Two lacklustre results would follow at the Dutch and United States rounds, when Gibernau finished fifth twice. At the British round, Gibernau would retire once more. Qualifying second on a dry Saturday, the Sunday race was rain-affected and - after an aborted first start - Giberanau would lead the field when Rossi was demoted to seventh after a poor start with too much wheelspin. Gibernau then set a relentless pace to pull seconds out of the pursuing pack. As the field crossed the start/finish to complete the first lap, Gibernau had already amassed a 2.4 second gap over the five-man pack in pursuit. Rossi moved into the lead when Gibernau - whom Rossi had begun to catch up to after moving up to second on lap three - highsided from his Gresini Honda on lap four. Gibernau was furious and almost saved the rear-end slide before it pitched him off his bike and into the gravel, thus marking his third DNF of the year.