Rossi ahead of Marquez at Le Mans.

VALENTINO Rossi took second place at the French Grand Prix, his fifth consecutive podium finish of the 2015 MotoGP season, behind his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo. 

The Italian rider now has 102 Championship points and sits at the top of the Championship standings in front of Spaniard Lorenzo.

“I‘m happy but we struggled too much to find the right setting in the practice, so we decided to risk and modify the bike before the race,” explained The Doctor.

“I have to say thank you to my team because they worked very well, my bike today in the race was fantastic and I was able to push, recover and overtake and I was especially able to enjoy riding a lot.

“Around half way through the race I arrived in second place behind Jorge. He had around two seconds so I wasn‘t so far behind him and I tried the maximum, because I felt good, but he was in a perfect situation.

“He was in front and concentrated and he was in his “hammer time”. When he‘s like that it‘s very difficult to come close to him. This weekend he was stronger than us and was better prepared for the race, so he deserved to win, but I‘m happy, also for Yamaha because this year our bike is very strong.

“These twenty points are very important for the championship. We arrived late at the front, but we arrived and it was another great race. In the race our bike is fantastic, it‘s very balanced and you can push every lap and this is important.

“I arrive in Mugello with this great condition I‘m in and that makes me very happy. The problem is that it‘s also Jorge‘s favourite track! Today was a great result for our team, a Yamaha 1-2, and we hope that in Mugello we can reverse the order!”

A Yamaha 1-2 means that they are currently at the top of the Constructor’s Championship with 116-points with Ducati second and third place for Honda.