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After spending 26 of his 43 years arching his body on top of a bike, winning six MotoGP titles and having bid farewell to his sport as a legend, Valentino Rossi makes a power transfer to cars. Starting April 3, he will compete with Audi in the GT World Challenge, a European touring car competition that seems tailored to him as a beginner. A long championship, with visits to emblematic circuits and offering the option of short tests (Ímola, Magny-Cours, Zandvoort, Misano, Cheste) and resistance (1000 kilometers of Paul Ricard or 24 Hours of Spa). A change of sport that generates interest and uncertainty. Will Rossi be able to exercise hegemony
in cars similar to his journey on motorcycles?
The Spanish driver Roberto Merhi, who competed in Formula 1 with the Manor team in 2015, answers the question. «He is not going to beat the car drivers who have been raised since they were children in motorsport. Rossi can stay within a second a lap because he has an abysmal talent, but I don’t think he can beat them,” he tells ABC.
Rossi is not a novice in cars. He loves racing, he usually takes part in the Dubai 12 Hours every year and tested with Ferrari, joined by Ducati through the same sponsor (Marlboro), more than a decade ago. «I became a pilot because I saw him in motorcycle races when I was five or six years old. He can do well in his new challenge », commented McLaren driver Lando Norris.
Formula 1 and MotoGP passengers are united by a passion for speed and their workplace, the world’s circuits. Hamilton and Rossi exchanged their mounts, Mercedes and Yamaha, on a publicity day at the Valencian track of Cheste. “It’s a different animal,” judged the English.
More easy
“It is much easier to go from motorcycles to cars than vice versa,” says Roberto Merhi. On the motorcycle you have to move your body, it greatly affects the position of the rider, how much and how you lie down, you can fall… In a car it’s the steering wheel and the pedals, you can get off the line, but not fall.
Rossi does not want to be a lump in the car, go through the passenger cars as a spontaneous, according to what he declared on the website of his new team, WRT. “I like the approach and racing for Audi because they are a competitive team and they go out to win. It is a very strong car. And a new world for me. We need to understand my level and my speed because we don’t know yet.”
Merhi, who has competed in all kinds of cars (karts, touring cars, endurance, Formula 1), has recommendations for Rossi. «A car always has a quicker cornering than a motorcycle; and stops later. By having four wheels, you have more support points. On motorcycles I know that there are curves in which they raise the gas and in a car they are not even curves. Rossi has to adapt to the car’s grip, to the G-forces… The most important thing in a racing car is to brake hard. There is much more potential in braking than on the bikes.”
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