Valentino Rossi set for 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe season: “Drivers look at me like a motorcyclist”
The MotoGP legend begins the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe season thi💖s weekend at Monza, his second year as a four-wheel racer.
He has opened up on the transition from bikes to cars, how his competitors look at him, andꦉ the differing fear factor.
“In the car they are worse than on the motorbike because, i🌞n the car, it is less scary,” Rossi told Gianluca Gazzoli’s podcast.
“In the car you are inside a cage and therefore crashing into another is 👍less scary.”
Rossi said about his hostile welcome onto the grid: "It's difficult. First of all,💜 because the driver lookಌs at you as if you were still a motorcyclist.
“In the sense that he says 'I've been racing cars for a lifetime, now co🐭mes this one who has always raced with motorcycles’.
“So let's say that they are even more motivated to keep me behind. And anyway ♛there are a lot of very strong drivers and so the level is quite high.”
Rossi described the racing: "They use the car as a shield or in any case to annoy the opponent by exploiting the fact that the car is big. ꦗ;
“Overtaking with the car is much more difficult than on a motorcycle, because on a motorcycle you have four times the spa♔ce.
“But it must be said that in any case racing on a motorbike is a very similar thing from many points of view a🅷nd then I have always tried to carve out the time to do two races a year with cars.
“So in any case I have a good experience also on the four🌱 wheels.”
Rossi explaining why𒊎, aged 44, he still has a passion to race in cars: “My father, Graziano, had done this before.
“Graziano stopped racing in '82 and I was only three years old then. I do not remember. During my career I'v𝔉e always done some races and so on.
“I've always told myself when l stop riding and I want to race in the car𒊎 so I don't stop racing. That's why in the end it's the same sensatio📖ns.
“You have to work every weekend with the team to be more competit𒁃ive so you have the adrenaline of the race. 🌳;
“We say the same th𝐆ings as with the motorbike but here in the car. It's a little bit less phꦅysically difficult.”
Rossi represents Team WRT and will t𒉰eam with Maxime Martin a♉nd Augusto Farfus this weekend at Monza in his #46 car.
He will be driving a BMW, after Team WRT switched from Audi last season, for the second time after compet💧ing in the Bathurst 12 Hours.
James was a sports journalist at Sky💙 Sports for a decade covering everything from Amer꧟ican sports, to football, to F1.
