Donington, July 14: World champion Valentino Rossi of Italy was stripped of his victory in the British Grand Prix at Donington Park on Sunday (July 13) when officials penalised him for overtaking under yellow warning flags during the race. The MotoGP championship leader was docked 10 seconds for his infraction and fellow Italian Max Biaggi moved up from second to take the race victory with Spain's Sete Gibernau second and Rossi in third. Rossi had started the race poorly, dropping from fourth to seventh place by the first turn as Biaggi led the field from pole position. The world champion immediately charged through the field, reaching second place by the third lap but in the process committed the technical offence. Biaggi led on his Honda until the 13th lap before making an error that let Rossi through who quickly opened up a comfortable lead, though not enough to allow him to keep his victory after the 10-second penalty was imposed. Italian Loris Capirossi finished third for Ducati with his Australian team mate Troy Bayliss coming home fourth. Despite being relegated to third place, Rossi still holds a 34-point lead over Gibernau, with Biaggi a further three points behind.


MotoGP (30 laps, 120.690 km): 1. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 46 minutes and 06.688 2. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 46:13.826 3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 46:15.482* 4. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati 46:19.729 5. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 46:22.967 6. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 46:33.773 7. Noriyuki Haga (Japan) Aprilia 46:34.350 8. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 46:38.700 9. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha 46:41.487 10. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 46:41.689 11. John Hopkins (U.S.) Suzuki 46:54.853 12. Yukio Kagayama (Japan) Suzuki 47:07.111 13. Makoto Tamada (Japan) Honda 47:12.848 14. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Japan) Honda 47:21.554 15. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Proton 47:36.979 16. Garry McCoy (Australia) Kawasaki 1 lap behind 17. Andrew Pitt (Australia) Kawasaki 1 lap behind Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha DNF Jeremy McWilliams (Britain) Proton DNF David De Gea (Spain) Sabre DNF Marco Melandri (Italy) Yamaha DNF Chris Burns (Britain) Yamaha DNF Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda DNF (* Rossi given a ten second penalty after the race for overtaking on a yellow flag):


Leading world championship standings: 1. Rossi 167 points 2. Gibernau 133 3. Biaggi 130 4. Capirossi 84 5. Bayliss 64 6. Alex Barros (Brazil) Yamaha 62 7. Checa 57 8. Ukawa 56 9. Nakano 54 10. Hayden 46


Manufacturers standings: 1. Honda 195 2. Ducati 113 3. Yamaha 93 4. Aprilia 52 5= Proton 22 5= Suzuki 22

Bureau Report