GTWC | Rossi, Barcelona is indigestible: “We weren’t where we wanted”

The last round of the GT World Challenge Europe – Endurance Cup in Barcelona did not go as Team WRT expected. The well-known rhythm problems encountered during the season and the events that occurred during the race, including a very long Safety Car period in the last hour, prevented the BMW M4 GT3s of the Belgian team from recovering and finishing in the Top10.

The weekend of the #46 M4 GT3 of Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin and Augusto Farfus stood out in the Friday tests, but this situation proved to be short-lived, as in the rest of the track tests the Bavarian cars once again suffered from lack of rhythm and grip.

In qualifying, the best placed BMW-WRT was the #32 of Weerts/Vanthoor/Van Der Linde with 17th place, while the #46 finished in 19th and behind all the others. The start of the race took place in very hot weather and was relatively calm for the Belgian team’s cars, despite the heavy traffic.

Weerts rose to 13th in the #32 during his stint, while Valentino Rossi (#46) was 17th shortly before the pit stop, before making a small mistake and getting stuck in the gravel.

“It’s a shame because we were having a decent race – admits the ‘Doctor’ – I made a mistake after the restart from the Safety Car, because I was very close to the car in front. I went out of turn 7 too aggressively and lost the car “.

“Earlier, in the first few laps, I touched a McLaren and received a 10 penalty.” We had a pretty difficult weekend here in Barcelona, ​​we weren’t where we wanted to be.”

Martin adds: “It’s a shame. We certainly didn’t have the best car today, but we could still have done something. Mistakes are part of racing, so let’s look to the next race, which will be a Sprint, and aim for the podium.”

Farfus was also disappointed: “We had a short race! It would have been difficult due to the high temperatures. I’ve really enjoyed this season with Max, Vale and the team. We hope we can do it again and get all the successes we deserve.”

#46 Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3: Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin, Augusto Farfus

Photo by: SRO

WRT team principal Vincent Vosse said he was frustrated after the race: “Obviously it’s a disappointing weekend. We had some problems during the race, at the pit stop for the #30 car and on the track for the #46 and # 32. This prevented us from fighting for the victory. We had ups and downs throughout the weekend, and the low point was definitely in qualifying, where we couldn’t do better than 17th place.”

“This put us in a difficult position to comeback in the race. We could have hoped for a better result, but that’s how it is, we have to keep working. Next weekend we will be in Indianapolis for the Intercontinental GT and we will see what we can do “.