Le Mans | Rossi: “Having done the Road to Le Mans was very useful”

Last year there was the winning starter of the Road to Le Mans, but this year for Valentino Rossi the dream is coming true: he will be at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The “Doctor” has always expressed the desire to compete in the great French classic since he was still a MotoGP rider and in his third year as a GT rider he earned a place on the starting grid.

The start was perhaps a little below expectations, because the BMW M4 that the Pesaro driver shares with Maxime Martin and Ahmad Al Harty was excluded from this evening’s Hyperpole, even if the indications on the race pace were quite good. And in a 24-hour marathon, what certainly matters more than the starting position. The first “vibrations” upon arrival at the Circuit de la Sarthe, however, were very positive for the two-wheel legend, who underlined the importance of having played the side race last season.

“I’m very happy and proud to be here because it was one of my goals at the beginning of my career with cars. And I think we made a good plan, last year, racing in the Road to Le Mans because I was able to learn the Also, I had a lot of fun last year, because I managed to win and we raced with Michelin tires, which are very, very good. So we are ready for this year and when we arrived we already knew where to put the wheels It was very useful. It’s a very long 10 days, with a lot of things to do,” Rossi said.

“I think we have a good pace, so hopefully we can be competitive for the race. It’s definitely a very special race, because the track is different. It’s a more road track and it’s very long. Also, when you get here, it’s incredible see the organization that each manufacturer and each team has put in place to have all the little pieces of the mosaic 100% for the 24 hours,” he added.

The track is one that really gives pleasure: “I really like this track. I’ve always raced on the short one too. Le Mans has always been very nice for me with the bike. But when you use the longer track, it’s different because it has a lot of history and I think the best part is the Porsche corners. After all the long straights and hard braking, you get to the last part, which is more of a normal track, with all these very fast corners, so that’s the point. I prefer”.

In the GT World Challenge he has already managed to achieve victory, while this step is still missing in the WEC, in which he has only taken part in three races so far. These are very different championships, but they are contributing to his growth as a rider. In fact, he should continue working on this double track next year too.

“This year we have three different championships and each of them is a little different. We have to work from different aspects. The objective is to try to win or get on the podium in all the championships. And the WEC is different because the tires are different and the races are always long. There is also a different class on the track. But it is very interesting and I really like this championship because it is a world championship, so it is the highest level of endurance racing. However, I think the program will remain the same same again next year”, he concluded.