2015 Silverstone MotoGP Results
Two factors are always in play at the Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix – endurance and rain. Endurance is a must due to Silverstone being the longest on the 2015 MotoGP schedule at 3.66 miles. The circuit was a former military air field, and is flat and extremely fast, which further challenges the endurance of a rider.
The second factor is rain – nothing unusual for the UK. This factor played the largest role of the 2015 British Grand Prix. The race was declared dry, but while the 25-rider grid was on the warm-up lap, a slight drizzle turned to some streaming rain, causing a wet track.
All riders enter pit lane and jumped on prototypes clad with rain tires.Usually, any rider switching to rain tires ahead of start would be forced to start from pit lane. But due to all 25 riders entering the pits, starting from pit lane would be unsafe. Officials delayed the start by 15 minutes, and moved the start back to the grid – this time the race declared wet. Al riders were on soft-rain tires, which drastically changed the outcome.
We all know Valentino Rossi is the master rider in the rain. The 36-year-old Italian has much experience in wet conditions, which helped him achieve nine world titles. The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 pilot needed a win to regain the points lead from teammate Lorenzo. The two were tied with 211 points each heading into Silverstone, but Lorenzo technically had the lead due to winning five races to Rossi’s three.
Rossi succeeded, showing once again his mastery of racing in the rain. This was his first victory at Silverstone, and his 12th-straight podium this season. He was joined on the podium by two surprise top finishers – Octo Pramac Racing Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso, making for an all-Italian podium. This was also Petrucci’s first MotoGP podium, and Dovi’s fifth podium of 2015 MotoGP.
2015 Silverstone MotoGP Results – Recap
Starting from a pole after a record-breaking qualifying lap of 2:00.234, Marquez dropped back to second behind Lorenzo. Following close behind were Monster Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro, Rossi, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, and Monster Tech 3’s Bradley Smith. Crashing on turn one was Octo Pramac Racing Ducati’s Yonny Hernandez.
On the start of lap two, Marquez dropped back to fourth, as Rossi passed Espargaro. But Marquez fought back to second, only to lose it to Rossi once again. Rossi immediately closed in on Lorenzo, followed closely by Marquez. Behind, LCR Honda’s Jack Miller moved from 16th to the front of the pack.
On the start of lap three, Rossi took Lorenzo at the first-gear Village Corner. Marquez followed suite, and him and Rossi immediately opened a gap on the riders. Crutchlow was the next to pass Lorenzo, but his luck would change. Behind, Miller tried an inside pass, and collided with Crutchlow, both RC213V riders sliding into the gravel trap.
Up front, Rossi was setting the fastest laps of the race as Marquez closely stalked. With 17 to go, Pol Espargaro was battling for third with Lorenzo, but made a mistake and ran wide, falling back ninth. Cruchlow jumped on his second bike and rejoined the grid – but the Brit crashed again, ending all hopes of finishing his home GP.
With 14 to go, Petrucci was putting much pressure on Pedrosa for fourth, and he made the pass for a lap later. Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso did the same, passing Pedrosa to move into fifth.
Petrucci then set his sights on Lorenzo, and passed him with 13 laps remaining. Dovi followed, as did Pedrosa, and Lorenzo fell back to sixth. Five laps later, and Dovi took third from Petrucci after planning a perfect pass.
The true drama of 2015 Silverstone MotoGP occurred on the start of lap eight when Marquez crashed out at Copse Corner, the 22-year-old Spaniard losing the rear and high siding his RC213V. This was his fourth DNF of the season due to crashing, and diminished his chances for a third-straight MotoGP title.
This left Rossi alone out front, 3.5 seconds ahead of the man now in second, Dovizioso. Petrucci put on the pressure, took second at Village Corner. Dovi countered, but ran wide, falling back to third. The two Ducatis were quickly chasing Rossi down as the rain began falling harder, knocking a half a second off a lap. The rain caused two more crashes when Pol Espargaro and Aprilia Racing Gresini’s Stefan Bradl slid off the track.
Rossi’s lead dropped to just over a second with three laps to go, but Rossi amped up his performance. On the penultimate lap, Rossi extended his lead to 1.9 seconds, and kept the momentum flowing to earn his fourth win of 2015 MotoGP, and the 86th of his Grand Prix carrer.
Rossi took the win by 3.010 seconds ahead of Petrucci, with Dovi finishing a further 4.117 seconds back. Fourth went to Lorenzo, who was followed by Pedrosa, Marc VDS Racing’s Scott Redding and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith.
Rounding out the top 10 were Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista. The sole American in all of Grand Prix racing, Apsar MotoGP’s Nicky Hayden, finished 12th.
After 12 of 18 rounds, Rossi has 236 points, 12 ahead Lorenzo. Marquez is third with 159 points, 77 points back. The 2015 MotoGP Championship now breaks for two weeks before heading to Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in San Marino – a home race for Rossi. This may provide Rossi with the added incentive to keep his rhythm flowing as he chases that 10th world title.
2015 Silverstone MotoGP Results:
1. 25 points, #46 Valentino ROSSI, ITA, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha: 46’15.617
2. 20, #9 Danilo PETRUCCI, ITA, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati : +3.010
3 .16, #4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO, ITA, Ducati Team Ducati: +4.117
4. 13, #99 Jorge LORENZO, SPA, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha: +5.726
5. 11, #26 Dani PEDROSA, SPA, Repsol Honda Team Honda: +11.132
6. 10, #45 Scott REDDING, GBR, EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda: +25.467
7. 9, #38 Bradley SMITH, GBR, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha: +26.717
8. 8, #29 Andrea IANNONE, ITA, Ducati Team Ducati: +29.393
9. 7, #41 Aleix ESPARGARO, SPA, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki: +38.815
10. 6, #19 Alvaro BAUTISTA, SPA, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia: +41.712
11. 5, #25 Maverick VIÑALES, SPA, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki: +44.776
12. 4, #69 Nicky HAYDEN, USA, Aspar MotoGP Team Honda: +52.489
13. 3, #8 Hector BARBERA, SPA, Avintia Racing Ducati: +1’11.211
14. 2, #63 Mike DI MEGLIO, FRA, Avintia Racing Ducati: +1’15.292
15. 1, #15 Alex DE ANGELIS, RSM, E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART: +1’17.863
16. #76 Loris BAZ, FRA, Forward Racing Yamaha Forward: +1’19.310
17. #50 Eugene LAVERTY, IRL, Aspar MotoGP Team Honda: +1’19.735
18. #71 Claudio CORTI, ITA, Forward Racing Yamaha Forward: +1’58.086
19. #17 Karel ABRAHAM, CZE, AB Motoracing Honda: 1 Lap
Not Classified
#44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 151.5 6 Laps
#93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 152.7 8 Laps
#6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 150.2 8 Laps
#35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 107.7 16 Laps
#43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 146.3 18 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
#68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 0 Lap
2015 MotoGP Point Standings:
1 .Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 236
2. Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 224
3. Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 159
4. Andrea IANNONE Ducati ITA 150
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 120
6. Bradley SMITH Yamaha GBR 115
7. Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 102
8. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA 83
9. Pol ESPARGARO Yamaha SPA 81
10. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR 74
11. Maverick VIÑALES Suzuki SPA 67
12. Aleix ESPARGARO Suzuki SPA 60
13. Scott REDDING Honda GBR 47
14. Yonny HERNANDEZ Ducati COL 41
15. Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 23
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA Aprilia SPA 22
17. Loris BAZ Yamaha Forward FRA 15
18. Nicky HAYDEN Honda USA 12
19. Jack MILLER Honda AUS 12
20. Stefan BRADL Aprilia GER 11
21. Michele PIRRO Ducati ITA 8
22. Eugene LAVERTY Honda IRL 7
23. Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda JPN 5
24. Mike DI MEGLIO Ducati FRA 4
25. Alex DE ANGELIS ART RSM 2
