Vantage has standard rear parking sensors, and we’d recommend you order the fronts, too–and hold out hope for a rearview camera, unavailable as of now and a real need, what with the low seating position of the Vantage.

Our test car had a base price of $136,500 and a mandatory gas-guzzler tax of $1,700 for its low 13/19 mpg fuel economy. Coupes start at $119,000. Both include automatic climate control, iPod controls and leather trim. You can ring the register up and above the $152,465 of our test car by custom-ordering additional trim and a 700-watt audio system, and really, who’s counting once you’re past $100,000?

The bottom line? The 2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage carves a distinct niche in the ultra-luxury sportscar class with panache and power.

If you’re in the market for a classic British sportscar with modern looks and construction, click over to our model-intro page for 2009 Aston Martin Vantage pricing, specifications, photos, and connections to local Aston Martin dealers.

By: Marty Padgett

These are the first rendered images of the new Audi A3, including the new saloon model that has been conceived to help sales in North America.

The new Audi A3 will go on sale in early 2011 and the saloon model will sit alongside the hatchback, sportback and cabriolet body styles.

“We’ve taken a good look at what it will take to better establish the A3 in the US market in the future,” said an Audi insider. “The four-door layout is something North American car buyers continue to seek, especially from a premium brand such as Audi.”

The decision to add a saloon to the A3 line-up makes good sense, because the four-door version of the A4 has grown appreciably in size over the years. Since its launch in 1994 it has put on 320mm in length, 90mm in width and 15mm in height - essentially taking it up a class.

The A3 saloon will be a similar size to the Volkswagen Jetta, at around 4550mm long. Unlike the relatively upright and conservatively detailed Jetta, though, the A3 is expected to have a contemporary, coupé-like profile with a heavily rounded roofline. Boot capacity should be in the region of 500 litres - 130 litres more than today’s A3 Sportback.

Underpinning the new A3 will be a new platform, one generation beyond today’s PQ35 Golf chassis. It will also be used across two size classes and four brands — Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen — to produce up to three million cars per year.

The suspension will retain a combination of MacPherson struts at the front and a four-link arrangement at the rear, but expect developments such as adaptive damping to find their way into the new model.

The next A3 won’t introduce any radical styling changes, sticking to the formula that has helped it to outsell the BMW 1-series and Mercedes-Benz A-class in the UK.

Audi design boss Wolfgang Egger is said to have chosen a slightly edgier appearance with tauter surfacing for the new car, in keeping with recent styling trends out of Ingolstadt.

“Expect a more distinctive look, but one that has clear links to the existing A3,” was how one Audi source described the car’s new design direction.

Audi will kick off the revised A3 range with a new turbocharged 1.2-litre TFSI engine. Its 105bhp is slightly higher than the output of today’s entry-level normally aspirated petrol 1.6, with 15 per cent better fuel economy.

[ad#textbox]Further up the range there will be 140bhp 1.4, 170bhp 1.8 and 210bhp 2.0 TFSI units.

The next S3 quattro will stick with a 2.0 turbo, but with a 15bhp increase in power to 280bhp.

At the other end of the scale will be a frugal 1.6 TDI, with a new 105bhp 1.6-litre diesel and automatic stop-start. The most fuel efficient of Audi’s future A3 models will be good for 75mpg and less than 100g/km of CO2.

Other diesel engines will include a 2.0-litre unit with 140bhp and, in a higher state of tune, 170bhp. Audi is also working on a twin-turbocharged version of this engine, claimed to match the output of BMW’s twin-turbo 2.0-litre four, as used in the 123d, with 204bhp.

Regular A3 models will once again be front-wheel drive, while selected models will offer four-wheel drive as an option, but it will be a multi-plate clutch system rather than Audi’s traditional torsen set-up.

In addition to the standard six-speed manual gearbox there will be an optional seven-speed dual-clutch ’box. Today’s dry-sump DQ250 unit will be mated to lower-end engines, while a new DQ400 ’box will be used with more powerful engines.

Greg Kable, via AutoCar

The Yamaha rider slipped past early leader Dani Pedrosa with 10 laps left in front of the 120,000 crowd at the Jerez circuit and pulled away to finish the 27-lap race 2.7 seconds clear of the Spaniard’s Honda.

Australian Casey Stoner was third for Ducati, his first appearance on the podium in Spain.

Victory for Rossi sent the Italian top of the championship standings with 65 points after three rounds. Stoner is second on 54 and Pedrosa tied for third with compatriot and Rossi’s team mate Jorge Lorenzo on 41.

Rossi experienced some problems in qualifying on Saturday but was quickest in Sunday’s warm-up in calm and sunny conditions and said the Yamaha technicians had managed to fix the setup in time for the race.

"We had to make a big change and without it I certainly wouldn’t have won," the six-times premier class world champion said.

Lorenzo, who led the standings after his victory in Japan, slid off the track into the gravel with three laps left while attempting to haul in Stoner and was forced to abandon the race.

The riders next compete in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in two weeks’ time.

Yahoo EuroSport

Watch all the MotoGP action on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe. Or watch the action on British Eurosport - available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521.

This is the Doctor’s shows..

Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi of Italy takes a curve on his way to winning the race during the Spanish Motorcycling Grand Prix at Jerez racetrack May 3, 2009.

REUTERS/Anton Meres (SPAIN SPORT MOTOR RACING)