Dreams of glory fade away Valentino Rossi at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The former MotoGP champion, making his debut on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, was forced to retire this night. Just before one o’clock, the Omani Ahmad Al Harthy, who was in the top five of the lower LMGT3 class, finished his race in the gravel. Not being able to restart, the crew of the Belgian WRT team had to throw in the towel. A hard blow for Valentino Rossi and his team members, who were aiming for a place on the podium.
The reconstruction
The race had started well for Valentino and his BMW M4 with the number 46. After some not extraordinary qualifying (ending with the 12th time), the team of the champion from Tavullia had closed a very positive first part of the race. Taking advantage of the rain, Maxime Martin managed to reach second position, which was then defended without too much difficulty by Al Harthy.
Then came Valentino’s turn, who got behind the wheel just before 8pm. In the 30 laps he ran he was truly as constant as ever, always lapping in the 4’00” / 4’01” range, without ever making a mistake and obtaining the best lap in 4’00″460 making him the second fastest of the crew, given that Martin had the reference pass in 3’59″663.
It was just after midnight in Le Mans, therefore shortly after the 8 hours of racing, when Valentino left the wheel to his teammates. Evidently the pouring rain had made the track very slippery and Al Harthy, who came out of the pits shortly before to take over the driving from the third driver, the Belgian Maxime, probably paid for the fact that the tires were cold. The Omani driver immediately realized that he would never be able to keep the car on the track after going wide in a chicane.
“I lost it! I lost the car!”, he shouted into the radio as he careened into the gravel and then collided with the barriers after the Dunlop Bridge, with the car flipping after the impact and damaging the radiator. At that point it was impossible to repair quickly and the team was forced to withdraw.
Great regret but also confirmation of the potential of the team which will be able to try again at Le Mans, as early as next year. Knowing Valentino’s desire to excel, it is natural to think that he will return to the track as soon as possible to win prestigious victories.
