British MotoGP: Valentino Rossi wins in the wet at Silverstone

Valentino Rossi started from the front of the second row of the grid

Valentino Rossi won a rain-soaked British MotoGP at Silverstone to take over at the top of the world championship.

Yamaha rider Rossi, 36, secured his first Silverstone victory ahead of fellow Italian Danilo Petrucci, who claimed his first podium finish.

Rossi's win takes him above Jorge Lorenzo in the standings as he chases a 10th world title.

Defending world champion Marc Marquez started from pole but crashed out.

Marquez's exit, eight laps from the end of the 20-lap race, left Rossi clear at the head of the field and has all but ended the Spaniard's hopes of retaining his title.

Danilo Petrucci has won points at every round of the MotoGP season

Petrucci cut into the lead on a Pramac Ducati but Rossi showed his mastery of the wet conditions to stay in control and complete his fourth win of the season and collect the 25 points.

Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo finished fourth and now trails Rossi by 12 points with six races remaining.

Works Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso finished third to complete an all-Italian top three with Britain's Scott Redding the top home rider.

Redding, 22, finished sixth for the Marc VDS Honda team after earlier announcing his move to Pramac for the 2016 season.

The LCR Honda pair of Cal Crutchlow and Jack Miller collided on the third lap to end their races early.

How the race was won

Rossi was fastest in the wet warm-up session but started fourth on the grid following a delayed start to the race after the riders had to stop their warm-up lap to switch back to wet tyres.

He passed team-mate and title rival Lorenzo at Village corner and led by the end of lap two.

Rossi and Marquez broke away before Marquez crashed out at Copse on lap 13.

Petrucci was left in second and reduced the gap to just 1.6 seconds with two laps remaining before Rossi responded to a pit message and pulled away again to win by 3.010 seconds.

Britain's Danny Kent, 21, won the Moto3 race to extend his lead at the top of the championship.

He becomes the first British rider to win a lightweight grand prix at Silverstone.

Kent said: "It's the best win of my career. If there's a date on the diary you want to win, it's your home Grand Prix."

British MotoGP results:

1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 46 minutes 15.617 seconds

2. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 46:18.627

3. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 46:19.734

4. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 46:21.343

5. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 46:26.749

6. Scott Redding (Britain) Honda 46:41.084

7. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 46:42.334

8. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 46:45.010

9. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 46:54.432

10. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Aprilia 46:57.329

11. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 47:00.393

12. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 47:08.106

13. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 47:26.828

14. Mike Di Meglio (France) Ducati 47:30.909

15. Alex de Angelis (San Marino) ART 47:33.480

MotoGP Standings after race 12 of 18:

1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 236

2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 224

3. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 159

4. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 150

5. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 120

6. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 115

7. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 102

8. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 83

9. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 81

10. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 74

11. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 67

12. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 60

13. Scott Redding (Britain) Honda 47

14. Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati 41

15. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 23