Rossi: MotoGP Knowledge “Good Advantage” for COTA Return

Valentino Rossi believes his knowledge of Circuit of The Americas from his time in MotoGP will provide him with a “good advantage” as he returns to the track for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Lone Star Le Mans event.

The Austin venue is one of three circuits on the WEC calendar on which Rossi has competed in MotoGP, alongside Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit and Le Mans in the Bugatti Circuit configuration.

The nine-time motorcycle world champion was on the grid for the inaugural edition of the Grand Prix of The Americas in 2013 up until his retirement from two-wheel racing in 2021, although he never took a race win there.

Speaking with Sportscar365, Rossi believes that his eight years of experience in Austin will bear fruit as he lines up alongside Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin aboard the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

“I am always faster and better in the track that I know with the motorcycle,” said Rossi.

“Because you can [over] carry a lot of things. You know the track, you know the lines, you know where you have the bumps, the grip and everything.

“But for sure, with the GT from some point of view, it’s very different. Because you can cut a lot, you can make different lines.

“But at the end, the track is the same. So it’s a good advantage to know the track with the bike.”

While Rossi’s Bronze-rated co-driver Al Harthy is completely new to the COTA circuit, Martin was part of WEC’s last visit to Texas in 2020.

“Yes, Max raced here with the GTE, but it’s very similar,” Rossi said.

“So he has already experience. So for sure, I will follow him and try to understand the lines and everything.”

Martin: No. 46 Crew Adopting Race-by-Race Approach for Remaining Rounds

Rossi, Al Harthy and Martin currently sit sixth in the LMGT3 standings on 46 points, 54 points behind championship leaders Manthey PureRxcing.

Retirements at Spa-Francorchamps and most notably the 24 Hours of Le Mans have left the No. 46 crew on the back foot, with Martin admitting that “we are not fighting for the championship anymore.”

They sat fourth in the standings earlier in the season after the No. 46 car came home second as part of a Team WRT 1-2 at Imola, but have since slipped away.

However, Martin notes that the team will continue to push towards securing a class win before the end of the campaign or otherwise add to its sole podium finish at Imola.

“Every weekend we come, we want to try to win or be on the podium, for sure,” Martin told Sportscar365.

“It’s difficult because, in general, the pace has been lacking on both cars. We have been quite aggressive in some strategies, like Imola, so we could be up front.

“We had DNFs, but if the pace can be more or less in the game, for sure. I mean, the target is always the same.

“We try to have podiums and wins and see. But for sure, we are not fighting for the championship anymore.”