Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was on the podium at the Hertz British Grand Prix after his 246th premier class start.

Starting from sixth on the grid the nine time World Champion made an excellent start, making up several positions. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) put up stiff competition for Rossi over the first four laps.

Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) was also involved in the battle briefly. The battling group then allowed Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) to join the fight.

Rossi got past Italian compatriot Dovizioso on lap five with Pedrosa following him past the Ducati man. A midrace battle emerged between the two with Rossi getting the upper hand on lap 13. The Italian went on to finish some eight and a half seconds down on race winner Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda).

This marks Rossi’s 246th premier class Grand Prix start, passing Alex Barros as the rider with the most premier class starts. Rossi also closed in on Pedrosa in the championship, now just ten points behind.

“It’s the first podium in Silverstone, usually we struggle a lot here. I’m very happy about the pace at the beginning. Jorge was pushing very hard and I was able to stay for the first laps. I already had a small gap as I was behind Dovi and I stressed the tyre too much trying to get past,” said Rossi.

He continued,

“I had to ease off to save the tyre. We still had a good battle with Dani and Andrea. We have a lot of positive things. We have another podium. On the other side, I wanted to stay behind Marc and Jorge throughout the race. We have to do another step to prepare 100% for Misano in two weeks, because that will be my home Grand Prix and we will have to do more than the maximum.”

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