Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) split the Ducatis in qualifying, but the Italian veteran was unable to repeat the feat in race – coming home behind teammate Jorge Lorenzo in P4 after proving unable to challenge the Mallorcan for the podium. Close to the Spaniard for much of the race, the 9-time world champion pressured but was unable to pass – although the P4 does see the Riviera di Rimini rider gain on Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) in the points standings as the 2013 and 2014 world champion came home in P5 after dislocating his shoulder in FP3 on Saturday.
Valentino Rossi (P4): "In the end it was a good race because the margin to our rivals in front was not very big. It was a shame that I wasn‘t able to fight with Lorenzo. I wanted to try and arrive on the podium, but in the end I wasn‘t able to do so and for sure I‘m not happy about this, but for the rest it was a good weekend. We were quite competitive at this track, which is not fantastic for Yamaha, and we took some points. Our rhythm in the race was very similar to those who took the victory and we will try to be stronger next week in Brno. For me, personally, Brno is a great track where I won for the first time, but the last few years I wasn‘t strong enough so I‘m very curious to understand if this year I can be more competitive. About today‘s frontrunners, I think they will also be very strong in Brno because they are always fast and the track also has a lot of straights and it‘s so fast, so I think we have to keep an eye on them."