Written by Michael Randall, Edited by Sasha Macmillen
With the upcoming season of GTWCE approaching with testing at Paul Ricard done, one of the drivers who some have been waiting to see is Valentino Rossi. The 8-time motorbike champion will be driving for Team WRT with his signature race number 46. His car finished its third testing session 22nd out of 42 drivers, whilst the fourth session saw it finish 18th of 40 drivers. This all is good in the sense that his team seems to have the pace, but will he do well when the season starts?
Though he is known for his riding in MotoGP, Rossi has been known to run some other machinery. Notably, he ran in F1 machinery with Ferrari. He ran with them between 2004 through 2010. At some point during 2010, Ferrari was even trying to find Rossi a seat somewhere in Ferrari. Later on, in 2019, Rossi and then 6-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton switched seats with Rossi taking the Mercedes W08, Hamilton’s 2017 Championship winning car.
Another thing that Rossi did was the Gulf 12 Hours, in 2019 and 2021, in a Ferrari 488 GT3. He and his team finished first in the Pro-Am class during the 2019 race, even going as far as to fight with the overall podium sitters. Then in the 2021 race, his team won again in the Pro-Am class.
After all of this, it is fair to say that the hype surrounding Rossi seemingly is warranted. It seems as if Rossi can excel in any machinery thrown at him. Especially with his teammates being Audi factory drivers, Nico Muller and Frederic Vercisch, he will have people who can help him get settled into the car. Also with a very bright livery, viewers of GTWCE will be able to see Rossi on track.
