Arguably the greatest racer of this generation, Valentino Rossi, announced his retirement days ago putting the motorsports world at awe. The Italian boasts of 9 Grand Prix World Championships and also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix. The 42 year old has truly had a successful career in Motor Gp spanning over 25 seasons with the iconic no. 46 Jersey.
Now, turning over to a new chapter in his life, Rossi has also made no secret of his ambitions to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the future. “Yes, I always love to race with cars, because I started with a go-kart because Graziano (his father) was afraid of motorcycle racing because he had a lot of injuries and he thought cars were a bit more safe. But I don’t know, I don’t know my level, I mean it’s not the same as motorcycles, but you never race just for fun, if you are a real rider or driver, you race to be strong and to win and to try and have a good result." He said.
As well as the Gulf 12 Hours events, Rossi also contested three World Rally Championship events in 2002, 2006, 2008, taking a best result of 11th on Rally New Zealand in 2006 in a Subaru Impreza WRC04.“I said that I wanted to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and have a lot of car racing around the world so I think that I can enjoy it.” Added Rossi.
With Ferrari planning to return to Le Mans with a factory effort in 2023 under the new Hypercar class, it could see Rossi once again link up with the Italian team. It is expected that Rossi will compete in a full GT3 season in 2022 ahead of that.