Florian Alt overcame vicious blustery wind, shredding rain tyres and some very determined opposition to win the opening Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race of the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone.

The 16 year old German was chased home by 15 year old Briton Bradley Ray and fellow countryman, 14 year old Kyle Ryde. Ryde had shot away from the initial start but a sudden rain shower dampened the final corner and he and more than half the field fell bringing the race to a halt before the end of lap 1.

It was restarted with the bikes swapped to rain tyres even though the track was dry but with black clouds still threatening. After the restart Alt had seen his early advantage disappear and was often shuffled to the back of a 7 man lead group, but then made sure he pushed his way to the front before the start of the last lap to ultimately take the chequered flag.

Terrible luck for pole-sitter Karel Hanika, because as the pack braked for at the 2nd to last corner Stefano Manzi fell and slid across in front of him, the Czech clipped the Italian and fell fortunately without injury to either of them. Hanika remounted to finish 10th while Manzi was a non finisher.

With the race win Alt has taken the points lead from Scott Deroue with 70 points to 67. Philipp Oettl is 3rd on 64 after crossing the line 4th ahead of Deroue.

Florian Alt

"The race was a lot of fun, of course the rain tyres were destroyed on the dry track but it was the same for everyone. I tried to get away early but it wasn't possible and I just knew that I had to be in the right place going onto the last lap. We had had a great race and I am so happy to win it. I feel so good with the bike and the track here, I really think it is possible to do the same tomorrow, at least I'll try."

The second race of the Silverstone weekend starts Sunday 17.00 CET and can be seen live on redbull.tv and on TV stations around the world.