Valentino Rossi is one of the great legends of MotoGP, but once his stage in the Motorcycle World Championship is over, the Italian rider must reinvent himself. The #46 will begin its new career as a racing driver in the GT World Challenge Europe, a benchmark GT3 event in which will drive one of the Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. In his first full-time program, Rossi will have as partners Frédéric Vervisch and Nico Müllertwo of the great talents of the specialty.
Although he still has much to learn within the discipline, Valentino wants to make a name for himself in GT racing. In fact, the Italian driver not only wants to compete in the GTWC Europe this year, but it has also set its sights on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the moment, Rossi is quite ambiguous and only talks about discovering the classic French resistance. It is clear that his presence in La Sarthe would be a great claimbut everything has to meet certain requirements.
In the end, Valentino Rossi needs to see what he is capable of in the GT World Challenge Europe at the controls of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of the WRT Team, both in the Sprint appointments and in the endurance tests, closer to what Le Mans can be. From there, it cannot be ruled out that Rossi could compete in La Sarthe this yearbut it does seem that the pieces should fit perfectly, in an attractive projectso that Valentino can be on the grid for the queen event of the WEC.
With everything, Rossi’s intention to discover Le Mans seems more geared towards being present at La Sarthe taking advantage of the project with three LMP2 of Team WRT, live the race inside the box and soak up the very special essence of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A first contact with the race of the races that so seduces drivers of any discipline, as is more than evident with the interest of Valentino or the program that the eight-time WRC champion Sébastien Ogier has ‘drawn’ in his endurance debut .
Le Mans aside, Valentino Rossi’s first round of his first season as a GT driver will take place at home in just over 15 days. Valentino Rossi, Team WRT and the rest of the members of the Endurance Cup grid will start the 2022 season with the 3 Hours of Imola in the first weekend of April. Subsequently, the #46 will contest his first short format event, sprint, between April 30 and May 1 at Brands Hatch.
Photos: GT World Challenge Europe