Ferrari closes the door on Valentino Rossi

Like Fernando Alonso did in his day, Valentino Rossi could try his luck in the World Endurance. Ferrari encouraged the Italian to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although he has ruled out making room for him in his team for 2023.

“With all due respect, I think he’s older than our current Endurance riders. He would have to face very tough opponents. Valentino had fun with GTs, and maybe he should try his luck at Le Mans. For our part, we have many drivers to choose from for the Hypercars and we will bet on our young talents”, He pointed out in the Gazzetta dello Sport the head of Ferrari GT activities, Antonello Coletta.

It should be noted that Valentino Rossi has raced the 12 Hours of the Gulf in cars, a race he won in 2019. “As I have always said, I want to finish in MotoGP and then race in cars. I already have experience with the Rally, and I even raced a WRC event, but that is very difficult for me, I want to race on a circuit. I also have experience with the GT3, and it is an interesting category, since it has different brands such as Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley or Aston Martin”, Acknowledged the Yamaha rider.

“Therefore, I will race with those cars when I leave MotoGP. Of course, I do not know in which Championship I will do it, if it will be the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans or if I will do it a different one ”, he added Valentino Rossi.

Rossi hizo an F1 test with Ferrari

The Italian’s flirtation with cars comes from afar, and it is that ‘The Doctor’ got into a Formula 1 by the hand of Ferrari. It was in a private test that took place in 2006 in Valencia and Valentino Rossi came to roll at only 5 tenths of a Michael sSchumacher. Therefore, the MotoGP rider came to sound like a replacement for the seven-time champion.

Asked about Rossi’s participation in this test, Luca Di Montezemolo recently commented: “It was said that it was good for the image of Ferrari, but in reality it was not like thatWe don’t need that, we did it out of friendship towards Valentino, out of courtesy towards a great champion ”. “He did well and had rhythm, but no consistency”He added.

“So there came a time when we thought we could just send Sauber a yearbut hey, Valentino is smart, and he knew he was number 1 in motorcycles, and better to be number 1 there than fourth or fifth in motorsports. Then he did some more tests, but it was more out of friendship ”, Luca Di Montezemolo concluded.

Rossi came to give up Formula 1

The Italian was again an option for Ferrari in 2010, when Kimi Raikkonen temporarily left Formula 1 and arrived Fernando Alonso instead. For that season from Maranello they pushed for the teams to have an additional car on the grid and, according to Luca Di Montezemolo, he wanted Valentino as the third driver. Finally the FIA ​​did not contemplate this option and Rossi he was left with the desire to be Alonso’s partner.

In 2013, with 34 years, Valentino left Ducati to return to Yamaha and he definitively gave up trying his luck in Formula 1. “Unfortunately Formula 1 is over for me. I will continue to compete until I am no longer competitive. In Formula 1 I will continue to cheer on Ferrari, Alonso and Raikkonen”, He declared.