24 Hours of Spa 2022: Valentino Rossi on tackling the track for the first time - “you have to be very brave”
The famous endurance race has long been a bucket list objective for the MotoGP legend, and he will represent Team WRT alongside Frederic Vervisch and Nico Mueller in the #46 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:on July 28-31.
R𓄧ossi, aged 43, has co🦹mpleted two days of testing at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium but the race itself will be his biggest moment on four wheels.
Rossi ha😼s described tackling the Eau Rouge-Raidillon part of the track - a high-speed uphill section which has previ🌳ously been modified for safety reasons.
“It was a great feeling,” Rossi said to Sportscar365. “It’s a cor൲ner where you h♉ave to be very brave, but not just that.
“It’s a very technical corner. The line makes the difference. You need to stay to the right on entry with the wall, but because you are on the left in 🐲the car, it’ℱs very difficult to get close to the wall without touching. This is the first problem.
“And after, for the line on the left to go flat on the right, is the secret. But not on every lap ca🍒n you do it.
“You have a lot of compression when you go up and whe♊n you have the biggest compression, you have a moment where 𓄧for about 80 metres it’s completely blind.
“So you don’t kno꧑w exactly where you are, if you are inside the car or outside.
“It’s a l♑ot easier compared to the past became you have asphalt, s🐟o you can decide to cut. This makes it more easy to find the limit.
“I did a lot of laps in the simulator but had never been for 🐭real.
“There is a lot of up and down. You enjoy it a lot when you drive. It is very difficult to make the perfect lap. The 𝄹first day [of testing] was not so bad; our performance was quite fast.
“𝄹On the second day we suffered a bit more because we t𓆉ried to modify the car, but we found some good solutions.”
The 24 Hours of Spa is a part of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, Rossi’s first championship in a car r༺ather than on a bike.
James was a sports journalist at Sky S♚ports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
