Mediocre start to the season for Valentino Rossi in GT World Challenge Europe. “Il Dottore” keeps up well in the field and is fighting for 12th place. But when driving to the service station during the safety car, he overlooks the pits.
The first race of the 2022 season for Valentino Rossi in the GT World Challenge Europe is over. As is well known, the nine-time motorcycle world champion switched from two to four wheels over the winter and will start in a 585 hp Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II from the WRT team. He shares the cockpit with the two official Audi drivers Nico Müller and Frédéric Vervisch. At the start of the season in Imola/Italy, things didn’t quite go according to plan. The trio ended up in 17th place. Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts won in another WRT Audi.
Before the race, there was first the qualification. The GT World Challenge Europe is divided into three sections. One driver drives each car in each segment. At the end, an average is formed from the three times. Vervisch finished fourth in his group with a time of 1:40.618 minutes, Müller managed P10 with a time of 1:40.849 minutes and Rossi was 37th in his segment with a time of 1:41.132 minutes. Combined, this meant a time of 1:40.866 minutes and starting position 15 for the trio in the 3-hour race.
The Swiss Müller started the race and drove the Audi up to 14th place. Rossi then took over the car with the four rings in the radiator for the second stint. The Italian kept up well in the field and was 13th for a long time. It was worth seeing that he fought for places with another Audi. Towards the end of his stint there was hectic activity on the track. First, a full course yellow had to be declared because of an Aston Martin. Immediately afterwards, race director Alain Adam ordered a safety car phase. But a few seconds before the race was due to start again, a Bentley crashed into the rear of a Lamborghini, which caused a lot of small wood (or rather small carbon) on the track. The race consequently stayed under yellow.
It was therefore also clear that the pit stops for the third driver would take place under safety car conditions. That was Rossi’s undoing. In the packed pit lane, the lollipop man was unable to stand in the designated spot to show Rossi the way to the pit spot. Rossi promptly drove past the pits and had to complete another lap before turning again for service. “A lot of confusion with a lot of cars and unfortunately I missed the pits. This is experience,” commented on the situation later.
Of course, a lot of places were lost as a result. Vervisch, who had taken over from Rossi, found himself in 27th place. The fast Belgian drove the Audi up to position 17. “The race is very different, but I enjoyed it,” said motorcycle star Rossi, summing up the race weekend. “I did a couple of good laps. The first experience was positive.”