Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi bagged his first MotoGP podium at Silverstone this afternoon. The accolade has eluded him for a number of years, but he broke the deadlock after a third place finish this afternoon.
The Doctor managed to fend off attacks from Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa to snatch the third step on the rostrum. But he did not have the best of starts and had to watch as rivals, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, sped off in front of him.
But the multiple champion pushed on and completed his 246th race of his MotoGP career, making him feel really ‘proud’ this evening, especially at a track where he has struggled at in the past.
“A take a lot of positives from today, and it is my first podium at Silverstone of my career and this is historically a difficult track for me,” said Rossi, speaking at the circuit.
“In the past I have struggled a lot. The first part of the race I was very fast, but unfortunately I wasn’t really able to do a great start and I was fighting with Dovi. I did stretch the rear tyre and I did lose a lot of grip and Jorge and Marc went ahead of me, which is not good if I want a race with them. Then I was fighting with Dovi and Pedrosa, but this is good because this is my eighth podium for me. Now I am focusing on my home Grand Prix in Misano.
“I am very proud [of the 246 races in MotoGP] as it is a great achievement, and it means I have been here a long time. But it also means that I am very old, but I prefer the number of podiums and victories, to race starts."
