IGTC | Rossi among the best: “Great pace, but the rain…”

It's a Valentino Rossi who sees the glass half full as he returns home with a Top5 from the Bathurst 12h, the first seasonal event of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Indeed, we can safely say that his is completely full because the performance he was the protagonist of on Mount Panorama highlighted a 'Doctor' in very good form at the wheel of a competitive BMW, along a very hard track that hardly leaves margins and forgive mistakes.

After the departure of his colleague Maxime Martin, who climbed to 7th with a position gained when the sun was still slowly appearing on the horizon, Rossi inherited the wheel of the M4 #46 between the second and third hours, finding himself 4th ahead of his teammate Charles Weerts, who initially attempted the gap to get back in front, but had to follow.

The first driving session of the driver from Tavullia was applaudable, always close to Jules Gounon's Mercedes, which was also fighting for second place, and also trying to attack on a couple of occasions. Only in the very last stages a slight 'wide' at the last corner opened the door for Weerts, who returned to 4th just before the next round of stops.

“I'm very happy with the improvements made compared to last year; at the time it was only the team's second race with the BMW, but over the course of the season we grew a lot and I also learned to push the car to the limit”, commented Valentino.

“In the first stint I was able to fight with Gounon, who won the last edition and is very fast, but also ahead of my partner Weerts. I had a lot of fun.”

Then it was Raffaele Marciello's turn to take over the M4, continuing the fight for the top positions, with Rossi taking over again between the 5th and 6th hours, precisely in the frantic moments where the protagonist was above all the Safety Car.

The 2nd place of the #46 also became 8th due to the arrival of the rain and due to a Drive Through received for cutting the white line at the entrance to the pit lane.

Marciello first and Martin then tried to make up ground on a track that was drying out, but the Belgian's final assault on Gounon's Mercedes, threatened at the same time by Jaxon Evans' Porsche, had no luck and in the end fifth place has a bittersweet taste for Team WRT.

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3: Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi

Photo by: BMW Motorsport

“We competed with the Porsche which was very fast, the performances were good even when the temperatures increased. In the dry we were faster and we could fight for the victory”, adds the newly 45-year-old, who celebrated his birthday right in Australia.

“It's a shame that it rained in the second part. This didn't allow me to do the third stint, in the wet we preferred to let Lello and Maxime race.”

“We tried to fight until the end for the podium, which was our goal and I think we deserved it, even if we suffered a little more with the rain. We need to improve in this aspect.”

“In the two and a half hours I spent in the car I went well and strong, with a great pace. I also improved my times a lot compared to last year, fighting against the best, so I'm happy. We finished in the Top5, we had fun very much and we will try again next year!”.

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3: Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi

Photo by: BMW Motorsport

Marciello adds: “It was a difficult race, especially in the second part when it was very wet. When the conditions improved we went faster and I think we could have achieved a better result, but in the end we made some mistakes, losing a little too much time. We weren't lucky, but we still got good points for the championship, we'll try to do better next time.”

Bitterness also for Martin: “The race went well, even if there were some problems, penalties, and many things happened. The conditions were quite difficult with this constantly changing weather. But in the end it was a 40' battle. I had a chance to overtake, I had to try. I went a little too wide and we finished fifth. Let's learn from this and come back stronger next year!”

Team Principal, Vincent Vosse, comments: “We started with a Pole, which was a good thing. The rest, of course, is difficult to digest. We made some mistakes like the others, but we had two strong cars and two great crews , so finishing fifth is not what we hoped for, even more so considering that in the last 10' of the race we were fighting for second place. We need to analyze where we lost. We usually say that Bathurst is not a race that can be won, but a race that is lost, and this is exactly what happened today.”