Rossi storms to second place at Sachsenring in the latest round of the Moto GP

Today Valentino Rossi and and team mate Maverick Viñales celebrated on the Sachsenring rostrum together after a stellar performance from the two Movistar Yamaha MotoGP men. They secured second and third place respectively in this afternoon‘s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, the team‘s first double podium of the season.

Rossi had a great start from sixth on the grid, as he slipped past his teammate and Andrea Dovizioso to slot into fourth position after the first corner. He got down to business right from the early stages of the race. Not wanting to let the two front-runners escape, he was putting continuous pressure on Danilo Petrucci in third place. At the start of lap 9 the Doctor made a classic Sachsenring overtake going into turn 1.

With a margin of less than a second to Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez, the nine-time World Champion put his head down. As the two front men got into a battle, the Yamaha rider closed the gap with 17 laps to go.

Three laps later he stormed past Lorenzo when the Spaniard made a mistake in turn 10. Lorenzo tried to retaliate, but was unsuccessful, giving Rossi a chance to break away. He set a provisional fastest race lap of 1‘21.776s and was closing up on Marquez, but the fight with Lorenzo had cost him too much valuable time. He finished the race in second place, 2.196s from first.  

Rossi‘s second place keeps him in second position in the championship standings with 119 points, 10 points ahead of teammate Viñales, who remains in third position. Yamaha climbed up to second place in the Constructor Championship, with a 40-point margin to first, while the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team remain in first position in the team standings and now have a 14-point gap to the second team.

MotoGP will be taking a short summer break after this weekend. The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action in three weeks' time at the Monster Energy Grand Prix Ceské republiky, held at the Automotodrom Brno from August 3rd – 5th.

Valentino Rossi - 2nd

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Usually Sachsenring is a difficult track for the M1, but today we were able to get a double podium, so we're very happy, also about the work of the team. I‘m so happy because I did a fantastic race from the beginning, I never made a mistake. Last week, I rewatched the race from last year and I said to myself “Folger was good with the Yamaha, so we have to do the same!” In the end I got the same position as he did, so I‘m happy and it‘s a great way to start the holiday.

Report and images provided by Yamaha Racing