BERLIN: Valentino Rossi, who is retiring from MotoGP after 26 seasons in professional motorcycling, says he will not be racing just for fun when he switches to four wheels at the Le Mans 24 Hours and other events.
The 42-year-old, who won nine motorcycling world titles before announcing last week he will quit at the end of the season, famously tested for and almost joined Ferrari in 2007 but his future in the car lies away from Formula One.
“I don’t know my level, I mean it’s not the same as motorcycles, but you never race just for fun - if you are a real rider or driver, you race to be strong and to win and to try and have a good result,” the Italian told Autosport on Wednesday.
“But sincerely at the moment I don’t know which cars, I don’t know which races. I said that I wanted to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and have a lot of car racing around the world so I think that I can enjoy.”
This year’s Le Mans is in a week and a half so Rossi will have to wait until 2022.
Rossi previously competed on four wheels in three World Rally Championship events in 2002, 2006 and 2008 as well as Gulf 12 Hours races, including one this year where he reached the podium in a Ferrari 488 GT3.
“Yes, I always love to race with cars, because I started with ago-kart because Graziano (his father) was afraid of motorcycle racing because he had a lot of injuries and he thought cars were a bit more safe,” he said.
“So, I started with a go-kart and, after two or three years with ago-kart, I tried a mini bike, and after fortunately I raced with motorcycles because I don’t know if with cars, I could have achieved the same results, maybe not, so it was a good choice.
“But anyway, it remained in my heart.” — dpa
I don’t know my level, I mean it’s not the same as motorcycles, but you never race just for fun - if you are a real rider or driver, you race to be strong and to win and to try and have a good resultValentino RossiMotoGP legend
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