By winning the Rio MotoGP on Saturday, world champion Valentino Rossi notched up his 30th premier-class victory – and gave Honda its third successive manufacturers’ championship title.
By winning the Rio MotoGP on Saturday, world champion Valentino Rossi notched up his 30th premier-class victory – and gave Honda its third successive manufacturers’ championship title.
Apart from celebrating the Japanese manufacturer’s 15th title, Rossi’s fourth straight win at the Brazilian circuit extended his lead in the world championship.
Spain’s Sete Gibernau, second behind Rossi in the standings, led for the first nine laps before his rival sneaked inside him on a curve to snatch first place.
Rossi sped away from the field to win by more than three seconds and complete a hat-trick of wins after victories in the Czech Republic and Portugal. Gibernau finished second and Japan’s Makato Tamada third as Honda took a clean sweep of the podium.
“I like this track, it’s very good for me and today we set the bike very well, today the bike was perfect,” said Rossi, who had a winning time of 44 minutes 36.633 seconds.
Gibernau, who has four victories this season to Rossi’s six, was happy with his performance after crashing at the end of Friday’s final qualifying session: “I’m pretty happy because I had problems with the bike and after the crash I was feeling very bad”.
Rossi, who survived a minor scare when he skidded on the last lap, has 262 points in the standings, a 51-point lead over Gibernau with four races left.
Max Biaggi claimed fourth place for Camel Pramac Honda, but that result effectively ended any hope the Italian held of a maiden world championship.
Finishing positions:
1 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Honda 44:36,633
2 Sete Gibernau (Spa) Honda 44:39,742
3 Makoto Tamada (Jpn) Honda 44:43,931
4 Max Biaggi (Ita) Honda 44:45,868
5 Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 44:47,798
6 Loris CAPIROSSI (Ita) Ducati 44:51,459
7 Tohru Ukawa (Jpn) 44:53,994
8 Shinya Nakano (Jpn) Yamaha 44:57,872
9 Carlos Checa (Spa) Yamaha 44:58,155
10 Troy Bayliss (Aus) 44:59,604
