Source: Supplied.

Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi produced a fearless ride in the rain to claim his first ever victory at Silverstone and open up a 12-point lead in the MotoGP World Championship standings over his teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

Rossi had earlier topped the wet Warm Up session, and there was drama before the lights even went out at Silverstone as it was originally declared a dry race, but rain on the grid prompted every rider to return to the pits on their warm up lap to swap for wets. This led to a 30-minute delay to allow the teams and riders to safely re-form back on the grid.

When the action started in anger, Rossi enjoyed a solid start, before moving his way up from 4th on the grid to take the lead on just the second lap. Rossi managed to pass his teammate and main title rival Lorenzo at Village corner, much to the delight of the 73,000 fans at the legendary Silverstone Circuit.

He then tried to break away at the front, with only Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda able to stay with him. Lap after lap Rossi and Marquez pulled away at the front, opening up a gap of seven seconds to the third-placed Petrucci by just the ninth lap.

The 36-year-old Italian was setting a blistering pace in the dreadful conditions and it proved too much for even Marquez. The reigning MotoGP World Champion crashed out on lap 13 at Copse Corner to effectively end any chance he had of defending his title. The Spaniard now trails Rossi by 77 points in the standings, with just six races remaining.

Without Marquez to push him, Rossi seemed to relax and at one point it seemed as if the chasing Ducati’s of Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso would close him down towards the end of the race. Petrucci had reduced the gap to just 1.6s with two laps remaining, but Rossi got a signal from his pit board and upped the pace once more. The Doctor went on to take the race win by 3.010s.

Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci delivered an incredible ride to secure his first-ever MotoGP podium as the leading Satellite rider. The Italian, starting from 18th on the grid, rode through the pack superbly before getting involved in an excellent battle for second with Dovizioso on the factory Ducati Team GP15.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+4.117s) completed an all-Italian podium to equal his best result of the season in Assen. The former 125cc World Champion started from 12th on the grid but rode superbly in the tricky conditions to secure his 29th MotoGP podium.

Rossi’s main title rival and teammate Jorge Lorenzo (+5.726s) had a frustrating race. The double MotoGP World Champion led into the first corner, but found himself dropping back through the field at an alarming rate. At one point Lorenzo was as low as sixth before he seemed to recover and fought back to cross the line in fourth, limiting the damage to his title chances.

Dani Pedrosa (+11.132s) on the second Repsol Honda battled hard throughout the race to secure fifth spot. The Spaniard was right in the mix for the podium during the race but started to drop back in the latter stages, eventually crossing the line over 5 seconds behind Lorenzo.

EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding (+25.467s) won the ‘Battle of the Brits’ as he pulled off his the best result of his MotoGP career in front of his passionate home support. His compatriot Bradley Smith on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha was a further second back, after he enjoyed a race long battle with his teammate Pol Espargaro, before the Spaniard crashed out at turn three on lap 14.

Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) finished in eighth ahead of the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR of Aleix Espargaro in ninth. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista secured the team’s first top-ten finish of their return to the premier class.

Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) was the leading Open Honda in 12th ahead of the Avintia Racing duo of Hector Barbera and Mike Di Meglio, while his teammate Eugene Laverty crossed the line in 17th.

LCR Honda pair Cal Crutchlow and Jack Miller both enjoyed excellent starts to the race and found themselves battling for the final podium spot. Unfortunately Miller would take out his British teammate at Vale on the 3rd lap, with both men forced to retire. Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) also crashed out of the race with 8 laps to go.

Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco made it 11 podiums in a row and extended his lead in the Moto2 World Championship standings after taking a commanding win during a wet race at the Octo British Grand Prix.

The Frenchman crossed the line 3.360s ahead of Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins, with Tito Rabat on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex completing the podium. Australian wet race specialist Anthony West (QMMF Racing) fought his way from 22nd on the grid to claim seventh.

Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent delighted the 73,000 fans at the Octo British Grand Prix by claiming his eighth GP career victory in dominant fashion. The Moto3 race saw the worse weather of the day at Silverstone, but even this could not stop runaway Moto3 championship leader Kent.

Starting from third on the grid, the British rider took over the lead with 13 laps to go after Isaac Viñales crashed out and never looked back. Kent cross the line 8.492s ahead of Drive M7 SIC’s Jakub Kornfeil and Niccolo Antonelli on the Ongetta-Rivacold Honda. Australia’s Remy Gardner (CIP Mahindra) finished 17th.

2015 MotoGP World Championship
Round 12 – Silverstone, UK

MotoGP race results:
1. Valentino ROSSI
2. Danilo PETRUCCI
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO
4. Jorge LORENZO
5. Dani PEDROSA
6. Scott REDDING
7. Bradley SMITH
8. Andrea IANNONE
9. Aleix ESPARGARO
10. Alvaro BAUTISTA
11. Maverick VIÑALES
12. Nicky HAYDEN
13. Hector BARBERA
14. Mike DI MEGLIO
15. Alex DE ANGELIS
16. Loris BAZ
17. Eugene LAVERTY
18. Claudio CORTI
19. Karel ABRAHAM

MotoGP championship standings:
1. Valentino ROSSI 236
2. Jorge LORENZO 224
3. Marc MARQUEZ 159
4. Andrea IANNONE 150
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 120
6. Bradley SMITH 115
7. Dani PEDROSA 102
8. Danilo PETRUCCI 83
9. Pol ESPARGARO 81
10. Cal CRUTCHLOW 74
11. Maverick VIÑALES 67
12. Aleix ESPARGARO 60
13. Scott REDDING 47
14. Yonny HERNANDEZ 41
15. Hector BARBERA 23
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA 22
17. Loris BAZ 15
18. Nicky HAYDEN 12
19. Jack MILLER (AUS) 12
20. Stefan BRADL 11

Moto2 race results:
1. Johann ZARCO
2. Alex RINS
3. Tito RABAT
4. Alex MARQUEZ
5. Jonas FOLGER
6. Sam LOWES
7. Anthony WEST (AUS)
8 Sandro CORTESE
9. Thomas LUTHI
10. Ricard CARDUS
11. Marcel SCHROTTER
12. Randy KRUMMENACHER
13. Dominique AEGERTER
14. Takaaki NAKAGAMI
15. Axel PONS
16. Hafizh SYAHRIN
17. Luis SALOM
18. Julian SIMON
19. Azlan SHAH
20. Mika KALLIO

Moto2 championship standings:
1. Johann ZARCO 249
2. Alex RINS 164
3. Tito RABAT 161
4. Sam LOWES 128
5. Thomas LUTHI 125
6. Jonas FOLGER 102
7. Xavier SIMEON 92
8. Franco MORBIDELLI 84
9. Dominique AEGERTER 62
10. Alex MARQUEZ 62
11. Sandro CORTESE 51
12. Mika KALLIO 48
13. Julian SIMON 47
14. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 45
15. Luis SALOM 43
16. Simone CORSI 40
17. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI 37
18. Hafizh SYAHRIN 36
19. Anthony WEST (AUS) 29
20. Axel PONS 19

Moto3 race results:
1. Danny KENT
2. Jakub KORNFEIL
3. Niccolò ANTONELLI
4. Fabio QUARTARARO
5. Livio LOI
6. John MCPHEE
7. Juanfran GUEVARA
8. Lorenzo DALLA PORTA
9. Efren VAZQUEZ
10. Tatsuki SUZUKI
11. Alexis MASBOU
12. Romano FENATI
13. Miguel OLIVEIRA
14. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN
15. Andrea MIGNO
16. Philipp OETTL
17. Remy GARDNER
18. Luke HEDGER
19. Taz TAYLOR
20. Hiroki ONO

Moto3 championship standings:
1. Danny KENT 224
2. Enea BASTIANINI 154
3. Romano FENATI 126
4. Efren VAZQUEZ 116
5. Miguel OLIVEIRA 114
6. Niccolò ANTONELLI 110
7. Brad BINDER 99
8. Fabio QUARTARARO 92
9. Isaac VIÑALES 75
10. Jorge NAVARRO 72
11. John MCPHEE 70
12. Francesco BAGNAIA 59
13. Livio LOI 51
14. Alexis MASBOU 46
15. Jakub KORNFEIL 46
16. Philipp OETTL 40
17. Karel HANIKA 33
18. Andrea LOCATELLI 31
19. Jorge MARTIN 23
20. Niklas AJO 21

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