Rossi 'very sad' as tyre 'burns' after 5-6 laps, welcomes Dovi

Starting eighth on the grid, Valentino Rossi looked capable of fighting for what would have been his best dry result of the season on his final appearance at the British MotoGP.

Rossi's hopes were raised further when he finally broke his run of poor starts and was up to sixth on the opening lap.

But the Italian was one of several riders to hit major tyre troubles, in his case after just half-a-dozen laps and he slipped all the way back to 18th place.

"I was better with the hard rear tyre but today was very cold we needed to go with the medium, so I expected to have some more problems but not like this," said the Petronas Yamaha rider.

"I started well, finally, and also in the first laps I was in the group. This is important. And I was more-or-less in the place where I expect to fight with my pace, around 7th-8th-9th place.

"But after 5-6 laps the rear tyre dropped incredibly. On the right I didn’t have any more grip. It's like the tyre burnt and after that the rubber lost a lot of performance. I started to lose 1-2-3 seconds a lap. I tried to arrive at the end but I was very, very slow.

"It's a great shame. I'm very sad because I wanted to try to make a good result here because I like the track, there was a good atmosphere with a lot of fans and especially because I felt good with the bike.

"During the weekend I was always competitive and I want to try to arrive in the top ten. But it's like this."

Told that others had also hit tyre issues on Sunday, Rossi replied: "Yeah, not like mine for sure."

On a more positive note, Rossi gave his reaction to the news that he will finish his MotoGP career alongside Andrea Dovizioso, due to join the Petronas team from Misano as Franco Morbidelli moves to the factory squad.

"I'm happy to have Dovi because he has a lot of experience, he's very fast, and especially because we have a good relationship," Rossi said. "We always fight together from 2008 and I'm very happy that he comes back.

"I think that also he can give something to Yamaha to improve the bike and I'm happy we will be team-mates."

It's not yet clear if Jake Dixon will ride alongside Rossi again next time at Aragon, before Dovizioso's Misano debut.