Rossi to MD: ‘My goal is to drive the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024’

Valentine Rossi will be one of the stars of the weekend Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. He Barcelona On countless occasions, his achievements on the Catalan track have been world of motorcyclebut this occasion will be special. Tavria race on his steering wheel audi r8 team’s regardingthe purpose of Reach the top 5 or podium in the last qualifying race of the Fanatec GT Word Challenge Europethis weekend Barcelona Speed ​​Festival – Maria de Villota LegacyEarlier, the Italian reviewed how his first year in front of the press at the circuit fared and reacted to it sports world about his plans to contest 24 Hours of Le Mansa career that has always been between the eyebrows.

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“I think next year we will be in the same championship. Hopefully, I will be able to race at Le Mans in 2024. That’s the goal. But honestly, I race race after race, and I would love to be in this championship next year. Because it was a lot of fun and I want to be more competitive. ” On two wheels revealed to MD.

In that sense, at the press conference held this Friday, He rejected the option of competing in Dakar one day.

“I always had in mind that when my MotoGP career was over, I would race the car. Because being a rider and wanting to go to the race and try to push and feel the adrenaline of the start…and I try to keep racing in the car..for a long time but it depends a lot on my results . I also love Larry. You said Dakar, but I made up my mind. I think I got better on the track and I feel better on the track. Dakar is a great race, but I would prefer to compete on asphalt because it is my place. ”

MOTOGP World Cup

Not surprisingly, Valentino Rossi was asked about MotoGP. The Italian didn’t want to assess whether the Queen category of the World Motorcycle Championship had lost its touch with the increased importance of aerodynamics on motorcycles.

“I really like MotoGP. Because when you get closer you feel a lot of aerodynamics (tires get hotter, lose grip, brakes get hotter, NDR) and last season’s bike had a lot of evolution in this regard and of course That makes overtaking more difficult,” he told the MD. Also, Pecco he Bagnaia, Fabio he Quartararo, Aleix he Espergaro in a hot battle, he didn’t want to get wet about who he thinks will be this year’s champion.

“The MotoGP title is still open to three riders: Aleix (Espergaro), Pecco (Bagnaia) and Quartararo (Fabio). I will follow him, ”said the man from Tavria.

“All three can still win and Espargaro is very close. It’s difficult because Pecco may be faster, but Quartararo is never wrong… 18 points and in 4 races everything can happen. I do ‘Tifo’ (support in Italian),” he added in an interview after ‘Sky’.

What I miss most in MOTOGP

“Of course I miss MotoGP because it has been going on for more than three quarters of my life, almost 30 years. That’s my personal feeling, of course it’s not the same when you follow a race, but you also feel the adrenaline because your brother is competing.

Great memories of Barcelona

“I love this place (Barcelona) because I have great memories here. It’s definitely one of the best tracks I’ve been to, and the location is great, Barcelona is great, so it’s always a great place.”

He won 10 times with motorcycles and his goals in Barcelona

“I was here in the 1995 European Championship and in the 1996 World Championship I was very quick on this track. I don’t think we’re ready to win yet.We’re going to aim for the top five or a podium.In endurance races we are strong but anything can happen.They are long races and if everything goes wrong No, but we have a good chance.”

How he felt during his first year on four wheels

“That’s good. The balance is positive. I’m very happy with my team, WRT. I think I made the right choice. The difficulty is not only how fast you are when driving these cars, Because it’s a different championship than MotoGP.The racing is very different and you have to learn a lot from the different situations you go through in the race.It’s new for me and a good race and some good results We got it, but we have to keep getting better and improving.

This week’s speed festival and its purpose

“In the last two endurance races we finished fifth and were very close to the podium. The goal is to finish the season on the podium. It will not be easy, but we will be competitive. We can do it, and we can fight for the top three places.”

What I’ve learned so far in this first year of driving

“The best thing is the feeling when you drive the car, because it’s hard to find exciting things coming from MotoGP, because when you drive MotoGP you get a lot of adrenaline. I love driving these cars and I love that we’ve improved over the season and that’s good, on the other hand there’s a lot of cars on the track and there’s always a lot of chaos and the battles are always It’s very difficult to understand all the little tricks to get ahead in this type of race because there are always a lot of ‘full course yellows’ (yellow flags) and behind the ‘safety car’ There are many laps and it’s not easy at the start, always experienced drivers are very good in the first corners. From the outside, MotoGP is a different way of competing, so we didn’t expect these details, but they are important. “

more races this year

“I competed in the Gulf 12 Hours in 2019 and 2020 and especially in Abu Dhabi in 2019 I had so much fun that I will also compete in the Gulf 12 Hours. We have to understand with the team and organize a race or think about next year and look for other races.”