Rossi Wins Rain Soaked British Grand Prix To Take the Lead In the Championship

Aug 30, 2015
4 min read

The tension before the start of the 2015 Octo British Grand Prix was palpable. Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo had been setting a hot pace all weekend, and they started side-by-side on the grid. In 4th was Valentino Rossi, the man joint on points with Lorenzo and looking to take the lead for real. To make matters worse rain began to fall just as the warm up lap got underway, so the attention turned to who would box for their wet bike first.

Everyone decided that the conditions were just too bad to start on dry tyres, so this led to a very busy pit-lane. But because the entire 25-bike field was going to start from the pits the race was red flagged and the start would run again.

One man who would have been praying for rain the night before would have been Rossi. He has lacked the pace of Marquez and Lorenzo all weekend long, and knew that his team-mate could very easily streak ahead in the standings if he was given the opportunity. As the lights went out it was Lorenzo who took the lead, with Marquez and Pol Espargaro in tow.

The Tech 3 rider's position didn't last long though as Rossi found his way past. The Italian then disposed of the Honda at Copse on the second tour, before muscling his way past his Yamaha team-mate into Village. Marquez followed suit and the pair darted off into the lead, leaving Lorenzo to stave off an attack from the ensuing Ducati's of Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci, as well as the second Repsol bike of Dani Pedrosa.

Rossi and Marquez were inseparable, both sitting at a constant three tenths to each other for ten laps or so. The Spaniard was visibly quicker than the Italian and was making his presence known at every opportunity.

Marquez' hopes of the victory, however, were dashed when he lost the rear of his RC213V on the brakes at Copse and high-sided into retirement. Now 88 points behind in the title race, Marc Marquez' chances of a third crown have disappeared.

Rossi had been handed a gift, but what he didn't know at the time was that Petrucci had been steadily scything his way through the pack, putting a stunning block pass on Dovizioso at Brooklands on lap fourteen. The Italian, riding the same bike as Andrea rode to the podium at Aragon last year, managed to close the advantage to Rossi to 1.6 seconds by lap 16 and a shot at a win was in his sight.

But Rossi responded in due-course and opened his gap back up to two seconds. The Yamaha thundered through Woodcote to take his first ever win at Silverstone and the lead in World Championship by twelve points.

Petrucci kept his Ducati GP14 upright to take a maiden podium in the premier class and finish as top satellite rider, as well as top Desmosedici competitor. Dovizioso made a welcome return to the podium in 3rd.

Lorenzo had lost 5th place to Pedrosa earlier in the contest, but retook the position back on the inside of turn one with six laps left. The Spaniard has been caught unlucky at an event that he had a strong chance at wining had the conditions been normal. It will be interesting to see how much this result has curbed his momentum going forward to Rossi's home round in two weeks time.

Scott Redding had just signed for the Pramac Racing Team for 2016 a couple of hours prior to the race. Spurred on by his new contract, the Marc VDS rider finished a season-best 6th on the Honda and top British rider. Compatriot Bradley Smith was a second back in 7th, whilst Cal Crutchlow's nightmare run at Silverstone continued after his team-mate Jack Miller crashed into him at Vale whilst both were fighting for the podium in the early stages of the race.

Aprilia made good use of the performance-levelling conditions to score their second top ten finish of the 2015 season after Alvaro Bautista crossed the line 10th. Stefan Bradl was on-course to secure his second successive points finish since joining the Italian team before he crashed out of a solid 14th at Brooklands.

Alex De Angelis completed the points finishers for the IodaRacing Team in 15th.

Pol Espargaro's fine run at the start came to a premature end when the Spaniard tumbled off at Becketts on lap four. Yonny Hernandez didn't make it past turn one.

2015 British Grand Prix – The Result

1st Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

2nd Danilo Petrucci, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati

3rd Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

4th Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

5th Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

6th Scott Redding, EG Marc VDS Honda

7th Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

8th Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team

9th Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar

10th Alvaro Bautista, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

11th Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar