Photography by Gold & Goose
Valentino Rossi took a masterful victory in front of 75,000 fans at a wet British Grand Prix on Sunday at Silverstone to earn his third MotoGP victory of the season, the win giving him the series lead once again. Rossi was joined on the podium by his Italian countrymen Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso, both riding Ducatis. It was the first-career MotoGP podium for Petrucci.
The victory put Rossi ahead of Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who finished fourth. The gap between them is now 12 points (236-224). It was Rossi’s 86th-career premier class victory.
Marquez just might have dealt a mortal blow to his hopes of battling back to world championship contention with a crash while battling Rossi for the lead.
Riders went out on slicks for the warm-up lap and rain began again. That caused the race to be red flagged before it started and riders came in to switch to rains.
The rain, always an equalizer, presented an opportunity for new riders to get on the podium.
Lorenzo led the way off the start ahead of Marquez and Pol Espargaro. Yonny Hernandez was an early faller.
Pol Esparagaro got by Marquez, as did Rossi, but the defending champ fought back and was quickly back to second. Soon it was Rossi back to second in a thrilling battle. Rossi even tried Lorenzo, but couldn’t make a pass stick, but a half-lap later Rossi went to the lead accompanied by a massive cheer from the crowd.
Then it was Marquez surging again, passing Lorenz o and then pulling up to Rossi. Crutchlow went to third, but then he and LCR Honda teammate Jack Miller crashed together. It appeared Miller got in too hot into the tight left hander Vale Corner and low-sided into Crutchlow. Crutchlow pitted for repairs, only to crash out for a second time. Miller was also out.
In the middle stages Rossi and Marquez ran about five seconds ahead of a great third-place battle with Lorenzo leading Danilo Petrucci, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa, who dropped several positions among that quartet of riders. On lap 13 both Petrucci and Dovi moved under Lorenzo, the world championship leader coming in the race losing valuable points even further when Pedrosa moved past him.
With nine laps to go Dovizioso made a move on Petrucci to take over the final podium spot.
Marquez fell with eight laps to go at Copse, just losing the rear as he applied power to his Honda. He walked off arms up in the “what happened” position.
Now the four-rider fight behind Rossi was a battle for second. Petrucci battled back to second with seven laps to go with a pass on Dovi in the esses.
Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl crashed out in separate incidents with six laps to go.
Up front Petrucci was actually closing in on the leader Rossi, bringing Dovi with him. In the closing few laps Rossi responded and held off the charge by Petrucci, who in turn had broken away from Dovizioso. Lorenzo was making no impression on Dovi. At the finish it was Rossi winning by a margin of 3.010-seconds.
“When I saw Marc crash in the mega screen I slowed down a little bit,” Rossi explained. “Because I think I have more advantage, but in the end this is MotoGP. I think, ‘You can’t relax, everybody wants to beat you.’ I hope that Danilo don’t risk too much because this is his first podium. But anyway I had to stay concentrate and in the end it was more difficult of condition because of more water, so I don’t want to make any mistake, I ride very smooth. My bike was great. I enjoyed very much and I have just to ride through the corners.”
American Nicky Hayden ran in the top 10 at one point, but finished 12th at the finish. It marked his best result of the year on his Aspar Honda.
British Grand Prix MotoGP Results from Silverstone – Aug. 30, 2015
1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 153.0 46’15.617
2 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 152.8 +3.010
3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 152.8 +4.117
4 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 152.7 +5.726
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 152.4 +11.132
6 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 151.6 +25.467
7 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 151.5 +26.717
8 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 151.4 +29.393
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 150.9 +38.815
10 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 150.7 +41.712
11 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 150.6 +44.776
12 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 150.2 +52.489
13 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 149.2 +1’11.211
14 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 149.0 +1’15.292
15 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 148.8 +1’17.863
16 76 Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 148.7 +1’19.310
17 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 148.7 +1’19.735
18 71 Claudio CORTI ITA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 146.8 +1’58.086
19 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE AB Motoracing Honda 139.1 1 Lap
Not Classified
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 151.5 6 Laps
93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 152.7 8 Laps
6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 150.2 8 Laps
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 107.7 16 Laps
43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 146.3 18 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 0 Lap
