WEC | Surprise podium for Rossi: “Great work and strategy!”

Valentino Rossi gets his second podium of the season in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship, having been the protagonist of a great race together with his teammates at the 6h of Fuji
Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin in the LMGT3 Class.

The Japanese track was another novelty for the trio of the #46 M4 and together with Team WRT they tried to find a competitiveness right from the Free Practice which was slow in coming, so much so that in Qualifying Al Harthy remained out of the fight for the Hyperpole, stopping with the 12th fastest time in Q1.

The Omani driver stayed out of trouble at the start, finishing in the top 10, before Rossi and Martin took turns at the wheel, each doing one stint for the remainder of the race.

The ‘Doctor’ stood out in the first race with a couple of applause-worthy overtakings, which together with the Belgian’s comeback with a series of fast laps completed the job, building a third place that had been chased for a long time, but always slipped away for one reason or another.

“The first part of the race went well, the pace wasn’t bad and Ahmad did a great job recovering positions. I fought well against the Porsches making some nice overtaking moves, but at the end of the session I struggled with tyre degradation, but all in all it went well”, commented Valentino, who was in line with Martin in terms of lap times.

“I am really happy and it is a great result after the retirement in Austin two weeks ago. The race was difficult, but with Ahmad and Maxime we did a fantastic job in our stints and the team adopted a perfect strategy with the pit stops, once again. For us it is the second podium and we are very happy!”

Al Harthy added: “I’m over the moon, absolutely happy to finish on the podium after such an amazing race. To be honest, everyone did an excellent job: perfect execution, perfect teamwork. It means a lot, knowing how difficult it is to finish on the podium.”

“It’s been a while since I was last here and it’s a great feeling to be back. I’ve got some great teammates who put in some great stints and a great team who put in some great pit stops. So, thank you! A great way to go to the final event in Bahrain!”

Martin exults: “I’m so happy! We didn’t expect this podium, but we had a perfect race with a perfect strategy and we optimised everything we had.”

“We didn’t make any mistakes and we didn’t take any penalties, and we were rewarded. It’s very nice to be back on the podium after the last unlucky races. We’ll try to do the same in Bahrain.”

Vincent Vosse, Team Principal of Team WRT, commented: “In the LMGT3 class we didn’t have the fastest car, but we managed to create a sort of masterpiece with the strategy. The drivers and the team showed an excellent performance and we achieved a podium that was not even conceivable or in our dreams at the beginning of the weekend.”