Petrucci Shines In Silverstone Rain

Danilo Petrucci had just re-signed with Pramac Ducati Racing for the 2016 season and found out that he'd be riding the GP14.2 from Misano until the end of the season. So things were already looking good for the rather popular Italian.

Petrucci said in the pre-event press day that Silverstone was a circuit that really liked and though that he could do well at. But that did look somewhat difficult to achieve after a poor qualifying saw him 18th.

Sunday saw rain batter the Northamptonshire circuit just before the race got underway and the Italian saw this as a prime opportunity to showcase his talents. A blinding start saw him into the top ten in the opening couple of laps, and before long he was onto the back of the fight for the podium. By the seventh lap he was up to 4th, and onto the rostrum a lap later after passing Lorenzo at Village.

Petrucci had been passed by Andrea Dovizioso prior to Marc Marquez' crash on lap thirteen. But the Pramac rider was soon back ahead of his compatriot on the following tour after a stunning block pass at Brooklands. He then began chasing the leader and had the gap down to just 1.6 seconds at one stage. Rossi was just out of reach, but 2nd place is nonetheless an absolutely fantastic result for the Italian who has been mightily impressive this year.

“I really don't understand why Valentino cam so close lap by lap. But the Dovizioso came and the rain fell harder and I was scared about the front. In the last two laps Dovi took a little gap. In the last lap, in the last corner, I started laughing as I couldn't believe it!

Team-mate Yonny Hernandez was also very confident prior to the start of the weekend, but his race only lasted one corner after he slid off at Copse.

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