It's the job that comes in, even at 43: for his debut with the Belgian WRT team, Valentino Rossi made a small mistake in the pit lane.
Not finding his garage despite the signs from the mechanics, he had to leave for a lap before finally giving way to his teammate.
Even if it certainly cost places for the crew formed by Rossi, the Swiss Nico Muller and the Belgian Frédéric Vervisch, this error especially made his team smile when Rossi finally left the wheel.
"We didn't know exactly what to expect, optimistically we thought we could get into the top ten and we almost made it. Unfortunately I made a mistake entering the pits, we could have done better, but we went strong“, he commented at the microphone of Sky Sport.
The nine-time world champion in all categories in motorcycle speed, retired since the end of the 2021 season, now drives an Audi R8 LMS... still colored in his favorite yellow and decked out in his fetish number 46. And still with the same fervor in the paddock or in the stands for "Vale".
"It was beautiful. There's a lot going on, the races are a bit chaotic with so many cars on the track, but it's beautiful," he said.
Before this three-hour race which kicks off the Endurance Cup season in GT, Rossi and his two teammates had set the 15th qualifying time.
The WRT team still signed the victory with another trio (Kelvin van der Linde-Dries Vanthoor-Charles Weerts).
© 2022 AFP