Most of the action seemed to take place in the first 3rd of the race actually, as Rossi started off poorly from pole position. He lost no less than 4 positions at the start, being overtaken by both the Honda riders - Dani Pedrosa and Dovizioso - teammate Jorge Lorenzo and Honda Gresini's Toni Elias in the first lap.
The Italian started to gain position after position in the next 4-5 laps, leaving both Elias and Pedrosa behind on his quest for the leading spot. He also managed to get past countryman Dovizioso in the following lap and it seemed it would be another Yamaha battle for the win at Donington all over again.
Elias soon got himself out of the podium fight - despite passing Pedrosa for 4th place at a certain point - after losing control of his bike and crashing out of the race, a stunt that leader Jorge Lorenzo was to pull himself the very next lap.
While more than a second ahead of Rossi, the Spaniard skid off the track on Lap 8 and it was game over for the entire afternoon. From that point on, it seemed it was going to be a 2-way battle for the win between Rossi and Dovizioso, as the following group had gotten lost more than 10 seconds behind them along the way.
Entering his 10th lap, Rossi was instructed to save his tires for the remaining two 3rds of the race, as the camera placed at the rear of his bike showed some intense rear tire wear. Some 10 laps later, disaster stroke for the reigning MotoGP champ also, as he felt and practically handed Dovi his first MotoGP win of career.
The Yamaha rider managed to keep his engine running, however, and regrouped in 11th place, after which he started to pick position after position during the remaining 10 laps.
As the rain started pouring down the British track, most of the riders chose to pit for wet tires. Happily for Rossi, however, the rain soon stopped as he continued to stay on dry Bridgestones. That strategy got him to recuperate all the way to 6th place, thanks to the multitude of riders who pitted before him.
With 4 laps to go, De Puniet got himself into winning contention, as he recuperated some massive 3 seconds from leader Dovizioso. He and Colin Edwards practically "glued" themselves to the Honda rider with one lap to go, and the final few kilometers were expected to showcase some breathtaking finale for the 100,000 British fans present at Donington.
Dovi was to retain his leading spot, however, while De Puniet eventually lost the runner-up spot to Edwards on the last meters of the race. Fourth place was San Marino's Alex de Angelis, while Rossi recuperated more than 3 seconds to Tech 3's James Toseland and saved the day with a 5th place overall. Seventh overall was Hayate Racing's Marco Melandri, followed by Pramac's Niccolo Canepa and Dani Pedrosa.
Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden paid tribute to Ducati's poor wet-tire strategy and finished the British race on some disappointing 14th and 15th place respectively.
In the overall classification, Rossi extended his lead to teammate Jorge Lorenzo by an additional 11 points - as he is now 25 points ahead of the Spaniard - while Stoner now rests 37 points behind the reigning MotoGP champ in 3rd place.
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