Despite having started from eighth on the grid, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi took victory in a hectic Tissot Australian Grand Prix.
Rossi started his 250th premier class Grand Prix on Sunday looking for crucial points in the battle for the runner up spot in the 2014 MotoGP™ World Championship. A crash filled race allowed the Italian to mark this historic event with his second win of 2014.
He made steady progress in the opening laps, catching teammate Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and engaging in a heated battle for several laps. Eventually getting the better of the Spaniard, Rossi settled into second as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) had a two second advantage ahead of him.
Lap 17 saw the 2014 MotoGP World Champion crash out of a comfortable lead, promoting Rossi to first. By the race finale a huge gap of 10.836s saw Rossi clinch his 82nd premier class win ahead of Lorenzo. Rossi last won at Phillip Island in 2005.
Second in the championship, Rossi now has 255 points, eight more than Lorenzo, who is third. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) suffered a DNF and is 25 points behind the Italian in fourth.
An elated Rossi explained, “It’s a fantastic day. An amazing result coming after a great race. Sadly I had to start behind but I knew my pace and setting were quite good for the race. On the second corner I saw Marc and Jorge already ahead and I was sixth, I thought this will be hard! I was fast enough to overtake the other riders quickly.”
“I focused on just gaining on Jorge and I got there a little by little. We then had a great battle. Marc wasn’t too far, just two seconds but I settled for second to fight for the championship position. Then Marquez crashed and it was great after that. I came back to victory here almost ten years after my last win, a great achievement at one of the most beautiful tracks of the year,” he concluded.
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