MOTORCYCLING Live

_ De Rosa really had a nightmare last couple of laps as Aoyama pinched fourth place off him. Behind De Roda in sixth is Luthi with Alvaro Bautista all the way back in seventh - not the result he was expecting!

_ Hector Barbera takes the chequered flag! for Pepe World! Jules Cluzel scores his best ever result by finishing second and Mike di Meglio is on the podium on his 250cc debut!

1' So in the final lap it's Barbera leading from Cluzel while Mike di Meglio has snuck up into third!

2' De Rosa makes a mistake but it's not Bautista who pounces but Di Meglio!

2' With two laps to go, Cluzel is still on for by far his best 250cc race - previously his best finish at this level is 10th.

3' Mike Di Meglio has emulated his team-mate and moved up to 5th.

3' Barbera opens up a .5sec gap on CLuzel as Aoyama sets a new fastest lap time of 2'01.752.

4' Barbera overtakes Cluzel on the straight and goes into the lead! The 3sec gap between them and De Rosa means this is an all-out duel for 1st and 2nd.

5' Right now it's 1 Cluzel, 2 Barbera, 3 De Rosa, 4 Bautista, 5 Wilairot, 6 Talmacsi.

6' Wilairot is trying to shake off Bautista but he can't resist for long and the Spaniard moves up into 4th.

6' Cluzel has just set the fastest lap, and he and 2nd-placed Barbera have opened up a +3 sec gap over the rest, thanks in no small part to Alex Debon's stubbornness in 3rd!

7' Bautista has moved all the way up to 8th now. His fellow front row starters - Aoyama and Di Meglio - are 10th and 11th.

8' Alvaro Bautista may be all the way back in 11th, but he has just recorded the fastest lap thus far. The Spaniard will have to go some to get back up into the big points, espciallly with the reduced race length.

9' Cluzel has ghosted in front of Barbera now. Wilairot has announced his arrival behind the main pack as he pushes ahead of Talmacsi into fourth place.

10' Debon has slippd down to third now as Barbera and Cluzel overtake him. Debon clipped the edge of the track and had a nasty wobble but managed to recover well.

11' So, at the front it's Debon, then Barbera then Cluzel, who has made a gutst push up to third.

12' Bautista and Di Meglio are all the way back in 11th and 12th respectively.

12' Barbera remains in the lead with Debon and Faubel behind in second and third. Debon goes up the inside of Barbera but he only leads for a few seconds before Barbera cuts back in front.

13' Hector Barbera eventually takes the lead.

13' The green light flashes up and the riders are away! Aoyama overtakes Bautista and then the pole-sitter is clipped from behind! He stays on but Pasini comes off!

_ The riders go off for their warm-up lap. Remember that the race has been reduced to 13 laps.

_ So, Bautista is on pole, Aoyama in second and Di Meglio completes the front row on his 250cc debut. The riders are mounting up, ready to go round. The rain has stopped and the track has dried up a lot, although it has left some sand on the tarmac.

_ The pit lane has opened up for the 250s. Let's see how the warm-up lap goes...

_ The race itself is now due to start at 19:55 UK time, and it will be 13 laps long.

_ Word from the powers that be is that the pit lane will open in 25 minutes time - that's 19:40 UK time. The riders have all waited six months for this race, but the next half an hour or so will no doubt be excruciating.

_ The rain has eased up since that first race though. The safety car has just been round so we should be hearing from race organisers soon.

_ Well, we say coverage - after the 125s race was cancelled after just four laps, everyone has their fingers crossed that the rain in Qatar won't cut this one short too.

_ Hello and welcome to Eurosport-Yahoo!'s LIVE coverage of the 250cc Qatar GP at Losail!