Rain master Rossi claims brilliant British GP victory to take 4th win of the season: A Bridgestone view

Silverstone, 30 Aug 2015: A late change in the weather set the scene for a dramatic British Grand Prix and in the first wet race of the MotoGP™ season it was Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi who took a brilliant victory ahead of the Ducati duo of Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso.

The race was red flagged before a single lap was completed as the rain arrived just as the race was scheduled to start, with all riders swapping from slick tyres to wet tyres as the race was restarted. Having finished quickest in the wet Warm Up session earlier in the day, Rossi once again thrived in the wet conditions and after a good start took the race lead on the second lap and despite being challenged by a few riders over the course of the race, held on to take his fourth victory of the season. Finishing three seconds behind Rossi in second place was Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci who produced an impressive display of wet weather riding to secure his first ever MotoGP podium. The final podium place went to Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizoso who made a good recovery after a slow start to take his fourth rostrum finish of the year.

The fine weather that graced Silverstone for the first two days of the race weekend gave way to rain today with both the race and the morning Warm Up session being subjected to wet conditions. The cloud cover also kept track temperatures at a low level, with the peak reading during the race being just 20°C. The cool and wet tarmac made the requirement for good grip and warm-up performance a priority and as a result, all twenty-five riders opted for the soft compound wet tyres front and rear, the hard compound wet tyres remaining unused during the twenty-lap race.

Rossi’s fourth Grand Prix victory of the campaign means he re-takes the lead in the MotoGP championship and he sits on 236 points, twelve ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo who finished in fourth place today at Silverstone. Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez had a DNF after crashing out of second place, but he holds onto third place in the championshop, 77 points adrift of Rossi.

“The rain finally arrived today but thankfully the Warm Up session this morning was wet which at least allowed the riders to work on a wet setting for their bike and get some track time on our wet tyres at this circuit. Some riders did consider using the alternative, hard compound wet tyre for the race but due to the cool track temperature and the rain becoming heavier, all riders finally decided on the soft compound wet tyres front and rear. Considering the cold, wet conditions and the bumpy track surface the performance of our wet tyres was quite consistent, with the majority of riders setting their quickest lap in the second half of the race. It was a very challenging race so well done to Valentino and Yamaha as they managed the difficult conditions very well on their way to victory today.”

                                                                                                                        

“When I saw that Marc had crashed I slowed down a little bit but in the end, this is MotoGP and you can’t relax as everyone wants to beat you. I saw Danilo was getting close to me so I had to keep my concentration, especially at the end of the race as it was difficult when the rain became heavier. My bike was working great and I enjoyed this victory very much.”