This week is a hugely significant week for Valentino Rossi. The seven-time MotoGP Champion is present at the Le Mans 24 Hours for a second year running, but this time he’s participating in the main event for the first time in what will be his most significant race on four wheels to date.
This run at Le Mans comes amid a full-season campaign with Team WRT in its #46 BMW M4 GT3, which he shares with Maxime Martin and Ahmad Al Harthy.
Looking further into the future, there’s an LMGT3 title to fight for. But for now that will be in the back of his mind. Instead, the focus right now is on his return to La Sarthe, where he is looking for more than just a participation trophy after getting a taste for the event last year as part of the Road To Le Mans support races.
“The Road To Le Mans experience was a good plan for my development,” Rossi told the media today. “It is so important because you only really get to race here once a year… even to understand the circuit during the test day is very helpful. Of course, we race here with motorcycles on the short circuit, but this is a very different experience because it is a road track and for sure you are aware of the history.
“I like the long circuit, you need discipline to get down the straights with the traffic and then the braking zones are quite challenging. For me though, I really like the Porsche Curves, you arrive there after all the difficult braking and that’s where I feel good, I prefer the flow and the set-up carrying the speed.”
While Rossi has won here before, as part of the Road To Le Mans support races last year, this year’s trip to La Sarthe will present him with new challenges; notably navigating the 13.6 km circuit at night.
“It’s interesting because last year I spent a lot of time on the simulator, and actually that’s a little bit boring with the long straights,” he said. “But when you come here for real it is different and I like it very much.
“The speed is very high, more than 200 kph average and you are always flat, and the braking is very hard. With all of this, I am looking forward to the first night driving very much, it’s a special challenge.”
Maxime Martin, who shares the #46 M4 with Rossi, endorses the Italian superstar’s progress as an integral component of the crew.
“When you come from motorcycle racing to cars it is a big challenge,” he said. “But Valle had a lot of speed from the beginning, a lot of feeling and talent to understand the car.
“Where I think he has improved a lot is understanding procedures, not doing mistakes and generally being more confident in the car: we can see now the progress being made. Always more and more competitive, as a solid Silver he has been on the learning curve and now he approaching a more Pro level.
“Everyone is different in terms of ability,” continues the seven-time MotoGP Champion, “The target is wins and podiums, this series is top level and the three different classes makes it very interesting. It’s a very long 10 days with a lot of things to do.
“The test day was not so bad, we have quite good pace and we hope we can be competitive. It’s incredible to see the level of organisation that goes into the event, even for the smaller teams, and from today we start… finally!”
