GT: this is what Valentino Rossi will do in 2023

Valentino Rossi is in the midst of his first season in the GT World Challenge Europe, a four-wheeled championship that sees him behind the wheel of the Audi R8 fielded by Team WRT.

Valentino’s intentions

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The results are encouraging, considering Valentino is a category rookie who, at 43, is lining up against some much more experienced and very quick GT drivers. The Doctor’s best results to date are two fifth-place finishes, with the next race set to take place at Hockenheim on 2 September, after which only two events remain.

And so it’s time for the nine-time world champion to start making plans for 2023 and it seems that he intends to race in the GTWC Europe once again.

“I think I’ll be here in this championship again next year. This is my aim, and I can say that it’s 90% certain I’ll be here”, commented Rossi ahead of July’s Spa 24 Hours race. Valentino continued: “I don’t think I’ll race at Le Mans in 2023, but it’s a race I’d like to do sooner or later, maybe in 2024. Nothing is 100% certain but I think I’ll compete in the GT World Challenge Europe again”.

Possible change afoot

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A decision that is based on the results he’s scored during this, his debut season: "I’m quite happy and more or less where I expected to be, let’s say. I’m not bad in terms of speed, but I definitely need to improve and complete more miles over the season to understand how best to drive the car”, admits Rossi. “The positive is that I’m having fun, I think we’ve achieved some good results, at Misano and Paul Ricard for example, while we’ve suffered a little more on other occasions, but overall I can say that the situation is positive.”

It remains to be seen with which team #46 will head out on track. The WRT squad is preparing to move to BMW as of 2024 and may already field the German GT cars next season, so Valentino will have to decide whether to switch cars or remain with a team that will run with Audis.

Translated by Heather Watson

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