On Sunday afternoon on a sunny British afternoon, Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi became the first rider in history to start his 300th premier class Grand Prix and showed no signs of slacking off in the 20-lap Silverstone race.
He had a flying start from second, taking the holeshot, and immediately put his head down to open up a nearly one second gap over the first two laps.
He was looking to check out, and held the lead for most of the race, but his championship rivals had different thoughts and were in hot pursuit.
Dovizioso tagged onto the back of the Doctor‘s Yamaha, but the veteran made his experience count. He perfectly managed the pace at the front, keeping his compatriot at bay until three laps to go, when Rossi was put into the claws of Viñales, who pushed him to third.
As his rear tyre life dropped, the nine-time World Champion decided to take third place and crucial championship points, crossing the line 0.635s from first.
“I‘m satisfied because it was a great race for me,” he said. “I was able to ride really well after a great start and I stayed in front and rode on the limit without making mistakes, so I enjoyed it a lot for 17 laps.”
“I think this is a good way to celebrate my 300th race in MotoGP‘s premier class. There remains a bit of frustration, because I knew on the last laps I would suffer a bit with the degradation of the rear tyre, but I think this weekend we improved a lot. We‘re still not at the top, we have to do better if we want to try to win, but it was a good weekend.”
This result sees Viñales and Rossi hold third and fourth place respectively in the championship standings, the former with a 13-point margin to the leader, the latter with a 26-point gap to first. Yamaha holds its lead in the Constructor rankings with 7 points, and the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team reclaimed the top spot in the Team championship classification with a 5-point lead.
The MotoGP paddock will be back in action in a fortnight, when they will battle at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli during the Gran Premio Tribul Mastercard di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.
