Valentino Rossi wins the Road To Le Mans, a support race to 24 Hours of Le Mans
Valentino Rossi has superbly won the Road To Le Mans, a colossal feather in the cap of a motorsports legend.
Rossi took over from his teammate Jerome Policard with their Team WRT #46 BMW in fourth place of the GT3 category.
The safety car was on track, due to the #320 Ligier JS P12 of Racing Spirit of Leman retiring early, when Rossi took the wheel.
SORPASSO CAPOLAVORO DEL DOTTORE!
— Eurosport IT (@Eurosport_IT) June 9, 2023
Una manovra effettuata nell'ultimo giro di gara-2 della Road to Le Mans che regala la vittoria a Valentino Rossi nella classe GT3 con la sua BMW M4 #EurosportLEMANS24 #WRT #RoadToLeMans #LeMans24 #Rossi #LeMansCup @ValeYellow46 pic.twitter.com/Jt8hxeo2W4
Rossi posted the fastest lap (3'58''844) as he overtook Vincent Abril’s Lamborghini.
He was then in a great battle with Anders Fjordbach, driving the #86 Porsche, over the entire Hunaudières straight.
With four minutes left, and with a battle also raging in the top category between Leonard Weiss and David Droux, Rossi made his successful move.
He moved into second while entering Tertre Rouge bend.
And a penalty to the #296 Ferrari 3 GT51, which was leading, meant Rossi was declared the winner.
MotoGP legend Rossi swapped two wheels for four in 2022, and is now in his second season of racing cars. His dream is to compete in next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans - victory in the Road To Le Mans means the icon of motorsport has taken a huge step towards that target.
Results of race 2:
1. #320 Ligier JS P97 Cool Racing, Sanjuan/Droux
2. Duqueine M30 D08 #33 WTM by Rinaldi Racing, Kratz/Weiss
3. Ligier JS P320 #2 CD Sport, Michal/Smal
4. Ligier JS P320 #69 M Racing, De Oliveira Cristovao/Lehmann
5. #320 United Autosports Ligier JS P22, Kraut/Andrews
GT3 standings:
1. BMW M4 GT3 #46 Team WRT, Policand/Rossi
2. BMW M4 GT3 #31 Team WRT, Whale/Hesse
3. Mercedes AMG GT3 #57 Winward Racing, Kurtz/Ward
