GTWC | Rossi’s Regret: “A great shame, let’s think about the next one”

The 2024 24 Hours of Spa will be quickly archived by Valentino Rossi, who on the Ardennes track had probably the most difficult weekend of the current GT World Challenge Europe season.

In the Ardennes, the #46 BMW of the ‘Doctor’, Maxime Martin and Raffaele Marciello was in good shape and, thanks also to the 10kg weight loss immediately before the race, was indicated as one of the possible contenders for the podium, if not the final success.

After a start characterised by ‘waiting’ by everyone, the rain arrived in the evening and the first setback occurred during Rossi’s session, with a ‘long’ braking at the ‘Bus Stop’ which caused contact with the Ferrari #51 of Davide Rigon.

The 296 GT3 spun and the Race Direction, after examining the facts, handed down a Drive Through penalty to the Team WRT M4 after the restart from the very long night Safety Car.

“The start was very calm, everything seemed to be waiting and we didn’t seem to have a great pace either,” Rossi explains.

“Lap after lap it became more and more difficult because the twists and turns began to follow one another in abundance, with several cars going off. In addition, the rain also made everything more complicated, especially at the beginning when it was coming down intermittently.”

The trio’s comeback in the hours of darkness allowed BMW to get back into contention for the podium on Sunday morning, but at the restart from yet another neutralisation the Tavullia driver was involved in another collision which effectively put the #46 out of action.

“It’s a big shame because we had a great race and we were there fighting for the win and the podium. We had a lot of fun even though the race was in very difficult conditions.”

“We were fast and competitive, but unfortunately at the end of my stint, after the restart, I touched another car and ended up in the dirt, then I damaged the car when I rejoined the track.”

As can be seen from the images taken by Rutronik’s Porsche that was following him, the white-blue-red BMW actually cut straight through the ‘Les Combes’ variant, re-entering out of control and touching the rear of the Ferrari #8 of the blameless Nicolò Rosi, who spun and hit an Aston Martin.

At that point there was nothing more that could be done for Rossi/Marciello/Martin and the repairs in the pits to the front end damaged in the collision relegated the Belgian team’s trio out of the points zone and far away from their rivals.

“It’s a real shame for the whole team, for Maxime and Lello. Unfortunately it went like this, we’ll try to win next time!”.