Vettel on pole in Bahrain GP

Sebastian Vettel secured pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix as the improved Red Bull edged out Lewis Hamilton. Vettel and his team-mate Mark Webber had been behind the two McLarens going in to their final laps but as Nico Rosberg faltered, both improved and Vettel's time of 1:32.422 was enough to give him his 31st pole position. Hamilton also improved on his final lap to take second, 0.1s behind Vettel with Webber a similar distance further back.

Jenson Button starts fourth after aborting his final lap, with Rosberg fifth. The Mercedes had looked quick throughout practice and the opening two qualifying sessions, but a couple of slight errors cost last weekend's winner.

Peterhansel wins his 10th Dakar

Top results of 2012 Dakar Rally finishing today in Lima, Peru.

Car Overall Standings

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	variation	Penalty
	302	PETERHANSEL (FRA) COTTRET (FRA)	MINI	14:54:46	-	-
	305	ROMA (ESP) PÉRIN (FRA)	MINI	15:36:42	00:41:56	-
	301	DE VILLIERS (ZAF) VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU)	TOYOTA	16:08:11	01:13:25	-
	312	NOVITSKIY (RUS) SCHULZ (DEU)	MINI	17:06:40	02:11:54	-
	303	GORDON (USA) CAMPBELL (USA)	HUMMER	17:11:39	02:16:53	-
	319	ALVAREZ (ARG) GRAUE (ARG)	TOYOTA	19:00:38	04:05:52	-

Marco Simoncelli is killed in MotoGP crash

Marco Simoncelli, a rising MotoGP star, died Sunday at the same Malaysian circuit where the Italian won the 250cc world title in 2008. He was 24. Nicknamed "Super Sic" and sporting a mop of curly hair, Simoncelli was predicted by many to be a future MotoGP world champion. He died a week after Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car accident in the IndyCar finale at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Simoncelli lost control of his Honda at Turn 11 four minutes into the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang. After regaining partial grip, Simoncelli's bike swerved across the track — and into the path of American Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi of Italy.