On Saturday he was the celebrated pole setter, on Sunday the tragic hero: Valentino Rossi slips up in the battle for victory – a small mistake costs him a sure win
Valentino Rossi had a turbulent weekend at the 6 Hours of Imola: On Saturday, he was still the celebrated hero after his first LMGT3 pole, but on Sunday, the MotoGP star made a costly mistake in the race that cost his WRT team a sure victory.
What happened? Around 90 minutes before the end of the race, a momentous scene unfolded in the battle for the lead: Rossi collided with the AF Corse Ferrari 21 (Heriau/Mann/Rovera) while attempting to overtake and knocked it off the track.
“Unfortunately, I made a mistake and hit the Ferrari in front of me while trying to overtake,” admitted the Italian. ‘The resulting penalty cost us the victory. I’m sorry.’ Despite the stop-and-go penalty, the WRT BMW 46 still managed to finish in second place.
Rossi confident: ‘We could have won’
“I have mixed feelings because a podium is a good result, but we could have won,” believes Rossi. “It’s a real shame because the team did a fantastic job, the car was very fast, and we managed the tires well.”
In fact, BMW had an almost perfect overall package at the historic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari and, under normal circumstances, would probably have won the second race of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) season with ease.
WRT team boss Vincent Vosse also sees the missed victory as directly linked to Rossi’s action: “It’s annoying for number 46, who was in the lead for a large part of the race and had the speed to win – if it hadn’t been for the penalty.” In the end, they missed out on victory by a mere 0.316 seconds.
Just missed victory with fresh tires
Final driver Kelvin van der Linde was given fresh tires for his final stint, while the leading Manthey Porsche 92 (Hardwick/Pera/Lietz) was on used tires. The performance advantage was clearly visible: Van der Linde was regularly more than a second faster per lap.
Nevertheless, Manthey driver Richard Lietz managed to secure victory under extreme pressure. “To be honest, my engineer told me over the radio that it could be difficult at the end,” explained the Austrian. “We took the risk of going with the double stint until the end of the race.”
This strategy was helped by falling temperatures in the final minutes, high rubber abrasion on the asphalt, and the fact that overtaking is traditionally a challenge at Imola.
“Of course, you have a chance with fresher tires, but Imola is probably one of the most difficult tracks for overtaking,” Kelvin van der Linde confirmed in an interview with Sportscar365. It was only on the last two laps of the race that the South African came dangerously close to the Manthey Porsche.
Missed victory ‘hurts a little’
“However, two laps aren’t really enough to find out exactly where the weaknesses lie – and then a few Hypercars got in the way,” recalls van der Linde, who lost valuable seconds in the Acque Minerali section while lapping a Peugeot 9X8.
“To be honest, the Peugeot really cost us a good chance,” said the BMW works driver, who briefly lost touch. ”A small gap opened up. That was a bit unfortunate, but overall it was still a strong race.”
Despite the solid points haul, van der Linde is left with the feeling that he missed out on something. “A little bittersweet,” is how the DTM vice-champion sums up his feelings. “I think we knew we had a good chance of winning, so of course it hurts a little that we didn’t make it.”
