Source: MotoGP.

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has declared Marc Marquez’s penultimate lap crash a shame following his Argentine MotoGP win, but is now certain he will fight with Yamaha for the 2015 world championship.

Rossi has stepped it up a gear this year in the quest to topple reigning champion Marquez, winning in both Qatar and Argentina to stretch an early advantage in the standings.

Starting from a less than perfect eighth position on the grid, Rossi was immediately in the middle of the pack fighting for first corner position. Taking a lap to find his rhythm he then started his move up the field, taking first Danilo Petrucci and then Aleix Espargarò to move into sixth.

With 20 laps to go his teammate Lorenzo was next as the Doctor continued his charge towards the front. The next pack to be dispatched were Andrea Iannone, then Cal Crutchlow and finally Andrea Dovizioso to put the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider in second position.

Rossi then had the seemingly impossible task of closing a gap of over four seconds to leading rider Marquez. He then delivered a performance for the record books, putting the hammer down and cutting the lead lap by lap to reel Marquez in with just two laps remaining.

A fast exchange of positions followed through turns two, three and four, with Rossi exiting turn five in the lead. In his rush to counter attack, Marquez then clipped Rossi‘s back wheel on the exit, crashing out of contention.

“It’s a great victory, we made the right decision and started with the extra hard tyre,” Rossi said. “When I saw Marc start with the red one I knew that he would try to push at the beginning. I made a great start but on the first corner Iannone pushed me on the outside.

“Step by step I came back, and when I arrived in second Marc had a little more than four seconds lead. I knew the race was long, so I knew he could have some difficulty. Catching him lap by lap, I could see him far away but coming closer and closer, it was a great taste!

“I overtook him in braking, but he is a rider who is all or nothing, he touched me in the corner, then he touched me again as I was accelerating, I think he made a mistake and he crashed. It’s a shame because it could have been a great fight on the last lap. In three races we have demonstrated we can be competitive everywhere and fight for the championship.”

Rossi‘s victory brings with it some incredible numbers, bringing Rossi‘s podium tally to 199, 110 of which are victories and 51 of those with Yamaha.