Valentino Rossi rides Silverstone on a Ducati 1198 street bike

It was a virtual who’s who of motorsports personalities at the Silverstone Circuit for the inauguration of the Silverstone Wing, the new paddock structure.
Valentino Rossi was also present and who got the chance to turn a few laps on a track he’s never seen up close, as he was lying at home in bed with a broken leg when MotoGP debuted for the first time at the English circuit in 2010.

Rossi started on a World Superbike 1198 which broke down and then Ducati UK hurriedly brought him a standard 1198 decked out the obbligatory mirrors and license plate, and rumors had it he was lapping in the 2′o6s.
“I really had fun,” said Valentino Rossi.
“After a few laps with the 1198 Superbike, we had a problem with the electronics and decided to use the 1198 street bike that Ducati’s UK affiliate rushed to us.

I really liked riding that bike here.
The track is nice—difficult and very technical.
It makes you work hard because there are very fast sections where having the right trajectory is important, and others that are very narrow where you have to have good grip under acceleration.

The first turn is completely blind, and you must hold a very precise line, and in general the entire first section is really great, definitely the part I like most.
In short, I enjoyed it, especially because there were many drivers and riders who have great histories in motorsports, like John Surtees, who told me that he raced here in the ’50s.
I wasn’t following racing then,” joked the Italian, “but he was great.
”After the jump a very brief fan video of Rossi.