Rossi Had “Great Feeling” Driving Eau Rouge for First Time

Former MotoGP star Valentino Rossi described his first experience of the famous Eau Rouge-Raidillon section at Spa-Francorchamps as a “great feeling” during preparations for his 24-hour race debut at the Belgian track next weekend.

Rossi participated in last month’s official two-day test for the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa, driving the No. 46 WRT-prepared Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II that he is campaigning in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

The Italian, who is teaming up with Frederic Vervisch and Nico Mueller, told Sportscar365 that he enjoyed getting to grips with a renowned track that he hadn’t visited before.

The test included learning how to approach the famous high-speed uphill section that starts at Eau Rouge and leads the driver onto the long Kemmel Straight.

While the landscape around Eau Rouge and Raidillon has been modified drastically for safety and spectating reasons, it remains a daunting prospect for any new driver.

“It was a great feeling,” Rossi reflected. “It’s a corner where you have to be very brave, but not just that.

“It’s a very technical corner. The line makes the difference. You need to stay to the right on entry with the wall, but because you are on the left in the car, it’s very difficult to get close to the wall without touching. This is the first problem.

“And after, for the line on the left to go flat on the right, is the secret. But not on every lap can you do it.

“You have a lot of compression when you go up and when you have the biggest compression, you have a moment where for about 80 metres it’s completely blind.

“So you don’t know exactly where you are, if you are inside the car or outside.

“It’s a lot easier compared to the past became you have asphalt, so you can decide to cut. This makes it more easy to find the limit.”

Rossi added that during the two-day test he was able to take Eau Rouge and Raidillon without lifting off the throttle around seven or eight times.

He also felt excited to sample the rest of the 4.35-mile Spa layout with its variety of high-speed corners.

“I did a lot of laps in the simulator but had never been for real,” said the seven-time MotoGP world champion.

“There is a lot of up and down. You enjoy it a lot when you drive. It is very difficult to make the perfect lap. The first day [of testing] was not so bad; our performance was quite fast.

“On the second day we suffered a bit more because we tried to modify the car, but we found some good solutions.”

Vosse Impressed by Rossi’s Progression

WRT team principal Vincent Vosse has been pleased with how Rossi’s driving has developed so far this year.

The season had a rocky start at the 3 Hours of Imola, where Rossi missed his pit box in a crowded lane and lost valuable time.

Other events have been better, such as the Paul Ricard 1000km where Rossi held his own in a frantic opening stint and made overtakes on other cars.

The most recent GTWC Europe Sprint Cup round at Misano was arguably his best performance to date after he fought off Mercedes-AMG factory driver Jules Gounon at a late restart to take fifth.

“What Vale is doing today is very impressive,” Vosse told Sportscar365.

“The dedication that he puts in after all those years giving his lifetime to MotoGP, to find the inspiration to do what he does today is very impressive.”

Vosse also expressed admiration for how Rossi has jumped into a series as competitive as the Pro class of GTWC Europe.

“People maybe forget a bit too quick that, yes he had some track time with Ferrari in the past, but that was a different era,” he said.

“Now, he is 43 and he arrived in a very competitive field, which is probably one of the most competitive fields you can find.

“Endurance is even more competitive, but what could he do which would be more of a challenge than this? In LMP2 there are fewer cars. There are Silver drivers and the cars are easier to drive.

“In GT3 you can see great drivers coming from formula racing, winning Le Mans and being completely lost. The guy is 43 and progressing like hell, and doing a great job with a great attitude.”